🏡 Better Homes Brick pavers, DIY or contract it out
- Thread starter jbigalow
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My back hurts just thinking about it. I’m a DIY absolutely everything I can guy and I’d contract it out. Grading and leveling everything seems like a huge meticulous mess. And you get no warranty on workmanship when you put it in yourself.
At the bare minimum I would have them do that. I have no patience or skill for that shit. I contracted the whole job out when I did pavers in front of my house and where my pool pump/filter go
So I did my own patio. It is a lot of work and getting rid of the material was a pain in the ass without a truck/trailer to bring it to the dump. You would at least want to rent a mini track loader. I am glad we did it and we did save money but I could have saved a lot more time if I rented the track loader for like a week. My only real thing is I would have done a little bit less slope then what unilock recomended but it still looks fantastic and changed our backyard. For the curves I just rented a concrete saw and just cut them in place and it worked great overall.
Your materials costs are going to be higher than you think. I ordered everything from Lurvey as they had the most reasonable delivery stuff and would work with homeowners on this stuff. A lot of other places just weren't interesting in taking my money.
Your materials costs are going to be higher than you think. I ordered everything from Lurvey as they had the most reasonable delivery stuff and would work with homeowners on this stuff. A lot of other places just weren't interesting in taking my money.
Nice work, huge difference. I'm assuming there was a deck out there prior to this.
We bought the house as a fixer upper in 2017 and this thing was basically completely rotted out, with the previous rotted out boards below it. The siding and roof have since been replaced along with new back doors.
1. Acquire quotes
2. Make a landscaper selection and schedule
3. Inspect their work when complete
4. Write the check
You will thank us all later
I would say the biggest thing is make sure they are using the actual proper amount of base material, dug to a proper depth/grade. I know this is the place a few guys try and cheap out as it is less work to dig down the required depth vs just throwing down 2-3 inches of junk gravel and slapping it in.
Here is my take on a landscaping company’s I had a fire pit made and patio extended and had a paver mailbox put in.
1. Get it all in writing in a signed contract
2. Make sure u pick out out what u want from the uni-lock catalog.
3. Start time and end estimated time especially if u have kids or dogs this can be a pain if they are in your back yard.
4. Deposit when they drop off the material and pay the 50% balance at half way point need be. U don’t know these MF’s if use a small co which u will get the best deal. Guy pulls up on 22 platinum dually tremor just know u are making that a few of those $1500 payments lol.
5 ask is if it will be sealed in the quote.
6 warranty
1. Get it all in writing in a signed contract
2. Make sure u pick out out what u want from the uni-lock catalog.
3. Start time and end estimated time especially if u have kids or dogs this can be a pain if they are in your back yard.
4. Deposit when they drop off the material and pay the 50% balance at half way point need be. U don’t know these MF’s if use a small co which u will get the best deal. Guy pulls up on 22 platinum dually tremor just know u are making that a few of those $1500 payments lol.
5 ask is if it will be sealed in the quote.
6 warranty
I had a few issues with him that were resolved with getting loud which should not have come to that. He was a referral from my cousin which they did a great job at her house and loved her fire pit. This guy went above and beyond at my house with the work he did from design to the layout with pillars, fire pit seating, lighting, walk ways and patio extension u would have thought I spent big money but I didn’t . Everyone that sees his work at my house compared to my cousins ask if it’s the same guy cause it’s night and day with the work he did. It’s been 2 years and not one issue with his work but I will not recommend him to anyone cause of him trying to be shady on trying to bump me on price a few times and took way too long on what he had said in the time to finish. I didn’t like him asking me every week for more money to pay his employees I said I paid u 50% already and when u are done u get the other half so hurry up. I truly believe he had way to many jobs and not enough guys and had guys at different locations. I guess that’s what he does after speaking to my cousin they bumped them $1500 from the first contract so he basically under cuts everyone and gets the job. He met me and it didn’t work so guess if he does 10 jobs and he bumps 8 his percentage is good. Its cost him lots of money trying to be shady cause he could have had 6 extra jobs already from my referrals.
My neighbor 2 houses down had his driveway done last year and it is nice but nowhere near as nice a patio paver driveway.
I have pavers edging my driveway/walkway in front and a larger paver patio in the back. I would not recommend a paver patio in this climate as the frost heaving requires maintenance. Also, do you have larger trees in your yard? If so, the roots will lift the pavers.
Every couple of years I have to reset the bricks. Additionally you need to power wash every few years, add polymeric sand, and then seal if you want to have a wet/matte look. This is a multiday process too.
My advice, go with a good quality stamped concrete patio.
Every couple of years I have to reset the bricks. Additionally you need to power wash every few years, add polymeric sand, and then seal if you want to have a wet/matte look. This is a multiday process too.
My advice, go with a good quality stamped concrete patio.
Yeah they definitely look nicer, but they're usually pricier and require a lot more maintenance.
Agreed. 6 inch base of grade 5 minimum. I might need 10 in some spots as my yard it sloped towards the house.
I have a stamped concrete patio now that has a fairly large crack in it. It could've been from tree roots ( which the trees are now gone) or it could be from the family of groundhogs that lived under there before my dog killed them all.
I hear if you do the base properly then the amount of shifting will be small. You will have the same issue with Concrete only you can't fix it if it's stained and stamped.
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