What Are the Best Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Patio Installer in Savannah?

My name is Randy Thompson and I started All-Out Hardscapes LLC. In the last 10 or more years my crew and I have built more than 150 patios, walkways, and outdoor living spaces in Savannah and the Coastal Lowcountry, from Wilmington Island to Savannah Quarters. Unfortunately, during that time we’ve had to pull up a lot of other people’s work. Most of the time when a patio doesn’t work it’s not because someone had a bad contractor. It happened because the homeowner just didn’t know which questions to ask to see if they were getting a patio that would last for a lifetime or one that would start sinking in just a few years.

That’s the hard part of hiring a builder in this market. Almost everyone will smile, show you some pictures and then give you a price. The price is easy enough to compare, but the part you can’t compare easily is what you will never see when the pavers are put in place. The base, the drainage, and how a company will deal with it if something goes wrong on your property.

There is a list I would give to my own family and friends with questions that tell you, before you sign anything, if you are getting a craftsman or just a good salesman. For each one I’ll tell you why it matters and the simple answers that you should get.

The Most Important Question: What Base Will You Build My Patio On?

If you only ask one question, then be sure you ask about the base. The right base is everything, and it’s the one part of your patio you can’t see once the job is done.

Here in the Lowcountry, our soil is sandy and it doesn’t let water drain because of what’s underneath the sand.¹ About 90% of the crews here use sand as their base. They put down about three inches of crushed gravel that’s packed with fine dust called crush-and-run. Then they put about two to three inches of concrete sand that the pavers will sit on. On paper it looks fine but it’s the ground that’s the problem. The fine dust and sand hold water just like a sponge does and sand with lots of water in it doesn’t stay where it’s supposed to. It moves and it settles, and the surface shows all of that movement. The pavers sit on top of the base, so when the base moves your patio and pavers move with it.

We build our patios differently and it’s important that you know why. We use what we call a four-two base, also known as a hybrid base or a permeable-paver base. It has four inches of clean number 57 stone for the foundation, and then a two-inch bedding layer of clean number 789 stone. “Clean” and “open-graded” mean the stone is all the same size with open areas between them and it’s been sifted so that there isn’t any fine dust in it. That way water will go straight through it instead of pooling and acting up. The stone with angles on it bonds together under weight and there isn’t any layer of sand to wash out or move around. That’s the whole idea in dealing with soil on the coast. A patio will fail from underneath and then up, so a crew that installs the right base is giving you a surface that still sits flat in ten years. When you ask a company about the base they use, you want them to tell you that it’s open-graded stone and how deep it is in actual inches, not generic responses like “we use a gravel and sand base” just so they can keep talking to you.

The same reason applies to the smaller details that a cheap bid might cover up. Be sure to ask what they are going to put between the pavers to lock the joints (the joint sand), and how the outer edges will be kept in place (the edge restraint, a hidden border that keeps the border pavers from moving outward over time). A builder who cares about the base will also care about those too, and an answer that is vague about any of those lets you know that they aren’t using the best methods or materials.

Why Isn’t Your Quote the Cheapest?

You should ask this question directly and see how the person answers it.

We will tell you honestly that most people aren’t financially prepared for us. We aren’t the cheapest company for a patio. We are probably one of the most expensive companies in the Lowcountry. It isn’t something we’re proud of, but that’s just how it works out when you’re using the right materials and method. You are paying for a patio that we won’t have to come back and fix in a couple of years.

The question matters more than just the number because with a patio that has pavers, the cheapest way to win the bid is to cut out the part that can’t be seen, which is almost always the base. A crew that gives a bid that’s several thousand dollars less than all the others cuts the price from somewhere. For a patio it’s almost always them cutting corners on things that are important. They might use thinner stone, skip important steps, or use a sand bed instead of open-graded stone. A good company will tell you exactly what their price includes and why it costs what it does. If the only thing a company can tell you about their price is that it’s low, that can be a red flag.

How Will You Communicate With Me Once I’ve Paid a Deposit?

This question is overlooked quite often, and it really shouldn’t be. You’re about to hand a company a large deposit and then wait while your backyard is torn up. How they treat you during the process tells you a lot about them.

We are candid at every step. Sometimes we might over-communicate. As soon as we have a down payment, we will put you on the schedule, and usually we are able to start about a month from there. We will call you at least once a week until the patio is done. If someone were holding eight thousand dollars of our money, we’d want them to call us so we could know they hadn’t run off with our down payment. So that is exactly what we do.

The other part of that is what we do when something goes wrong, because with a real job something eventually will. If we blow a breaker in your house, we have a generator in the truck, and we will tell you about it immediately. If another contractor on the property drills a hole in your wall, we will let you know right away. If there is a rain storm coming we might have to delay construction and we will call you right away to let you know. There are no surprises. When you ask this question, you want a company that will tell you any bad news right away and honestly. If the crew only calls you when they want the next payment, they will deal with a real problem by not telling you about it.

Will You Stand Behind the Patio After You Leave?

The last question is about what happens after the patio is finished and the crew is gone. Your patio isn’t a weekend purchase, it is a big part of your home and you’ll want to know that the company guarantees their work even after they’ve been paid and finished the job.

We think of it this way. If we don’t have to go back to that house again, then it means we’ve done the job right. We’re not giving you something that is built to last only a few years, we build it to last a lifetime. That’s the whole reason we are very particular about the base and the drainage, because those are the things that can cause a patio to fail and a crew to have to come back. We’d rather get everything right the first time.

When you ask the questions, separate two things that sometimes run together. The pavers themselves will have a warranty from the manufacturer that will cover the stone, but not the workmanship or the base. The installer’s actual work is what will protect you on the build itself. And the best proof of that is a great track record and real credentials. It’s also a good idea to find out if the company is licensed and bonded because that’s the bare minimum credentials a good contractor has. Also ask if the company has a manufacturer certification (we are a certified Techo-Pro installer, the only one in the Lowcountry), and how many patios like yours they’ve actually built in the area. We have built more than 150 across Savannah and the Lowcountry, and that track record is the warranty that really matters.

When the Cheapest Bid Is Actually the Right Call

We’re not going to say every backyard needs the most expensive patio in town. We’re not the right company for every project, and that’s ok with us. If your budget is limited, you don’t plan on staying in the house forever, or you want a small, simple run of pavers and nothing more, then a more basic installer might be right for you and save you some money.

Just make sure you start by knowing the facts. If you choose a sand-bedded patio that costs less, be sure you know what the tradeoff is with your soil. Don’t choose a cheaper company just because a low price was the only thing anyone told you. An honest installer will walk you through that tradeoff even when the cost means you will use a different company. The questions above aren’t to talk you into the most expensive bid. They’re to help you decide and actually know what you are buying.