- Service Area: Portland Metro Area, OR
- (971) 336-5520
- hdlandscapellc@gmail.com
HD Landscape and Maintenance builds paver patios, walkways, steps, and walls throughout Portland and the surrounding metro. What separates a clean job from an expensive one here is knowing where your property stops and the city’s right-of-way begins — because in Portland, that boundary does not work the way most homeowners assume.
By Donavan Hesedahl, Founder & Owner · Last updated September 2026
Almost every hardscape enquiry we take in Portland involves the front of the house at some point — a walkway to the door, a widened driveway, steps down to the street. That is where projects quietly cross into the public right-of-way, and where the rules change completely.
Under Portland City Code 17.28.020, owners of land abutting any street in Portland are responsible for constructing, reconstructing, maintaining, and repairing the sidewalks, curbs, driveways, and parking strips next to their land. Not the city. The owner.
The same section goes further than maintenance. Property owners are liable for any damages to a person injured by the defective condition of that sidewalk, curb, driveway, or parking strip — and liable to the City for claims, judgments, settlements, investigation costs, and attorney fees arising from a failure to keep it in good repair.
So the strip of concrete you walk across to reach your car is your responsibility, and a hardscape crew working carelessly near it is creating exposure that lands on you, not on them.
There is a gap between the sidewalk and your property line, and it matters more than its size suggests.
Portland City Code 17.28.060 states that in residential areas the distance between the improved sidewalk and the property line is generally two feet, unless a different distance is specified. That two-foot band, along with the area between curb and sidewalk, is the parking strip — defined in 17.28.011 as the area between the curb and the abutting property line that is not improved by surfacing.
Read that definition closely, because it has a practical edge. Surfacing that area changes its legal character. Homeowners regularly ask us to run pavers straight out to the curb to kill off a strip of struggling grass, and it is not the simple tidy-up it appears to be. Openings cut for street trees or planting count as part of the strip too; grates and coverings do not count as pedestrian surfacing.
The first thing worth establishing on any front-yard hardscape job is where the actual property line sits. It is rarely where the lawn stops.
This is the provision that catches good contractors out, not just homeowners.
Portland City Code 17.28.080 requires that any person wanting to repair a defective sidewalk or curb must first obtain a permit — either before or after a notice to repair has been posted. Voluntary work counts. Deciding on your own initiative to replace a cracked panel because the new patio made it look shabby still requires the permit, and the permit prescribes the kind of repair, the materials, and the dimensions.
Driveways sit under their own approval at 17.28.110, where the city may issue a permit to construct a driveway in the public right-of-way, and may require repair or reconstruction of an adjacent driveway, curb, or sidewalk affected by that work. Driveways that don’t conform need a Driveway Design Exception under administrative rule TRN-10.40.
Then there’s a detail with a long tail: under 17.28.120, once a driveway has been constructed it is deemed part of the sidewalk for all purposes of repair and reconstruction — whether or not a sidewalk runs along the rest of your frontage. Your new apron inherits sidewalk obligations permanently.
The enforcement path here is unusually direct, and it is the reason we treat frontage work as a separate conversation rather than a line item.
If the city finds a driveway non-conforming and the owner doesn’t correct it within 60 days, the city may perform the work at the owner’s expense. Under 17.28.140, the cost for the city to have repairs made is assessed as a lien upon the property. Under 17.28.150, the proposed assessment adds 10 percent on top of the charge to cover the administrative cost of notice, assessment, and lien recording.
That lien is not a minor encumbrance. Section 17.28.160 provides that unpaid final assessments, with accrued interest, penalties, and billing charges, hold first priority over all other liens and encumbrances, and the final assessment notice must state that delinquent assessments may be collected by foreclosure and property sale.
A patio built badly costs you a patio. Frontage work done without the right permit can attach to the title.
Green street facilities. Portland City Code 17.28.020(C) is unambiguous: green street or other public stormwater management facilities in the right-of-way may be modified or repaired only by the city, or under an appropriate permit. Those planted basins in the curb line are city infrastructure. If one sits on your frontage, the hardscape design works around it.
Curbs, sometimes. Curbs are generally maintained by the city under 17.28.020(B) — except where a curb is in combination with the sidewalk, and except where it has been wilfully damaged or damaged by tree roots. The tree root carve-out is the one that bites in Portland’s older neighbourhoods, where mature street trees have lifted both curb and walk. A crew that damages a curb while bringing material in has moved that repair squarely onto the owner.
Most of our Portland work sits behind the house, where none of the above applies and the design can be led by how you want to use the space:
For deeper detail on individual features, see our guides to paver walkway installation, driveway pavers, and paver patio installation. For material behaviour in this climate, what makes hardscaping in Portland different covers base prep and wet-season sequencing.
We quote each project in writing after visiting the site. The variables that move the number most:
We don’t price hardscape over the phone. The site visit and the written estimate are free.
We work across Portland and the wider metro, Monday to Saturday, from our base in Aloha — including Southeast and Northeast Portland, Multnomah Village, St Johns, and out to Gresham and Milwaukie. See our Portland page for the full service area, our hardscaping services for scope, and the portfolio for finished work.
How much does hardscape construction cost in Portland?
There is no reliable per-square-foot figure, because the base below the surface varies more than the surface itself. Cost is driven by access, excavation depth and disposal volume, base build-up, material selection, grade change, existing conditions such as tree roots, and whether any part of the work enters the public right-of-way and triggers city permitting. We quote in writing after a free site visit.
Do you offer free hardscape design consultations?
Yes. We come to the property, walk the space with you, talk through layout, materials, drainage, and how the area will be used, and follow up with a written estimate. Both the visit and the estimate are free, with no obligation. For front-of-house work the consultation also covers where your property line actually sits relative to the sidewalk.
What hardscape features do you build?
Paver patios, walkways and garden paths, steps and stairways, seat walls and planters, retaining walls, and driveway and apron work. Hardscape rarely arrives on its own, so projects usually include grading, drainage, and planting around the finished feature.
Are you a licensed, bonded and insured Oregon contractor?
Yes. HD Landscape and Maintenance is licensed through the Oregon Landscape Contractors Board, licence #9977, which requires a surety bond and liability insurance to be maintained as a condition of licensure. You can verify our standing through the Oregon LCB public lookup. Given that Portland City Code makes property owners liable for injuries arising from defective sidewalks and driveways abutting their land, confirming a contractor’s insurance before frontage work begins is worth the few minutes it takes.
Do I need a permit for a walkway or driveway that meets the public sidewalk in Portland?
Very likely. Portland City Code 17.28.080 requires a permit for anyone repairing or reconstructing a defective sidewalk or curb, including work you undertake voluntarily rather than in response to a city notice. Driveway construction in the right-of-way is permitted separately under 17.28.110. We confirm the requirements for your specific frontage before work starts, since the cost of city-performed corrections is assessed as a lien against the property.
Tell us what you want the area to do and we will walk it with you, flag anything near the frontage that needs a permit, and put a written number in front of you.
HD Landscape and Maintenance LLC
Adress:6581 SW 192nd Ave Aloha, OR 97007
Phone: (971) 336-5520
Email: hdlandscapellc@gmail.com
Hours: Monday–Saturday, 7:00 am – 7:00 pm · Sunday closed
Oregon LCB Lic. #9977 · Licensed, bonded & insured
Serving Portland and the surrounding metro, including Beaverton, Tigard, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Milwaukie, Gresham, Hillsboro, and Tualatin.