Evenings Outside

The first issue: why we started a magazine, and the hours after dark when a well-built backyard finally pays you back.

Why we built this

The Hardworkers has been in construction for more than fifteen years, and this magazine is the part of the job we never had room for on a proposal: the reasoning behind a detail, the material that did not work, the yard that taught us something.

Our first issue is about the hours after dark, when a well-built backyard finally pays you back.

Inside the 3D Design Walkthroughp. 01
Fifteen Years of Arizona Groundp. 02
Winter Is Build Seasonp. 03

Process · 4 min read

Inside the 3D Design Walkthrough

Why every Hardworkers project starts with a rendering you can walk through before we break ground.

Design decisions are cheap on a screen and expensive in the ground. That is why we build a 3D model of the yard before demolition — the pool in position, the pergola at real height, the plant material at mature size.

Clients see the sight lines from the kitchen window, the shade at four o'clock, and how the deck meets the house. We move the fire pit on screen in five minutes instead of moving gas and electrical on site in five days.

The Hardworkers · December 2025

Our story · 6 min read

Fifteen Years of Arizona Ground

What a decade and a half of building in the Valley teaches you about soil, heat and people.

The Valley's ground is caliche and decomposed granite, and it does not forgive a shallow footing. We learned that the loud way, on a driveway in 2011 that had to be rebuilt at our cost.

The other lesson is patience. The builds that still look new a decade later were the ones where the base work, the grade and the cure time were not rushed to hit a photograph.

The Hardworkers · December 2025

Planning · 4 min read

Winter Is Build Season

The case for breaking ground in the cool months, from the first issue onward.

A pool started in June finishes in October, right when the yard stops being used. Start in the fall and the whole project settles through a mild winter and greets its first summer finished.

It is the advice we give most often and the one most often ignored until the following spring. We wrote it down so we can point at it.

The Hardworkers · December 2025

Project spotlight

Pergola Over the Pool

“The pergola made the pool a room. We sit under it and the water does the rest.”

Where: Mesa, Arizona
Scope: Cantilever pergola, sheer descent, travertine deck
Timeline: 11 weeks
Materials: Cantilever structure, travertine, sheer descent water feature

Departments

Notes from the crew

Field notes

Why a magazine

Because a proposal cannot explain why a four-inch base matters. A magazine can.

Ask the builder

Do you still take new projects?

Yes — the calendar runs a quarter or two ahead. The earlier in the season you call, the more room there is to build it right.

Later issueFire & Light

Request a quote Call (559) 355-6577

The monthly issue

Get The Hardworkers Magazine by email, every month.

One issue on the first of every month — the cover story, the project spotlight and the material notes, written from our own job sites around the Valley. Free, and you can stop any time.