“This has always been my line of work since I was a teenager,” Redding said. “I grew up working outside. It was very natural. We were taught to do farming, growing things.”
However, what began as a natural inclination toward outdoor work has evolved into a distinguished 25-year career that encompasses design, installation, and education.
Finding Her Foundation
Redding attended a vocational high school, where she majored in horticulture and forestry. The program’s unique structure—alternating weeks between classroom learning and real-world experience—provided her with hands-on exposure to the industry while she was still a student.
“From the time I was a junior, every other week I went to work at a nursery,” she said. “I fell in love with plants first, and that drew me to design.”
It was there that she encountered the textbook that would shape her trajectory: a landscape design book by Jack Ingels. Something about his approach to design inspired her to pursue formal education in landscape design and construction in New York.
Evolution from Designer to Builder
Redding initially thought she’d remain strictly on the design side. After completing her education, she took a position as a landscape designer down south, working in that capacity for several years. But it wasn’t quite the right fit.
“I have to be busy. I must touch stuff,” Redding said. “It was tough for me being a designer and never having the experience of doing.”
She took a role that might initially seem counterintuitive. She took a step back, relocated to the Northeast, and accepted a position as a laborer to gain field experience.
Through her field experience, Redding started to see the hierarchy of roles and decided she wanted to be a mason, “the top of the food chain.”
She pursued masonry skills seriously, knowledge particularly valuable in the Northeast’s restoration-heavy market.
As she developed her masonry skills, she got an unexpected opportunity. She was selected to be on the crew for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC. Working on the show burst the magic of television, but it also led to significant professional growth.
She was initially assigned basic landscaping tasks but quickly seized the chance to work as a mason tender on the show. She impressed so many of the other crew members that she left the show with a bevy of new job opportunities.
“I had about three different companies at the end of that offer me a job because I understood the work and I was just on it,” Redding said.
Establishing a Reputation
What sets Redding and her work apart is her deep respect for the artisans who came before her.
She said she feels lucky to have had the opportunity to learn from older masons who taught her traditional techniques—moving stone slabs through houses on rollers, hand-drilling with primitive bits, feathering and wedging stone the old-fashioned way.
“Nobody created something the way you created it. Nobody built something the way you built it because it’s all custom at that point,” she said.
She became an expert in stonework, masonry, and hardscaping, viewing it as the “backdrop of an entire landscape,” and transitioned to working as a supervisor in the hardscaping division of a large company.
After a decade as a supervisor, Redding was ready for a new challenge and jumped into business ownership, establishing Logan’s Landscaping in Scarborough, Maine.
Her established reputation helped secure initial clients, but she learned many hard lessons in her first years in business.
“It was an odd place to be when you have as much experience as I carried with me, but you’ve never had to do the whole kit and caboodle where you go out and meet the client, estimate the client, design the client, schedule, install it, and then do that over and over,” Redding said. “It was hard to make sure that you’re competitive. That first summer was both nerve-racking and blissful. We had enough work to work steadily.”
Finding Her Niche
Today, Logan’s Landscaping specializes in what Redding calls “boutique landscaping.” Her projects combine hardscape and softscape elements with special features, such as fire features, water features, putting greens, or raised gardens. It’s a perfect blend of all her diverse skill sets and interests.
“I just want to do it right and charge the right wage for the right job,” she said. “I’m confident enough now that you can ask me to build anything, and I can build it. Now I want to build it right and make sure that you don’t get screwed in the process.”
Throughout her career, Redding has had the opportunity to work on numerous exciting projects. She worked on actress Demi Moore’s house, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s home, and the CEO of Budweiser’s home, among other high-profile clients.
But what drives Redding the most is the permanence of her work and the legacy of transformation she leaves on each project.
“I love going back to a client that we’ve done something for so long ago and seeing how the landscape matures. To have them look at you and be like, ‘It’s the best decision we’ve ever made. We love it here. You’ve changed our life.’ That’s what we’re supposed to do: change your life,” Redding said. “You literally can see people function in the areas that you’ve created, and that’s the exciting part for me.”
Advice for Aspiring Hardscapers
If you’re considering hardscaping as a career path, Redding offers a few pieces of advice.
“Be true to yourself. Know what facet you want to get into and then understand that facet will evolve and change as your passion for that facet changes,” she said. “Find those people that you connect with the best. People who are around you in the industry, learn from them, and be respectful of them.”
As a woman in a male-dominated field, Redding encourages other women to take a chance in the industry, jumping in fearlessly. Be confident in yourself and make sure you learn enough to back up any bravado with your work.
“As a woman, when you enter a room, you either have to have the respect of every person in that room or be the most fearful thing anybody’s ever seen,” Redding said. “Don’t be afraid to try.”
Shaping the Next Generation of Hardscapers
Now in her 40s, Redding also finds herself driven by a desire to give back to the industry and to play a role in training the next generation of hardscape professionals.
She will be leading an education session on paver fundamentals at the 2025 Hardscape North America in Louisville, Kentucky. She said she always aims to engage students and bridge the gap between theory and practice.
“Installers relate to other installers,” Redding said. “I have lots of conversations with people all the time about why we do what we do. We have to build things to last outside. We don’t have a roof. We don’t have seven other people who could come in and do the finished work. It’s on us, so you need to understand why we do what we do and why there are people who spend so much time and effort engineering these things.”
It’s essential for Redding to be part of the legacy of teaching that shaped her career.
“I wouldn’t be where I am if those people who didn’t do it so well didn’t teach,” she said. “I would not at all be the mason that I am today if I did not have a handful of guys who were willing to look at me and be like, you’ve got what it takes.’ I owe a great deal of my career to those people who take the time to explain something, and that’s all I want to do, too. Hopefully, I can do it well.”
