Cornerstone Landscapes Wins SBCA Construction Award

Cornerstone Landscapes was recently honored at the Santa Barbara Contractors Association’s 2025 Construction Award Ceremony. The beautiful and sustainable Yankee Farm landscape installation won an Award of Excellence for Landscapes & Hardscapes.

As the prime contractor, Cornerstone Landscapes built a multi-phase project spanning 1.5 years, with 95% of the labor executed in-house and all subcontractors under our project management.

We partnered with a landscape architect, CJM::LA to execute a large-scale residential landscape installation in Santa Barbara. CJM::LA provided oversight requiring multiple mock-ups for every significant design element to ensure the highest quality product.

Key features of the project include: earthwork and grading under the scrutiny of a geologist, structural and civil engineering for concrete retaining walls, driveway and hardscape, custom stone masonry including fabrication of stone blocks, stairs, walls and flatwork, innovative drainage solutions including infiltrating stormwater on site to avoid run-off, an extensive irrigation system employing a the latest technology with a commercial grade controller for efficient water use and monitoring, custom woodwork, specimen tree planting, a custom mosaic compass circle and project management including multiple subcontractors under our oversight.

The key challenge for this project was inconsistent soil conditions with expansive soil throughout the site with no predictable rhyme or reason. This required the geologist and engineers to employ extensive measures to ensure lasting quality. Across the entire project, concrete footings and sub-slabs exceeded typical standards in both size and steel schedules. Equally important, and not evident in photos are the lasting and fulfilling relationships we cultivated with the owners and landscape architecture team.