45° HERRINGBONE
Paver patios & terraces
Herringbone in the field, soldier course at the border. Sized around the furniture you actually own, not a catalogue drawing.
Est. 2009 · NJ HIC #13VH0000000 · ICPI Certified
We build the part
you'll never see
Bluestone, brick and paver work across northern New Jersey. Eight inches of compacted base under a patio, twelve under a driveway. That's the reason ours are still flat in year twenty — and the reason we're rarely the cheapest number you'll get.
What we build
Stone, block and brick —
set the way it lasts
Everything below is installed by our own crews. We don't broker jobs out, which is why the person who priced your project is on site the week it's built.
DRYSTACK / SEGMENTAL
Retaining & seat walls
Engineered and geogrid-reinforced above four feet. Clean stone and filter fabric behind every wall, because walls fail from water, not weight.
90° HERRINGBONE · VEHICULAR
Driveways & aprons
Twelve inches of base, interlocking units laid to resist rutting, and an edge that survives a plow blade in February.
FULL-COLOUR RANGE ASHLAR
Walkways, steps & stoops
Bluestone treads on a block core. Risers held within ⅜" of each other — the difference between a step and a trip.
SOLDIER COURSE · VENEERED
Outdoor kitchens & fire
Block core, stone veneer, granite tops. Gas, water and electric roughed in and inspected before a single stone goes on the face.
FULL-BED & THIN VENEER
Stone veneer, piers & chimneys
Laid over a proper drainage plane with flashing and weep holes. The parts nobody photographs are the parts that keep water out.
IRREGULAR FLAGGING
Pool decks & coping
Cool, non-slip surfaces with mortared coping and a deck pitched away from the shell rather than into it.
SUB-SURFACE
Drainage & grading
French drains, dry wells, catch basins and downspout tie-ins. Water is the reason hardscape fails, so we solve it before we pave over it.
Under the patio
Most of your money
goes underground
Two patios can look identical on the day they're finished. Four winters later, one is flat and one has a dip by the back door. The difference is everything in this drawing below the top layer — and it's the first thing a low bid removes.
This is the section we build to for a residential patio in a freeze-thaw climate. Driveways get twelve inches of base instead of eight.
Paver or bluestone2⅜" · 60 mm
Polymeric joint sandFull joint depth
Bedding course, screeded1"
Compacted base — ¾" quarry process8" · 3 lifts
Woven geotextile separation fabricFull area
Proof-rolled subgradeExcavated 12–14"
Fall⅛" per foot, pitched away from the house on every square foot
Edge restraintSpiked at 10" on centre so the field can't creep outward
CompactionEach lift plate-compacted before the next one goes down
Recent builds
Work you can
go stand on
A sample of the last two seasons. We'll give you addresses of finished jobs near you so you can see them in person before you sign anything.
How a build runs
Eight stages,
in this order
The order matters — every stage below depends on the one above it being done right. You'll know which stage you're in on any given day.
Site walk & layout
We paint the shape on the lawn and shoot the grades. You see the real footprint before you decide anything.
Design & fixed price
A scaled plan, material samples in your hand, and one number — not an allowance and a hope.
Excavation
Utilities marked by the state locate service, then we dig 12–14" below finish grade and haul the spoil off site.
Base
Geotextile down, then ¾" quarry process in three lifts, each one plate-compacted before the next.
Screed
One inch of bedding sand, screeded to ⅛" per foot of fall running away from the house.
Set & cut
Field first, perimeter last. Full pieces where you look, cuts tucked where you don't.
Edge & joints
Restraint spiked at 10" on centre, polymeric sand swept and tamped in, then wet down to set.
Walkthrough
We check the grades with you, clean the site, and register the warranty in your name before we pull off.
Materials
What we lay
We're not tied to one manufacturer. You'll see samples from several in your hand before you choose, and we'll tell you plainly which ones hold colour and which don't.
Techo-BlocManufactured
EP HenryManufactured
CambridgeManufactured
UnilockManufactured
BelgardManufactured
PA BluestoneNatural
Wissahickon SchistNatural
FieldstoneNatural
GraniteNatural
Clay BrickNatural
What homeowners say
Plainly put
They dug out fourteen inches when the other two quotes said six. Four winters in and there isn't a single low spot, including the section that runs across the old fill by the garage.
The estimate was one page with one price on it. Nothing got added later, and when they hit ledge on day two they ate it rather than sending a change order.
Same four guys every day for nine days. They swept the street each evening, which sounds small until you've lived through a job where nobody did.
Where we work
Within an hour
of the shop
We keep our radius tight on purpose. Crews aren't burning two hours a day in traffic, and if something needs attention three years from now we're a short drive away.
- Morris County NJ
- Somerset County NJ
- Union County NJ
- Essex County NJ
- Hunterdon County NJ
- Warren County NJ
- Bergen County NJ
- Bucks County PA
- Northampton County PA
Questions
Asked before
every job
What does a patio actually cost?
Concrete pavers run roughly $28–$48 per square foot installed. Natural bluestone runs $55–$90. Most patios we build land between $18,000 and $45,000 once you account for excavation, base, steps and the disposal of what came out. Walls, drainage and lighting are priced separately so you can see what each one costs you.
Will it sink or settle?
Settling is almost always a base problem, not a paver problem. Pavers set on four inches of loose stone will move; eight inches of quarry process compacted in lifts over a proof-rolled subgrade will not. If a section of ours does settle within five years, we lift it, fix the base and reset it at our cost.
How long will my yard be a construction site?
A 600 square foot patio is five to eight working days. A driveway is six to ten. Walls depend on height and access. We give you a start date and a finish date in writing, and we don't start a second job while yours is open.
Do I need a permit?
A patio at grade usually doesn't in most of our towns. Walls over four feet, anything inside a setback, near a wetlands buffer, or that changes drainage usually does. We handle the application and the inspections, and we'll tell you at the estimate whether yours needs one.
Do you repair someone else's work?
Yes, and we'll be honest about whether it's worth it. Sunken sections, failed joints, leaning walls and cracked steps are often fixable. If the base underneath was never built properly, we'll tell you that a repair is money spent twice.
Can you work through winter?
We install into late November and start again in March. Polymeric sand needs the surface above freezing to cure and mortar can't be laid on frozen ground, so mid-winter work is limited to design, permits and scheduling. Booking in January usually gets you an April start.
What does the warranty cover?
The manufacturer's warranty covers the units themselves — usually lifetime and transferable on Techo-Bloc and EP Henry. On top of that we cover our installation for five years: settlement, joint failure, edge movement and wall deflection. Efflorescence and normal colour weathering aren't defects and aren't covered by anyone.
Is financing available?
Yes, through a third-party lender, typically over 60 to 144 months with a soft credit pull to check your rate. We'll show you the monthly figure next to the total so you can compare honestly. There's no discount for cash and no premium for financing.
Book an estimate
We'll mark it out
on your lawn
Tell us roughly what you're thinking. We'll come out, paint the shape on the grass, shoot the grades and leave you with a fixed price — usually within four days of the visit.
- No charge and no obligation
- One fixed price, not an allowance
- Addresses of finished jobs near you
- Typical reply within one business day