What a $10,000+ Outdoor Living Project Should Include in Northwest Arkansas (Checklist)

At around ten thousand dollars a project stops being a pad and starts being a space: a patio with walls or steps, a covered structure, a kitchen, a fireplace, the start of a pool surround. It is also the point where the difference between two quotes stops being the pavers and starts being everything underneath them.

Use this list on any quote from any builder, including ours. A good contractor will be glad you asked.

It is organised in the order a project actually runs: what is found on site, what goes into the ground, what is built on top, what the town requires, who does it and when, and what you are handed at the end. If you work through it with each builder you are talking to, the quotes become comparable line by line, and the differences between them stop being a mystery. Most of the time the difference is in the first two sections.

For the ground in detail, see what is under your yard in Northwest Arkansas.

• Excavation and spoil removal, with depth stated.
• Subgrade compaction before any base goes in.
• Aggregate base, crushed stone, depth stated, placed and compacted in lifts. ICPI Tech Spec 2 sets a minimum of four inches over well drained soil and two to four inches more for wet soils and cold climates.
• Geotextile where clay would otherwise mix into the base.
• Drainage: slope away from the house, and where the water ends up.
• Edge restraint so the field cannot spread.

If a quote says "prep" or "base" with no depth, ask. That single line is where most failures start. The reason is the weather: Drake Field averages 93.5 nights a year at or below freezing and only 7.2 days that stay frozen, so the base freezes and thaws dozens of times each winter.

The NCMA best practice guide for segmental walls is a good reference for what the wall section should look like.

These were checked at each city's own source in September 2026; rules change, so the builder should confirm for your address. Town by town detail is in the permits guide.

• Who is on site, by name, and whether it is the same team throughout.
• What is subcontracted, if anything, and who coordinates it.
• A schedule with the ground work, the build and the finish as stages.
• How rock or surprises are priced, agreed before you sign.
• Payment stages tied to work completed.
• Financing, if you are using it, arranged directly with the lender.
• Licence checked on the Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board's search.

• A walk-through of the finished work together.
• Joint sand and any sealing explained, with when to top up.
• Drainage outlets shown, so you know where to keep clear.
• Care notes for stone, wood and appliances.
• Site cleaned and spoil removed.

If your project includes a wall, add these to the list:

• Height and permit. The exposed height, and whether it crosses your town's threshold: over four feet in Bentonville needs a permit and an Arkansas-licensed engineer; over four feet in Fayetteville brings a grading permit with a sealed plan.
• Buried base course. How much of the first course sits below grade, on what.
• Drainage aggregate and drain. Clean stone behind the wall and a perforated drain with an outlet that actually goes somewhere.
• Compacted backfill. In lifts, not dumped.
• Geogrid for taller segmental walls, as the manufacturer and engineer require.
• Surcharge. Whether anything heavy will sit above the wall: a driveway, a structure, a pool.

For the failure modes, see why retaining walls lean.

A well built project needs little, but the first year is when it settles in:

• Check joint sand after the first heavy rains and top it up if it has dropped.
• Look at the drainage outlets after a storm and keep them clear of mulch and leaves.
• Walk the surface after the first hard freezes; anything moving in year one should be reported, not lived with.
• Treat or oil exposed wood on structures as the finish requires.
• Winterise any outdoor kitchen plumbing before the first freeze.

None of these proves a builder is bad. Each is worth a question before you sign:

• One line for everything. "Install patio, $X" tells you nothing about what is under it.
• No base depth. The most important number on the quote, missing.
• No mention of drainage. Water will go somewhere; the quote should say where.
• Rock assumed away. In Benton County, "no rock expected" should come with a plan for what happens if there is.
• Allowances instead of prices. An allowance for the kitchen or the cover is a number that can move later.
• Nobody named. You should know who will be in your yard.
• Pressure to sign today. A good builder's calendar fills up on its own; a deadline invented for you is a sales tactic.

Weather shapes this too. Paving and compaction need workable ground, which is why the best time of year to build is worth reading before you set a target date.

• Know the lender's name and compare offers before you commit.
• Understand how and when the builder is paid from the loan.
• Keep the payment stages tied to completed work, as with any other project.
• Get the final price agreed before the finance is arranged, not after.

Gallardo Custom Builds offers financing through Acorn Finance, which lets you compare offers first.

Gallardo Custom Builds works in the order this list is written: ground first, then the build, then the finish, with one team on one schedule and the owner, Paco Gallardo, on the job. Projects start around seven and a half thousand dollars and most substantial outdoor living projects sit well above that. Financing is available through Acorn Finance.

Customers tend to notice the parts on this list that are easy to skip:

“Paco extended our patio with paving stones. He did a beautiful job! He and his crew worked hard to get the foundation of the patio just right and the paving pattern looks so great!”

Ray, Rogers, Angi verified review

“Communication was excellent, quality of work was excellent, and all for a very fair price.”

Scott, Angi verified review

The Swindle build in Cave Springs shows the whole sequence, from before shots to ground work to the finished pool, spa and covered kitchen. The company is rated 5.0 stars on Google from 7 reviews and 4.9 out of 5 on Angi from 21 verified reviews, 95 percent of them five star (both seen on 24 September 2026). Call (479) 379-2226 or start a project.