Building out a backyard piece by piece works far better than building everything at once. The order matters: some investments need to come first because they’re harder to retrofit later. Here’s a step-by-step approach to backyard investment ordering that delivers the best long-term results in Middle Tennessee.
Phase 1: Site Work and Hardscape Foundations
Grading, drainage, retaining walls if needed, primary patio hardscape, walkways. Get the bones right first. Site work is hard to retrofit and is the foundation everything else sits on. Skip the cosmetics; nail the substrate.
Phase 2: Pool (if planned)
Pool excavation and construction goes in early because it requires major site disruption. After the pool is in, you can build around it. Trying to add a pool to a finished landscape destroys earlier investment. Pool early, even if other phases delay.
Phase 3: Covered Outdoor Living
Covered patio, pavilion, screened porch — depending on plan. The cover is what makes the space genuinely useful in Tennessee climate. Build before adding outdoor kitchen or audio; those depend on the cover.
Phase 4: Outdoor Kitchen and Features
Once the cover is in, build out the outdoor kitchen, fire feature, water features. These plug into the structure built in earlier phases. Doing them later means your initial outdoor cover is sized to support them.
Phase 5: Mature Landscaping and Lighting
Trees, planting beds, irrigation, layered lighting. These come last because they’re easiest to retrofit. Doing them last also means you’ve lived with the space and know exactly where you want them. Often the most-impactful phase, even though it’s last.
Ready to Get Started?
Good Day Living plans backyards in the right order from the start. gdayliving.com.
