Hardscaping/Interlock examples with ballpark costs?
 

I'm mulling getting some hardscaping done this year - probably closer to end of season. I'm struggling a bit with understanding realistic costs for a quality job beyond a $/sqft - what it really costs for a basic/nice/amazing install.

Would any of you who've worked with local companies mind posting a picture and ballpark cost - <$5k, $5-10k etc? I don't mind if you include the company name or not but I'm particularly interested in:

- Front steps and walkway replacing builder specials
- Small to medium sized patios
- Armour stone retaining walls
- Boulder installations

Thanks in advance if you can spare a few mins to help. I think it will be a useful reference for others.

See my best guesses in red below.

To give you an example, I did the patio around my pool last summer myself and for roughly 1000 square feet it cost me about $15K. I had estimates from local companies to do it and it was more than double what it ended up costing me. The $15K included all stones, base material, renting equipment, and paying my pool company a bit to have them do the excavation while they were digging my pool.

That's an amazing job gerapau. Any way you can pm me and give me some fundamental steps on how to do it on my own and where you got your product from? I have a general idea what needs to be done but it looks overwhelming.

I got the pavers/wall stones from Central Precast off Merivale. They gave me their contractor rates (about 25% off their regular rates) because I bought enough stones from them.

Most of your work goes into the base of your patio. Once you get that done it is like a big jigsaw puzzle. You should be able to get a good idea of what goes into building your base by looking for information on the paver manufacturer websites. They all have documentation on their websites describing what is required to install the pavers/wall stones/steps, etc... Keep in mind that when they say you need between 8" and 12" of base the 8" is for sandy soil and 12" is for mostly clay (which we have in most areas around Ottawa). Ensure you get the base right because you don't want to have to redo your patio in a year or two when it moves because of frost.

Make sure you also consider things like drainage so that you don't get water pooling on your patio after rain storms. Getting the drainage right was probably one of the things that took the most time for me. That and all the cuts I had to do for around the pool. To make things go easier try to come up with a plan that reduces the number of cuts you need to make (tough with a round pool).

And buy lots of pairs of work gloves! I think I went through 6 or 7 pairs doing this. They wear out quickly especially when you use a wet saw to cut your pavers.

Nice!!

We were looking to do something exactly like this.

Was this the first time you've done this or do you have experience working with stone?

I had done a small patio and step and walkway before. This was much bigger though. It is tough work. Lost about 20 lbs doing it. In total I think there was about 60 tons of gravel, a few tons of sand, 10 yards of topsoil, 8 yards of mulch, 20 tons of pavers/wall stones. Not sure I would do it again soon but I am glad I did it.

I will say that after the cold winter that we had absolutely nothing moved. Very happy about that.