Concrete Pavers vs. Natural Stone vs. Porcelain: Which Is Best for Coastal Georgia?

You’re looking at three samples on a table, all with different prices and different people telling you theirs is the one that lasts here in coastal Georgia. That’s where a lot of people end up feeling stuck. The photos all look good, so you’re not sure how to decide. But nobody has explained to you what changes underneath the patio when you switch from one material to the other, and what’s underneath determines what kind of shape it’s in after 10 years.

My name is Randy Thompson, founder of All-Out Hardscapes LLC. We have built more than 150 patios, walkways, and outdoor living spaces over 10 years across Savannah and the Coastal Lowcountry, from Wilmington Island to Savannah Quarters. I’m a Techo-Bloc Pro certified installer. When a homeowner wants a full custom design, that call comes straight to me, so I’ve walked people through this exact comparison more times than I can count.

Here’s what I’ve learned after all of my experience. The surface of the patio is a decision you make based on looks, but what goes under the surface is the decision you make that determines how long the patio will actually last. But the two are tied together, because tile means you have to use a different foundation than concrete pavers or natural stone use. When you figure that out first, the pricing will make more sense to you.

Which Surface Holds Up Best in a Coastal Georgia Backyard?

Concrete pavers, for most yards around here, are the best choice. They are able to withstand our ground, our rain, and our heat. They come in the widest range of colors, shapes, and sizes, and they sit on a base that drains water instead of holding it.

Natural stone is very similar and it’s closer in price than most people expect. We use natural stone as the umbrella term for travertine, marble, slate, and sandstone, because on a job site they all behave the same. Installed, natural stone lands in the same range as concrete pavers, and it goes down on the same kind of base. If stone is the look you want, you’re not paying for an expensive upgrade to get it.

Tile is the one that changes things the most. Porcelain and marble are both under the tile category because they both have to be wet set, which means they are mortared onto concrete. That’s not necessarily a downside, it’s just how tile works. It does mean that your choice is not just between 3 types of surfaces, the choice is really between two types of builds: a flexible patio set on stone, or a rigid patio set on concrete.

What Has to Happen Underneath Each One?

Our base is 4 inches of clean number 57 stone with a 2 inch bedding layer of clean number 789 chip stone on top of it. Number 57 is washed angular gravel roughly an inch across. Number 789 is a smaller washed chip. Clean means the fines, the dust and sand-sized particles, are washed out, so there are open gaps between the rocks. That’s what open-graded means, and it eliminates the sand bedding layer that most patios in this market are set on.

Rain that hits a patio built on an open-graded base runs right down through the joints, through the chip layer, into the number 57 stone, and out into the ground. The patio is its own drain, water doesn’t pool or sit underneath. Natural stone sets into the exact same build. Both are flexible systems, which means the pieces stay independent, they aren’t mortared together, so the surface can stand some ground movement without breaking.

Tile doesn’t work that way, and people don’t really talk about this in a showroom. Wet set means mortar, and mortar needs something rigid to bond to, so there is a concrete slab under a tile patio. Concrete doesn’t drain. It sheds water across the top, so the water has to drain via the slope and the edges instead of in the base. A rigid surface also doesn’t flex and move the way a flexible one does. When the ground under one piece of concrete shifts, the concrete has to give somewhere, which causes it to crack. So our first question about tile is never about the tile. We have to determine whether a concrete surface will work in the spot where your patio is going to go. Under a covered outdoor room, or on a slab that is already there and sound, the answer is yes.

What Actually Moves the Price on All Three?

Three things determine the price on all three surfaces. The first is the material and the product line you pick. Every category has a low end and a high end option. With concrete pavers alone the difference between the two is in the density of the stone, the color technology, and how long the face will last without looking worn.

The second variable is what has to be built underneath. An open-graded stone base and a poured concrete surface are two very different types of work, and that affects the price before we start talking about color.

The third is how much cutting and fitting we would need to do for your yard. Straight runs and square corners cut fast. Curves, radiuses, and inlays all have to be done by hand. One of the lines we carry is built to be laid in any design and any radius without cutting at all, which makes a huge difference in the labor on a curved walkway.

Now that you know those three main variables, here’s what the three surfaces cost when installed in our market. These are labor and materials for the patio itself. It doesn’t include the lighting, fire features, or furniture that go on top of it.

• Concrete pavers: $25 to $35 per square foot installed, sitting on an open-graded stone base.
• Natural stone: $25 to $35 per square foot installed, sitting on an open-graded stone base.
• Tile (porcelain, marble): $18 to $45 per square foot installed, wet set on concrete.

Concrete Pavers: What Do You Get for the Money?

How concrete pavers get built

We excavate, build the 4 inch number 57 base, screed the 2 inch number 789 bedding layer, set the pavers into it, and lock the perimeter with a rigid border that keeps the outside row from creeping outward as people walk on the patio over time.

Nothing in that process uses sand, and nothing is glued down. Each paver is a separate piece that is set on clean stone, which is why a paver patio can be opened up, worked on, and put back without using any heavy tools.

What concrete pavers cost installed

$25 to $35 per square foot, including labor and materials. The paver we set most often is a premium line, and upgrading from the entry level line adds about $1,000 on a backyard patio. That is the cheapest quality upgrade on the whole project, so we always highly recommend doing it.

Permeable pavers, which are concrete pavers with joints engineered to let water pass straight through the surface, are also in that $25 to $35 range.

When concrete pavers fit your yard

Pick concrete pavers when you want to have a lot of choices. Concrete pavers have tons of options for color, size, texture, and shape. Much more than the other two categories. That’s actually important when you’re matching brick, stucco, or trim on a house you didn’t build.

They are also your best choice if the design has curves and cuts in it, and when you need a little room in your budget. There is a line of pavers for a tight budget and a line of pavers for a more expensive showpiece patio, but the base under both is identical.

Natural Stone: What Do You Get for the Money?

How natural stone gets built

Same excavation, same 4 inches of number 57, same 2 inch chip bedding layer. Natural stone is installed the same way the pavers are, and it stays a flexible system for the same reason: the pieces stay independent, they aren’t mortared together.

The difference is in the pieces themselves. Quarried stone varies in thickness and size from one piece to the next, so bringing every piece level is slower hand work than laying a manufactured paver that’s the same every time.

What natural stone costs installed

$25 to $35 per square foot, labor and materials, which is the same range as concrete pavers. A lot of people are surprised by this. The difference between a manufactured paver and quarried stone is not as big of a deal as what showroom material pricing wants you to think.

The stone itself is a smaller piece of that number than most people assume. Natural stone material by itself runs $7 to $11 per square foot before anyone installs it, and that range has moved up recently as stone prices have climbed. Selecting a premium stone pushes you toward the top of it. The base underneath stays exactly the same either way, you’re just buying better stone.

When natural stone fits your yard

Choose natural stone when it’s all about the look. No two pieces carry the same veining or the same color, and that variation is the whole reason people like it.

It also works great when you want that drainage capability that a paver patio has without the manufactured look. Same base, same flexibility, different surface.

Tile: What Do You Get for the Money?

How tile gets built

Tile is wet set. There is a concrete surface, mortar goes on it, and the tile bonds to that. Porcelain and marble both install this way, which is why we group them under one category.

That makes a tile patio a rigid system, which completely changes how water gets dealt with. Instead of draining down through the base, water runs across the top of the patio, so the slope and the edges have to carry it off.

What tile costs installed

Tile runs $18 to $45 per square foot, labor and materials, which is the widest range of the three types. The bottom of that range is actually less than concrete pavers or natural stone cost.

A couple different things determine the price though. The tile you choose runs from a low end porcelain all the way up to marble, and the concrete that goes underneath is part of the way it’s installed, it’s not optional.

When tile fits your yard

Tile fits under a covered outdoor room, where the surface stays protected and the rigid build doesn’t have to fight the weather as much. It’s a good choice when a sound concrete surface already exists in the spot you want finished.

It also works well when you want the same floor running from inside the house to outside it, which is a look you can’t get with concrete pavers or natural stone.

When a Cheaper Surface Is the Smarter Buy

If the budget is tight, take the entry-level paver. We sell it, we build it on the same 4 inch and 2 inch base, and it is a real patio, it’s not compromised in any way. The base is never where the savings should come from. It’s much better to install an entry-level paver over a correct base than a premium paver over a bad one.

If your budget is firm and the bottom of the tile range works with it, tile is the cheaper square footage of the three. And if what you actually need is a small landing outside a side door, we don’t recommend premium tile, that money would do more good somewhere else in the yard.

How Do You Pick Between the Three for Your Own Backyard?

Answer the build question first. Do you want a flexible patio that drains through itself, or is a concrete surface going to work well in that part of the yard? That one answer will tell you whether tile will even work for your project.

Then pick the look, and do it while you’re outside. Put the samples against the actual brick or siding, in the sun, at the time of day you use the yard the most. Get one wet and step on it. These materials differ in how much heat they hold, how much water they take in, and how much grip they have wet. Taking a few minutes in your own yard with a sample will tell you more than a showroom will.

Then pick the line inside that category that fits your budget. If the design is fully custom, sit down with the person who’s going to design it. That conversation comes straight to us. Pavers are the piece of this trade we know down to the product line, and matching a material to a layout, a house, and a drainage situation is not something you decide by looking at a catalogue.