The project
A family in Georgetown had just finished building a pool in an expansive backyard shaded by beautiful mature Austin live oaks. The oaks are the best thing about the lot and the hardest thing about the lawn: under that much canopy, grass loses to shade and root competition every time. They had two asks. Make the whole yard usable, and make it low maintenance, because their lives are busy and weekends should not belong to a lawn.
So this was never just a turf job. Starting from a blank slate left by the pool construction, we designed and built a complete outdoor experience: turf where the family lives and plays, defined planting beds around the oaks, and clean rock-and-paver side yards, all of it tied together with natural stone. Blank dirt to finished backyard in three and a half days.
Turf that works where grass will not
For the main living areas we installed Rymar TriBlend, a 70 oz three-tone landscape turf blending Emerald, Olive, and Sand fibers over a bi-color thatch. Under the dappled light of a live oak canopy, that color variation matters: it reads like a healthy lawn in the shade where a flat, uniform green would give itself away. And unlike the grass it replaced, it needs zero sun, zero water, and zero mowing, which is exactly the maintenance load this family asked for.
170 feet of curved limestone, drawn like a landscape plan
The organizing line of the whole yard is 170 linear feet of curved Austin chopped limestone garden edging. It sweeps around the live oaks and separates the new turf from the new planting beds, so the yard reads as designed spaces instead of surfaces butting into each other. Chopped limestone is the right material this close to the Hill Country: it matches the local stone, it holds a curve, and it will look the same in twenty years.
Beds, rock, and side yards that finish the picture
Inside the limestone curves we built nearly 1,300 square feet of brown cedar mulch beds around the oaks. That protects the trees’ root zones, gives the planting areas a clean finished face, and eliminates the mow-and-trim battle under the canopy entirely.
On the two side yards we installed close to 600 square feet of 3-inch Canadian river rock with pavers. Side yards are where backyards usually go to die: too shaded to grow anything, too narrow to mow, and the first place water wants to travel. Rock and pavers turn them into zero-maintenance, drainage-friendly walkways that look intentional instead of forgotten.
Three and a half days
Full scope, one crew, 3.5 days in July 2026: turf, 170 feet of limestone edging, 1,300 square feet of mulch beds, 600 square feet of river rock and pavers. The family went from bare pool-construction dirt to a finished backyard inside a single week.
What a project like this costs
A complete-backyard scope like this one in 2026 Bearcat pricing:
- Turf install (base prep, premium product): roughly $8 to $14 per square foot all-in, depending on site complexity and square footage
- Chopped limestone edging: quoted per linear foot, based on stone size and how much curve the design calls for
- Mulch beds and river rock with pavers: quoted per build, based on area and material
Get a free quote for your backyard and we will walk the site, measure, and put together a real number the same week.
From Austin to DFW
This build is in Georgetown, north of Austin, and it is the same crew and the same standard we bring to installs across the DFW metroplex. If you are anywhere along that corridor with a backyard that is all potential and no plan, we can bring it to life.
About Bearcat Turf & Outdoors
Bearcat Turf & Outdoors is a family-owned, Aledo-based outdoor contractor serving the full DFW metroplex and the Austin corridor. We install artificial turf, hardscape, and outdoor living improvements on residential and commercial properties. HUB Certified by the State of Texas, BBB Accredited, fully insured.
Before
What we started with.
A brand-new pool in an expansive backyard shaded by mature Austin live oaks, and around it, a blank slate. Grass had no chance under that canopy, and the family had no interest in fighting it. Bare dirt from the pool construction ran to the fence line with nothing usable in between.
During
In the build.
Demo, sub-base lifts, laser grading, putting green build, and seaming. One week start to finish.
After
The finished space.
Completed-project photography — on-the-ground, in context.
