Over the course of four summers, a 40-foot slope from the backyard of a residence to the shoreline of Edward Lake in Maple Grove, Minn., was given more purpose by Todd Rooker Landscape Design and Task Masters Landscaping who constructed numerous retaining walls, patios, planters, stairs and a pad for a pre-built pergola. Allan Block products were used for all the walls and the risers and treads in these stairs. The wall on the top level had to be engineered.

To create this circular patio 15 feet above the water, the slope below had to be retained and the hill had to excavated back with a small backhoe. For the base, the landscape team installed three 8'' courses of compacted class five limestone, topped with 1'' of sand. The pavers are Britton from Anchor Block in their mahogany blend.

Turning a large steep incline into usable area can be a major undertaking as Todd Rooker Landscape Design and Task Masters Landscaping discovered when they signed on to do just that at a residence in the Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove.

At the bottom of the incline is Edward Lake. Forty feet up is the home's backyard. In between, the two companies installed numerous retaining walls on different levels intersected with stairs and separated by entertainment areas and planters.

Todd Rooker supervised the project and a crew from Task Masters performed the work.

''What we tried to do was create more usable space than what the topography would typically allow,'' explained Rooker. ''It was a very steep hill about 40 feet in elevation from the backyard to the water.''

Starting at the waterline, they built an initial retaining wall, then dug into the hill with a backhoe to create a flat area that became a 30-foot-deep yard. From there the team built two retaining walls, one topped with a patio that is 20 feet in circumference.

Opposite that patio are steps that lead from the water and the yard to a landing. From there, Task Masters installed steps up to the backyard, and steps to the right and down to the circular patio, and further to the right to a pergola, which was pre-built, shipped in pieces and installed by the manufacturer on a pad built by the landscape team.

The patio and the pergola both take advantage of the heights.

''It's a pretty breathtaking view,'' Rooker says of the patio 15 to 17 feet above the water. And of where the pergola is situated, which is higher up than the patio ''it feels like you're in the trees.''

In the backyard, the landscape companies were asked to install more retaining walls, steps and patios, which are paved with travertine from Andy's Stone, who also provided the bullnose treads. Large limestone rocks and granite boulder were used as accents.

The bases for all the walls consisted of course, crushed limestone rock 24'' - deep and 20'' - 25'' back, with a layer of geogrid every other course, followed by three feet of block to ground level. Four sizes of block from the Europa collection in Abbey Blend pattern, and Autumn Blend tone make up the walls: 8'' x 18'', 8'' x 9'', 4'' x 18'' and 4'' x 9''. The caps are from the same collection. Dark brown cypress mulch was set down in the planters.

Other retaining walls topped with planters lead up to a large engineered wall, which tops out at the backyard.

All the walls have a base of 24 inches of crushed limestone that is more course than class five. On top of that is three feet of block to ground level. Tumbled stone from Allan Block's Europa collection were used for the wall blocks, which came in four different sizes, and the caps. The same products were also used for the steps up the slope.

The circular patio has a base of 24 inches of compacted class five limestone and one inch of sand, which was then surfaced with mahogany-colored Britton pavers from Anchor Block.

Smaller retaining walls were installed in the backyard along with patios paved with Andy's Stone travertine, which was also used for the treads on all steps in that area.

The project was worked on each summer for four years.

''Every summer there was a new dimension and a new element,'' said Rooker.

And they came together handsomely.