Hardscapes
in Charlotte, NC

Base. A patio is only as good as the compacted stone underneath it, and once the pavers are down nobody can see whether that work was done. That is precisely why it gets shortcut. We dig to depth and compact in lifts. It is unglamorous, nobody photographs it, and it is the entire difference between a patio at five years and a patio at twenty.

Travertine stays much cooler underfoot and is the nicest thing to walk on wet, for more money. Paver is durable, repairable, and the value pick. Broom-finished concrete is cheapest, cracks on its own schedule, and cannot be patched invisibly once it does.

Past roughly four feet, or anywhere it is holding up a driveway or a structure, yes. It needs geogrid and drainage whatever the height. The failed walls we get called out to look at almost always failed because water had nowhere to go, not because somebody picked the wrong block.

Closely, rarely perfectly, and we will say so up front. Paver lines get discontinued and stone weathers, so a surface that is a few years old will not match new material off the pallet. The better answer is usually a deliberate border or transition rather than a near-miss that catches your eye every time you walk past it.