Service Areas
Ten places around the Perimeter, four different county rulebooks
A steep river lot in Vinings, a rebuilt house in Smyrna and a forty-year-old subdivision in Peachtree Corners share the same Piedmont clay and almost nothing else. Each page covers what the ground, the canopy and the local rules do in that place.
Dunwoody
A DeKalb County city of 51,683, incorporated in 2008, just over three miles east. Wooded subdivision stock on the same Piedmont clay, under a different set of local permits.
Brookhaven
DeKalb County, 55,161 people, incorporated in 2012 and about five miles southeast. Older housing on tighter lots, with Nancy Creek running through the middle of it.
Roswell
North Fulton, 92,833 people, about seven and a half miles north across the Chattahoochee. Larger wooded lots, steeper river ground, and the same county as Sandy Springs.
Chamblee
A DeKalb County city of 30,164, about five miles southeast. Smaller lots, a lot of recent rebuilding, and yards where every square foot has to earn its place.
Doraville
DeKalb County, 10,623 people, about six miles east. Post-war housing on flatter ground than most of this list, which changes what a yard needs.
Vinings
A Cobb County census designated place of 12,581 across the river, about seven and a half miles west. Steep river ground, and unincorporated, so the rules come from the county.
Smyrna
Cobb County, 55,663 people, about ten miles west. A great deal of rebuilding on older lots, which means new houses on old ground.
Marietta
The Cobb County seat, 60,972 people, about ten miles northwest. The oldest housing stock on this list and the most established gardens on it.
Alpharetta
North Fulton, 65,818 people, about eleven miles north. Newer subdivisions on rolling ground, often with covenants that shape what a front yard can be.
Peachtree Corners
Gwinnett County, 42,243 people, incorporated in 2012 and about eight miles northeast. Wooded 1970s and 1980s subdivisions on ground that falls toward the river.
How far it reaches
Most of the work happens in Sandy Springs and the ring immediately around it. Straight-line distances from the middle of Sandy Springs, taken from the Census Gazetteer, put Dunwoody at about 3 miles, Brookhaven and Chamblee at around 5, Doraville at 6, Roswell and Vinings at 7 to 8, Peachtree Corners at 8, Smyrna and Marietta at around 10, and Alpharetta at 11. Those are straight lines rather than drive times, and anyone who has sat on I-285 knows the difference.
Beyond that ring the geography opens up quickly into Johns Creek, Milton, Tucker and the rest of the northern arc. Work out that far is possible on larger scopes where a single mobilisation makes sense, and it is worth asking about rather than assuming either way.
Why the county line matters more than the mileage
The four counties on this page each run their own permitting. Sandy Springs, Roswell and Alpharetta are in Fulton. Dunwoody, Brookhaven, Chamblee and Doraville are in DeKalb. Vinings, Smyrna and Marietta are in Cobb. Peachtree Corners is in Gwinnett. The Sandy Springs rules that shape so much of the work in this city, the 18-inch tree removal threshold, the 1,000 square foot land disturbance trigger, the 75-foot stream buffer, are Sandy Springs rules and do not travel across the line.
What does travel is state law and district rule. Georgia limits outdoor landscape irrigation to the hours between 4 p.m. and 10 a.m. statewide, with a 30-day exemption for newly installed plants, seed and turf. The Erosion and Sedimentation Act establishes a 25-foot buffer along the banks of state waters and 50 feet along designated trout streams, and those buffers apply to small residential work even where the state land-disturbing activity permit does not. And all four counties sit inside the Metro North Georgia Water Planning District, whose water-efficiency requirements govern new landscape irrigation systems connected to a public water supply.
The other constant is the Chattahoochee. The river corridor protected under the Metropolitan River Protection Act runs from immediately downstream of Buford Dam to the Fulton and Douglas county boundaries and covers land within 2,000 feet of the banks. If a property is anywhere near the water, that band is the first thing to check. The buffers guide explains what it stops you building.
Find out what the yard would cost
Call (404) 737-3568 or use the quote form, and a Sandy Springs landscaping company prices the work at no charge.