The Backyard You Actually Use
Most Fairfax backyards have the same problem: a small builder-grade slab or a patch of grass nobody sits on. A real patio changes how the house lives — morning coffee, evening dinners, kids with somewhere to ride and play. Concrete is the most versatile way to build it: any shape, any finish, sized exactly to your yard.
Designed Around Your Yard
We start with how you will use the space and work backward to size and shape. A dining set wants 12 by 14 feet at minimum; a fire pit area wants its own circle; a grill station wants a level pad near the kitchen door. Concrete forms curve, so the patio can follow the house, wrap a bay window, or flow into a walkway instead of sitting there as a plain rectangle. Our patio design guide has ideas for every layout.
Finishes for Every Taste and Budget
Broom-finish is clean, classic, and the most affordable. Stamped concrete mimics flagstone, slate, or brick — a natural fit for Fairfax's brick colonials. Exposed aggregate gives texture and grip, great around pools. Integral color warms up the gray without a pattern. Every finish goes on the same quality slab: compacted base, 4,000 PSI air-entrained concrete, joints cut right.
Built for the Ground It Sits On
Patios fail the same way driveways do — bad base on clay, no joints, water pooling. We build patios with the same discipline: excavate, compact stone, pour thick enough, joint it, slope it away from the house. A patio should outlast the grill you put on it.
What Patios Cost
Most of our Fairfax County patios land between $5,000 and $15,000 — size and finish drive the number. Plain broom-finish on the lower end, large stamped designs on the upper. Tell us about your yard and we will give you a written quote.
Designing for Northern Virginia Yards
Fairfax County lots have personalities: wooded backyards in Burke and Clifton, compact townhome yards near the Mosaic District, sloped lots in Great Falls and McLean. The patio design has to answer the lot. On a slope, we step the patio or build a retaining edge into the design. In the woods, we work around root zones and use the tree canopy as the patio's ceiling. On a small townhome lot, every square foot gets planned — a 12-by-14 pad that fits a dining set beats a bigger slab that crowds the yard. We sketch the layout with you on site, not from an office, because the yard tells us things a plat map cannot.
Our Process: From Idea to Outdoor Living
Here is how a patio project goes, step by step:
- Design visit and written quote. We walk the yard with you, talk about how you will use the space, sketch size and shape options, and discuss finishes. You get a written quote with the design attached — what you see is what gets built.
- HOA and permits. Many Fairfax HOAs want design approval for patios; some lots need grading review if drainage changes. We handle the applications and samples.
- Layout and excavation. The patio outline gets marked on the ground for your approval before we dig — you see the exact footprint first. Then excavation, typically 8 to 10 inches for the base and slab.
- Base and forms. Compacted crushed stone, forms set to the design — including curves, steps, or seat-wall footings if the design calls for them.
- Pour and finish. 4,000 PSI air-entrained concrete, finished in your chosen texture — broom, stamped, exposed aggregate, or colored. Control joints are placed to disappear into the design.
- Cure and seal. A few days of curing, then an optional sealer coat — recommended for stamped and colored work, optional for plain. Furniture goes on after the cure date we give you.
What a Patio Costs in Fairfax County
Most concrete patios we build in Fairfax County land between $5,000 and $15,000. Size drives the price first, finish second — a plain broom-finish patio costs notably less than a large stamped design with curves and borders. Extras like seat walls, fire-pit pads, and steps add to the total. These are planning ranges only; your written estimate after the design visit is the real number, and it is free.
Patio Drainage on Clay: Getting It Right
Patios fail from water more than from weight. Fairfax clay does not absorb much, so rain that lands on and around a patio has to be managed on the surface. Every patio we build pitches away from the house — about a quarter inch per foot — and we think about where that water goes next: not into the neighbor's yard, not against the foundation, not pooling at the patio's low edge. On sloped lots we add a French drain or a dry well at the downhill edge; on flat lots we tie the patio grade into the yard's existing drainage. Downspouts that dump onto the patio get rerouted — a roof's worth of water will undermine any slab over time. Get the water plan right and the patio outlasts the furniture by decades.