Lawn care from $45 / visit
Garden design from $1,200
Hardscaping from $3,500
Seasonal maintenance plans
Serving San Carlos & the Bay Area
Free site visits
Lawn care from $45 / visit
Garden design from $1,200
Hardscaping from $3,500
Seasonal maintenance plans
Serving San Carlos & the Bay Area
Free site visits
San Carlos, California · est. 2014 A Peninsula
landscape studio

We shape gardens that hold their own climate.

Modified Landscape Design is a small San Carlos studio working across the Peninsula — building, pruning, and maintaining outdoor rooms that sit well in Bay Area light and clay.

A designed Peninsula garden with structured plantings and stone path
Project № 047 — Brittan Avenue, San Carlos 2024
The studio

A decade of
Peninsula gardens.

We're a five-person team based in San Carlos. No franchise, no call center — you'll meet the designer on the first visit and the same crew will be on your property every season.

Modified Landscape Design crew working on a San Carlos garden
Since 2014

Modified began on a single lot on Cedar Street.

Founder Mara Olsen started with one client, a borrowed truck, and a stubborn belief that Bay Area gardens should look like the place they're in — not a magazine spread imported from somewhere wetter. Ten years on, we still work that first lot, and we've added roughly two hundred more across San Carlos, Belmont, Redwood City, and San Mateo.

We're not the cheapest crew in town, and we'll tell you that upfront. What you get instead is a designer who reads your soil before reading your Pinterest, a foreman who's been with us since 2017, and a maintenance schedule that actually matches how California seasons behave.

Most of our work comes from neighbors leaning over fences. We'd like to keep it that way.

Mara Olsen Founder & lead designer
Services & indicative pricing

Six things
we do well.

Prices below are starting points for typical San Carlos lots (≈ 4,000–8,000 sq ft). Final quotes are fixed after a free site visit — no surprise line items, no hourly drift.

01 — Recurring

Lawn care

Weekly or bi-weekly mowing, edging, and clean-up. Includes fertilizer program and aeration in fall. We tune height to your grass type — Bentgrass in Shreve, Bermuda in the hills.

$45per visit · weekly plans
02 — Project

Garden design & planting plans

Full-site design from concept to install. Schematic drawings, planting palette tuned to sun exposure and clay drainage, and a phased install plan you can spread across seasons.

$1,200concept + planting plan, typical
03 — Build

Hardscaping

Flagstone patios, decomposed granite paths, retaining walls, and raised beds — built to drain properly on Peninsula slopes.

$3,500patio + path, typical
04 — Ongoing

Seasonal maintenance

Monthly visits for pruning, mulching, irrigation checks, and seasonal clean-up. We rotate tasks against a 12-month calendar written for San Carlos microclimates — not a generic Bay Area template.

$180per month · 4 visits
05 — Systems

Irrigation

Drip conversion, smart controller install, and tune-ups. We'll right-size zones so the hydrangeas aren't drowning the manzanita.

$350drip retrofit, typical
06 — Install

Planting

Tree, shrub, and perennial installation with soil amendment. We favor natives and Mediterranean species that earn their water.

$650typical front-yard refresh
— Custom

Something
else in mind?

Tell us about your lot. Most quotes go out within two business days of the site visit.

Request a quote
How we work

Four visits,
no surprises.

Every project — from a one-off planting to a full redesign — moves through the same four steps. You'll know what's happening, when, and what it costs before anyone picks up a shovel.

Step 01

Site visit

We walk the lot, read the soil, note drainage and exposure. Free for San Carlos and the immediate Peninsula. Roughly 45 minutes.

Step 02

Fixed quote

A written quote within two business days, broken down by line item. No hourly billing, no "we'll see" clauses. Valid for 60 days.

Step 03

Build & plant

Scheduled start date, same crew throughout, daily clean-up. Designer on site for hardscape and planting days — not just the handoff.

Step 04

Hand-off

A printed care guide written for your specific plants and microclimate, plus a 90-day check-in visit. After that, maintenance is optional.

Selected work

Recent
Peninsula lots.

A small sample of projects from the last two seasons — across San Carlos, Belmont, and the edges of Redwood City. Photographs are duotone-treated to keep the focus on form and structure.

They read the soil before they read the brief. Three years on, the garden still looks like it belongs here. — D. Halloran · Brittan Avenue, San Carlos
Get in touch

Tell us about your lot.

Free site visits across San Carlos, Belmont, Redwood City, and San Mateo. We typically reply within one business day. If you'd rather talk it through, use the form below and we'll call you back.

Studio
San Carlos, California
By appointment only
Service area
San Carlos · Belmont · Redwood City · San Mateo · Peninsula-wide
Hours
Mon–Fri, 8am–5pm
Site visits by appointment

We reply within one business day. No spam, no list — just a reply.

Free site visit in San Carlos
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