Residential Landscaping Project • Lake Geneva, WI
Built From the Water Up
The house was coming down. The oaks were staying. So was the overlook bench at the water's edge, the one built from old railroad timbers, which the family had no intention of losing to a construction project.
The Property and the Wish
A Geneva Lake property where the old house came down and a new custom residence went up, built by Doomis Custom Builders. The family lives here between Memorial Day and Labor Day, so the landscape has one job: be at its absolute peak for a hundred days a year.
What they asked us to protect:
The mature oaks
The character of the weathered timber
The lakeside overlook bench, where you sit and look at the water
Everything above ground was changing. They wanted the place to still feel like itself.
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The property falls steeply from the street to the lake. Once work began near the water, access to the rear would be cut off entirely, stranding the lower terrace behind finished work.
So we built it backwards:
Started at the shoreline and worked uphill toward the street
Sequenced every phase so the next one still had a way in
Barged in every material and machine; no equipment access lakeside
Barged all debris back out via a Lake Geneva barging company
Water was the second problem. A steep slope running to a lake is erosion waiting to happen, and runoff arrived from the street above and from neighbors on both sides. We captured all of it with a twelve-inch main line feeding a rock swale that carries water safely to the lake. Invisible in the finished landscape, and the reason it will still be here in twenty years.
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Refined enough for a new custom home. Weathered enough to honor what stood here before.
High format precast pavers in a bluestone tone for walkways and terraces
Techo-Bloc Borealis walls, chosen because they read as aged railroad timber
Large natural outcropping stone retaining walls matched to the home's architectural stone
Step systems connecting the garage level down to the lakeside
The detail we are proudest of: the original railroad-timber overlook bench, beginning to fail, rebuilt in Borealis. It looks like the bench they remember. It will outlast the one they had.
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Lakeside patio rebuilt entirely
Shuffleboard court removed and reconstructed from new concrete up, with Home Court Advantage installing the playing surface and striping
Rear terrace finished in matching pavers for continuity
Custom fire pit area, integrated with the home's barbecue and outdoor living space
The Oaks, and One Perfect Season
Old oaks are the easiest thing on a property to lose and the hardest to replace. We fenced them for the duration of the build and continued tree care afterward, because the damage that kills a hundred-year-old oak often does not show for two seasons.
The planting plan concentrates peak bloom between Memorial Day and Labor Day, so the garden is at its most generous exactly when the family is there to see it.
Life There Now
They arrive in late May to a property that feels older than it is. The oaks stand where they always stood. The bench looks out at the water the way it always has. Nothing about the barges or the backwards build is visible anywhere.
Design & Build Case Study
A Lakeshore Residential Landscaping Project, Start to Finish
Comprehensive drainage and erosion control, natural stone retaining walls, lakeside and terrace patios, a custom fire pit area, curated seasonal planting, and mature tree preservation. Delivered in partnership with Doomis Custom Builders and Home Court Advantage. See more of our work near Lake Geneva, WI, or how a project like this comes together in The Experience.
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