For property owners
A patio that drains, lasts, and looks the way you imagined
A patio is the room you use most in summer and notice most when it goes wrong. Lippy slabs, puddles, and green slime all trace back to the same thing: the bit under the slabs.
- Typical cost
- $2,000 to $8,000 depending on size, material, and access
- Typical timeline
- 4 to 12 working days on site
Where it goes wrong
- Slabs laid on dabs or sand instead of a full mortar bed, so they rock, crack, and go lippy
- No fall away from the house, so water pools and runs back toward the building
- Cheap, non-vitrified stone that stains, cracks in frost, and grows algae fast
What to check before you sign
- That slabs will be laid on a full mortar bed over a proper sub-base, not spot-dabbed
- The fall, ideally away from the house, and how surface water will drain
- The material spec, porosity, and frost resistance, especially for natural stone
- Insurance and traceable reviews of real, finished patios
The patio is the room you live in all summer
When the weather turns, the patio becomes the most-used part of the house. It is also the part where a cut corner shows fastest. Slabs that rock the first time someone leans on the table. Puddles that will not clear. A green film of algae across stone that was supposed to look like a magazine spread. Every one of those traces back to what happens under the slabs and how the water is meant to leave.
A good patio is mostly invisible work. The visible slab is the easy part.
Laid on a full mortar bed
The single most common patio failure is slabs laid on spot dabs of mortar or on loose sand, instead of a full mortar bed over a compacted sub-base. The hollow gaps let each slab flex and lift, and within a season you have a wobbly, lippy, cracked surface. Done properly, every slab sits on a solid bed and stays exactly where it was laid. It costs more time. It is the whole difference.
The fall is mandatory
Water has to leave the patio, and it has to leave in the right direction. A proper fall, a gentle slope away from your house, sheds rainwater and stops the pooling that breeds algae and frost damage. A patio that falls toward the building sends water back against the wall, which is a far more expensive problem than a slippery slab. Getting this right is basic, and getting it wrong is common.
Match with someone who lays your material properly
Porcelain and natural stone both make beautiful patios and both punish a contractor who does not know the material. Porcelain needs the right primer and a skilled hand. Natural stone varies wildly in porosity and frost resistance. We match you with contractors whose reviews and finished work show they lay the surface you want correctly, with the insurance to back it. You pick the look. We make sure the hands are safe.
Questions, answered straight
Why do patio slabs become wobbly or lippy?
Almost always because they were laid on spot dabs of mortar or on sand instead of a full, solid mortar bed over a compacted sub-base. The gaps under the slab let it flex, crack, and lift at the edges, which is what lippy means. A patio laid on a full bed over proper foundations stays flat. The shortcut is invisible on day one and obvious within a year.
How much fall does a patio need?
Enough to shed water, typically about a 1 to 2 percent slope, roughly a quarter inch per foot, running away from your house. Too little and water pools and grows algae. Worse, a fall toward the house can send rainwater back against the wall. Getting the fall right is basic competence, and getting it wrong is one of the most common patio failures we see.
Is natural stone or porcelain better for a patio?
Both can be excellent, both can be sold badly. Quality porcelain is dense, frost-proof, and low-maintenance but needs skilled laying and the right primer. Natural stone looks beautiful but varies hugely in porosity and frost resistance, and cheap stone stains and cracks. The material matters less than the contractor knowing how to lay the one you choose. That is what our vetting checks for.
For property owners
Get paving done right, by someone we have already vetted.
Tell us the job and the ZIP code. We match you with insured, reviewed contractors who actually turn up.