[Pelican]

I'm faced with a job that I don't have a solid solution for. I've done quite a bit of work for this client this past fall and he has added a request to the project. His home is located on what I'll call a mountainside, I'm not sure the grounds actually meets the requirements of a mountain, but it's not far off.

Facing the home, on the right end of the house is a 2 car garage. To the right of the driveway and the house is an upward bank, at about a 7/12 pitch. The bank is formed by fairly soft shale, which has a thin coating of soil over much of it, exposed rock here and there.

What the client would like is a border about 10' away from the driveway, parallel to it about 110' long. A propane shelter is at one end and a dog pen at the other. He'd like decorative stone laid on the bank between the drive and proposed border.

I'm at a loss at what to do for the border. I've done quite a bit of block work here using Roman Pisa and ideally would build a low wall from the same material. The trouble is getting a solid level base to lay the block on. I've considered notching the shale with my cut off saw to yield a level shelf, but that will be real labor intensive.

Has anyone run into this before or have alternative ideas?