Part of the planning in the house design, was to place the building on the site in a way that could create a natural retaining wall out of sand stone that was showing in the existing rock cropping. Although soil maps from the local county GIS data system are not 100% accurate, the offer the best possible way to identify where the sandstone started on the lot. Through some luck, and planning, we were able to carve out a natural retaining wall that replace a large amount of landscaping material and work. In addition, it is already turning into a beautiful feature.