Hardscaping
We design and build hardscapes for homes and businesses: paver patios, walkways, outdoor steps, retaining walls and fire pits. Landscape lighting and plantings tie the pieces into one finished yard.
Learn More
Oak Hill is hill country, even inside the city limits. USDA soil maps put about 61 percent of the city's land on slopes of 15 percent or more. Two of the most common soils here, Clifftop and Dekalb, run only 20 to 40 inches deep before bedrock. So a level patio or lawn often takes real dirt work, and rain runs fast downhill.
Veridian Corp is a landscaping contractor, and Oak Hill is part of our service area. The city is the largest in Fayette County, about 16 road miles north of Beckley on US 19. We design and plant landscapes, and we build retaining walls and paver patios for sloped lots. Call or text (304) 237-1212 for a free estimate, and we will put the quote in writing.
Tell us about the patio, wall, planting or clearing job and where the property is. We look at the job and put a free estimate in writing.
Oak Hill sits at about 2,000 feet, on the plateau between Beckley and the New River Gorge. The city's 2012 plan update says sprawl has been contained by the terrain. It also suggests the city consider rules for building on hillsides steeper than 18 percent.
The biggest soil unit mapped in the city covers about a quarter of its land. The soil survey rates it extremely stony, on slopes of 35 to 70 percent. Dekalb soil also holds flat sandstone pieces up to 10 inches across, with more of them the deeper you dig. A few percent of the city is mapped as Kaymine, a soil formed in ground left by surface coal mining.
On a slope, a level patio often needs a cut into the hill and a wall to hold it. We start with grading and site prep, and the wall gets drainage and backfill behind it. Outdoor steps can climb the grade beside it, set into the wall or the hillside. A tall wall, or one that holds up a driveway, may need an engineer's design.
About two of every three homes in Oak Hill were built before 1980, by Census estimates. The median home dates to 1974, and one in four went up in the 1970s. New houses are rare: Census permit data show two or three a year from 2021 to 2024.
The city's plan notes many historic homes that have been well maintained. It even counts the stone walls in front of the hospital among the things that give the town its character. With so few new houses, most yard projects here start with an older lot. We can redesign old beds and replant them with new shrubs and sod.
Older lots can also hold big trees close to the house and stumps in the lawn. We handle tree removal with machinery where the machines can reach, and stump grinding takes the stumps below grade. The city limits also reach out along Gatewood Road, Summerlee Road, Lochgelly Road and Scarbro Road. Where a lot out there has gone to brush, land clearing opens it back up.
Inside city limits, the City of Oak Hill Code Enforcement Office handles building permits and inspections. Its building permit covers new construction, additions, renovations, storage buildings and carports. Fences, pools and spas, demolition and electrical upgrades each have their own application.
The city's permit page does not list retaining walls, patios, walkways or grading. Call the Code Enforcement Office before work starts, and ask what applies at your address. Outside city limits, the Fayette County Building Department in Fayetteville is the office to ask.
Two state rules apply anywhere around Oak Hill. West Virginia law requires a call to 811 at least two business days before anyone digs or grades. A site that disturbs an acre or more also needs a state construction stormwater permit. The state DEP says getting it is the property owner's job.
Arbuckle Creek and Wolf Creek both run through Oak Hill. FEMA has studied both, and the flood maps for the city took effect in September 2010. Only a small share of the city falls in a mapped flood zone.
The city's plan urges it to resist development in floodplains. If your lot borders a creek, check the address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center or the WV Flood Tool. Then ask the permit office for your address before any grading or fill near the water.
Up the hill, runoff is the bigger worry. Grading that sends water away from the house is part of our site prep. When a gravel driveway washes out on a grade, we regrade it and top it with number 57 stone.
Communities and areas we serve around Oak Hill: Downtown Oak Hill, Harlem Heights, East Oak Hill, Rosedale, Ogden, Rocklick, Pea Ridge, Summerlee, Lochgelly, Scarbro, Gatewood, US 19 corridor.
Oak Hill ZIP codes served: 25901, 25879, 25840.
Oak Hill is part of our service area. Call or text (304) 237-1212 for a free estimate in writing.
(304) 237-1212 We design and build hardscapes for homes and businesses: paver patios, walkways, outdoor steps, retaining walls and fire pits. Landscape lighting and plantings tie the pieces into one finished yard.
Learn More
Paver patios in the pattern you pick, laid on a dug-out bed and a compacted stone base. Seating walls and fire pit areas can be built right into the layout.
Learn More
We build block and stone retaining walls that hold back a slope and give you level ground. The drainage and backfill behind the wall go in with the block.
Learn More
We build outdoor fire pits of block and stone, plus outdoor fireplaces with chimneys. The patio and seating walls around them go in with the same plan.
Learn More
We build paver walkways and sidewalks on a compacted stone base. We also set outdoor steps and stone steps on the sloped yards around Beckley.
Learn More
Low-voltage landscape lighting for steps, paths, walls and trees around Beckley and southern West Virginia. We plan the lights with the hardscape and set them in during the build.
Learn More
We deliver and plant Green Giant arborvitae for privacy screens around Beckley and southern West Virginia. Planting beds and spring color can go in with the row.
Learn More
We clear brush and overgrowth from lots and fence lines around Beckley. The machine pulls the stumps and roots, and we haul the debris off.
Learn More
We take down dead and storm-damaged trees with machinery and haul the wood off. Stump grinding can follow, so the ground is ready for grass or a planting bed.
Learn More
We grind stumps below grade and pull stumps and roots on clearing jobs. Then we fill the hole and grade it for grass or a bed.
Learn More
We prep and grade the ground for patios, retaining walls, pads and yards around Beckley. The finished grade moves water away from the house and gives the next layer a firm start.
Learn More
We build gravel driveways and parking areas with number 57 stone on a graded base. We also regrade and regravel drives that have rutted or washed out.
Learn More
We pour plain concrete patios and walkways, plus pads for sheds and equipment. Steps and landings go in as part of a bigger outdoor project.
Learn More
We plow home driveways and business parking lots around Beckley each winter. Coal mine sites and their access roads are part of our snow removal work too.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around Oak Hill. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
Send the form with a few details about the job, and we set up a time to look at it. You can also call or text (304) 237-1212.
Tell us about the patio, wall, planting or clearing job and where the property is. We look at the job and put a free estimate in writing.