Four crews,
one radius

How we ended up doing it this way

Stonecourse started as two people and a plate compactor doing repair work — mostly lifting and resetting patios other people had built four or five years earlier. You learn a lot from that. Almost every failure we opened up had the same cause: not enough base, or base that was never compacted in lifts, or no separation fabric between the stone and the clay underneath it.

So we built the company around the part nobody sees. It makes us more expensive than the crew that shows up with a skid steer and four inches of stone, and it means we lose some jobs on price. It also means we've never had to go back and rebuild one.

Own crews, no brokering

Everyone on your property is on our payroll. We don't subcontract the install, which matters more than it sounds: a brokered job means the person who priced it has no control over how it's built, and the crew building it has no relationship with you. Four crews, four foremen, all of whom have been here at least five years.

What we won't do

Being straight about this saves everyone time.

• Resurface a failed slab or patio. If what's underneath moved, whatever we put on top will move too.
• Work outside our radius. If you're more than about an hour from Randolph, we'll recommend someone closer rather than take it on.
• Price against a competitor's number. We'll explain what's in ours and what's likely missing from theirs, but we don't shave scope to win.
• Start a second job while yours is open. Crews finish what they start.

Credentials, briefly

• New Jersey Home Improvement Contractor, licence #13VH0000000.
• ICPI Certified Concrete Paver Installer — every foreman, not just the company.
• NCMA certified for segmental retaining wall installation.
• $2,000,000 general liability and full workers' compensation. Certificates on request, naming you.