Landscaping Services in Glen Rock, PA
Landscaping built for Glen Rock, PA
Glen Rock sits in a valley ringed by steep, rocky hillsides, and nearly every yard project in the borough starts with that terrain. Homes on Hayward Heights, Terrace Heights, Cottage Avenue, and Glen Avenue are built into grades where a patio, a planting bed, or even a lawn won’t stay put unless the slope and the water running across it are dealt with first.
Our owner, Trey Chilcoat, started From the Ground Up in 2008 and spent years as a project engineer and project manager at Kinsley Construction before running the company full time. That mix of landscaping and construction is why retaining walls, drainage, grading, and patios are work our own crews do, not work we hand off to a sub. On a Glen Rock lot that matters: the same crew that holds back your hillside builds the patio that sits on it, on one timeline. We’re based in Glenville, just down the road, and we build in this part of Southern York County every season.
Call us at (717) 586-8989 or send us a message to set up a site visit.
What We See on Glen Rock Properties
Much of the 0.8-square-mile borough climbs. The Glen Rock Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, is made up mostly of wood-frame homes built between 1838 and 1945, which means mature trees with big root systems, tight lot lines, and grade changes between neighbors. Toward the edges of town, lots get larger and less finished, and properties near the York County Heritage Rail Trail have an outdoor character worth designing around. Across all of it, the same problems keep coming up:
- Slopes and planting beds washing out after heavy rain, when water runs off the hillside faster than the ground can soak it up
- Runoff from higher ground collecting against foundation walls or in low corners of the yard
- Hillsides that were never properly retained and keep losing soil every year
- Patios that were never graded or drained correctly, so they hold water or heave
- Overgrown, root-crowded beds on older homes that no longer work with the house
- Driveways and walkways on slopes with nowhere for the water to go
None of these are cosmetic, and left alone they can lead to foundation damage and repeat repair bills. We fix the grade and the water first, then build the design on top of it.
Our Mission Statement
At From The Ground Up, our mission is to design and build outdoor living spaces that provide our customers with the atmosphere to create everlasting memories with their family
Landscaping & Hardscaping Services in Glen Rock, PA
See more finished work on our projects page.
Retaining Walls
On the steeper streets above the valley floor, a well-built retaining wall is the difference between a usable yard and a hillside that keeps creeping downhill. We build in natural stone, segmental block (including Techo-Bloc wall stones made to stand up to freeze-thaw winters), and boulders, and every wall gets drainage behind it from day one. A wall without it is a wall with an expiration date.
Custom Patios & Outdoor Living
A level patio on a sloped lot takes more than one on flat ground: deeper base prep, a plan for where the water goes, and grade work around the edges. We build custom paver patios with Techo-Bloc pavers and slabs, plus dining and seating areas, fire pit spaces, and covered patios like the one we built in Red Lion, PA. Every patio gets the base and drainage it needs to resist heaving and standing water.
Drainage & Grading
Before recommending anything, we look at the grade, the soil, and where runoff is actually going. On a steep lot, rain runs off faster than the ground can absorb it, so the fix is usually some mix of French drains, catch basins at the base of a slope, rerouted downspouts, and regrading. Get the drainage right and everything else on the property lasts longer.
Landscape Renovation & Design
Plenty of older Glen Rock homes have beds that were planted decades ago and have long since outgrown their space. We pull what isn’t working, correct grade problems that have crept in over the years, and put in plantings and edging that suit the house. Because we also build, the design we hand you is one we know we can install exactly as drawn.
Water Features
Hillside lots are a natural fit for water features that follow the grade. A pondless waterfall stepping down a slope, or a stream bed carrying water through a garden, can turn a spot that used to erode into the best-looking part of the yard, without flattening the hill to get there.
Planting and Mulching
Once the walls and hardscape are in, we plant around them with trees, shrubs, and perennials picked for rocky, sloped ground, freeze-thaw winters, and the root competition that comes with mature trees. Mulch goes down last to hold moisture and help keep sloped beds from washing out.
How We Plan Your Glen Rock Project
Full design with drawings and renderings
Bigger jobs, like a full yard renovation, a terraced hillside, or a landscape built around a new patio, get detailed drawings and 3D renderings. You see the finished space before a single plant or stone is ordered, and your estimate is built from that approved design.
A site sketch and written estimate
Most projects don’t need renderings. We sketch out the layout and bed lines, go over plant and material choices with you, and put the full scope in writing for you to approve.
A property walkthrough and written estimate
If the scope is clear and the site is simple, we walk it with you, settle the details right there, and send a written estimate you can look over on your own time.
What Working With Us Looks Like
Step 1: Get in Touch
Call (717) 586-8989, email, or use our contact form and tell us a little about your property and what you have in mind.
Step 2: Talk It Through With Sam
Sam Chilcoat runs our office and is usually the first person you’ll talk to. She learns what you’re hoping for and walks you through our project planner, so you have a realistic sense of budget before anyone comes out.
Step 3: Site Visit With Trey
Trey Chilcoat, our owner, handles every on-site consultation himself. He looks at your slope, soil, and drainage in person, talks through your goals, and decides which planning path fits the job.
Step 4: Review Your Design & Estimate
Larger projects come with a full design package: drawings, a plant list, material specs, and a detailed estimate you can go over online or in person.
Step 5: Approve and Reserve Your Spot
A deposit locks in your place on the schedule and lets us order the stone, plants, soil, and mulch your project needs.
Step 6: Foreman Site Visit
Before work starts, your foreman (Joe leads our hardscape crew, Andy our construction crew) walks the site, plans equipment access and staging (which matters on a steep lot), marks trees and plantings to protect, and confirms the layout.
Step 7: Updates at Each Milestone
You’ll hear from us when grading and drainage are done, when walls and hardscape are in, and when planting begins, so you always know where things stand.
Step 8: Cleanup and Final Walkthrough
We clean up the site and walk the finished project with you, explaining what was built, what was planted, and how the drainage works.
Step 9: Care Guidance for Your New Landscape
You’ll get written instructions for watering new plants through their first season, mulching, pruning, checking drains, and seasonal upkeep.
What Our Customers Say About Us
“I wish I could give them 10 stars cause they are amazing! Ken is a great guy and knows alot about ag, vegetation and landscaping. The crews are quick and professional and left my driveway cleaner then the way it was. I use them for all my landscaping needs, I just wish I would have used them sooner.”
—Jon Sotak
Why Glen Rock Homeowners Trust From The Ground Up
We’re local. We’ve been building landscapes in Southern York County since 2008, and our Glenville base is just down the road from Glen Rock. We know how hillside lots here handle a wet spring and what freeze-thaw does to stone that wasn’t set properly.
We plan like builders. Trey’s years managing construction projects at Kinsley Construction are why we put so much weight on what happens before anything is built: grading, drainage, footings, and bases sized for the load they carry.
Every project is custom. There’s no package pricing and no template design dropped onto your lot. We design to your slope, your soil, and the way you want to use the space.
Our own crews do the work. Grading, walls, drainage, patios, and planting are all handled in-house, with no subcontractors, and your foreman leads the job from the first site visit through final cleanup.
Our work has been recognized. From the Ground Up won the public-vote People’s Choice Award for Best Outdoor Living at the York Builders Association’s 2025 PEAK Achievement Awards.
Let’s Talk About Your Glen Rock Property
Whether you’re fighting a slope that won’t stay put, a yard that floods every storm, a landscape that’s past its prime, or you just want a place outside that actually gets used, the first step is the same: a walkthrough with the people who will build it. We’ll look at the property with you and tell you plainly what it needs.
Call (717) 586-8989 or use the button below to get started.