Van Riper Land & Home

09/18/2026

Hey everyone! We're a small, Deerfield-based construction company, currently booking work for this winter.

Our winter services include:

•Trim carpentry

•Pine paneling, including walls, ceilings, and wainscoting

•Tile flooring and backsplashes

•Built-ins and shelving installation

•Window and door installation

•Drywall, painting, and wood finishing as part of other projects

•Other interior remodeling services

We also offer foundation-to-finish construction of:

•Decks

•Porches

•Other home additions

As long as we get the foundation work done before the ground freezes, your project can be completed this winter!

I can help with functional as well as aesthetic design decisions, not just installation. I can do 3D renderings if needed, and I have a strong understanding of why building assemblies fail and can diagnose moisture issues, among other common problems with buildings.

Let me know if you would like me to come help you think through your project, or if you just want a quote on a specific installation!

09/16/2026

Today, I revisited this wall that I built earlier this year because the neighbor wants to get theirs done, too. I offer competitive pricing on retaining walls as well as patios, fences, and decks! I can often repair these things too, rather than whole replacements!

09/08/2026

Total transformation at this property! We turned one awkward side yard into three useful spaces.

Because of the terrain, the original house was essentially built sideways. The front door faced the side of the property and wasn’t even visible from the road. Now there is a clear entry facing the road, with a walkway leading directly to it.

Inside, the new mudroom gives them plenty of room to sit down, take off snowy boots and coats, and store gear before entering the main part of the house. Outside, we replaced the underused lawn around the entry with plantings to make the approach much more interesting and inviting.

One of the less obvious effects of the addition is that it also gave them a backyard.

That may sound counterintuitive because we technically took some outdoor space away by building the addition. But the addition itself created a privacy barrier between the public entrance and the rest of the yard. We reinforced that separation by replacing an old walkway with a privacy planter.

The result is a much more private outdoor space where the homeowners can actually relax without feeling like someone approaching the front door might accidentally wander into their backyard.

We were also able to address a longstanding basement water problem by installing landscape drainage to intercept incoming water and carry it away from the house instead of allowing it to reach the basement.

What had been one awkward side yard now functions as a clear front entrance, a practical mudroom, and a private backyard.

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I’m also lining up construction work for late fall and winter. If you’ve been considering an addition, porch, deck, or interior remodeling project, now is a good time to start planning. Interior work includes tile, pine ceilings and walls, wainscoting, trim, finish carpentry, and other services as needed.

There’s still time for outdoor projects too, including patios, retaining walls, drainage, grading, and fall planting.

Van Riper Land & Home is based in Deerfield and focuses on practical residential construction and site work that improves how the house and land function together. If you have a project in mind, send me a message.

08/27/2026

06/24/2026

06/01/2026

Current native plant availability, with all the info you need to decide which plants are right for you.

Red Columbine Aquilegia canadensis Height: 8–24 inches Spacing: 10–17 inches Light: Sun to shade Moisture: Average to dry Bloom time: Spring to early summer Red columbine is a graceful early-season plant for woodland edges, partly shaded beds, rocky garden pockets, and informal native plantings....

05/29/2026

https://youtu.be/-zsE5K5qECk?si=fA2H5Izh2edMdFn1

A fence doesn’t have to be perfect to be...

05/13/2026

No-Mow May is not beneficial to our native species. Feel free to mow your lawn this May.

If you would like to support native pollinators, butterflies, and birds... grow native plants! The majority of lawn weeds are not native. Some notable exceptions include common blue violet, Quaker ladies, and wild strawberry-- these are native plants and highly beneficial to wildlife.

If you would like to grow a native plant garden, please reach out, we can help!