Twelve Questions to Ask a Hardscape Contractor

Twelve questions cover the parts of a hardscape job that decide whether it lasts, and almost all of them are about what you will never see once it is finished.

1. How deep are you excavating, and to what? A number, and what they expect to find.
2. What aggregate goes in as base? Named material, not “gravel”.
3. How many lifts, compacted with what? Lifts of a few inches, with a plate or roller sized for the job.
4. Where does water in the base go? There should be an answer that involves a destination.
5. What edge restraint are you using? If the answer is none, the field will spread.
6. Who actually does the work? Their crew, or subcontractors you have never met.
7. What is excluded from this price? The most revealing question on the list.
8. What happens if you hit rock? On this ground it is a real possibility and it should already have been considered.
9. Who pulls the permit? It should be them, and they should know which authority applies.
10. What is the schedule, and what stops it? Weather and permits, honestly stated.
11. What happens if something settles in year two? Ask before you need the answer.
12. Can I see something you finished years ago? Anyone can photograph a job on handover day.

Good answers are short, specific and consistent with each other. Here is what to listen for, and what should make you ask again.

The pattern matters more than any single answer. A contractor who is specific about the base and vague about everything else, or the reverse, is telling you where their attention goes.

Rock, water and permits, because those are the three things this region does differently.

Rock. Most of the area from Springdale north sits on the Springfield Plateau, where the Boone Formation's limestone and chert can turn up within inches of the surface. A contractor who works here should raise it before you do, and the quote should say how it is handled.

Water. The clay left behind where that limestone dissolved holds water, and from Fayetteville south the Fayetteville shale swells wet and shrinks dry. ICPI Tech Spec 2 calls for at least four inches of compacted base under a patio on well-drained soil and two to four inches more on wet or weak ground. Ask which of those your site is.

Permits. They genuinely differ from town to town. Bentonville and Fayetteville both require an Arkansas-licensed engineer for retaining walls over four feet, Fayetteville adds a sealed grading plan, and Bella Vista has a second approval from the POA's Architectural Control Committee on top of the city. A contractor who says “it's the same everywhere” has not checked.

Bad answers change the subject, give a number without seeing the site, or push responsibility somewhere else.

Deflection to the surface. Ask about base depth and get a conversation about paver colour, and you have learned that the base was not planned.

A firm price over the phone. On ground like this, a number given without seeing the site is either padded to protect the contractor or pitched low to get into your back yard, and neither is what you will end up paying.

Vagueness about who does the work. A chain of subcontractors means nobody owns the outcome and every problem becomes somebody else's.

“You don't need a permit.” Sometimes true, often not, and the consequences land on the property owner. The right answer names the office and says what was checked.

Compare the answers and the specification, not the totals.

Three quotes with very different numbers are usually three different jobs wearing the same description. The cheapest is normally cheapest in the same place: excavation depth, base thickness and drainage.

Put the twelve answers side by side in a simple grid. Where two contractors give the same base depth, the same material and the same drainage, their prices should be close, and any remaining gap is efficiency or margin. Where the answers differ, the price difference usually explains itself.

If it does not, the missing information is the problem, and the right move is to ask the same question of both again.

Ask how the design was arrived at, because a good build of the wrong design is still the wrong result.

• Why this size? The answer should reference how you said you use the space, not a standard rectangle.
• Why this material? It should suit the house, the use and the ground, not just the showroom.
• Where does the water go when it rains hard? The drawing should show it.
• What would you add later, and what goes in now so that is easy? Gas, conduit, footings for a future cover.
• What would you do differently if it were your house? A surprisingly honest question, and a good contractor will answer it.

A contractor who designs as well as builds should be able to explain every line on the plan. If the plan came from somewhere else, ask whether they agree with it and what they would change. A builder who silently builds a plan they disagree with is not doing you a favour.

Ask what care the work needs and who you call when something is not right, before you sign rather than after.

Pavers need their joints kept full, and some homeowners choose to seal them. Walls need their drain outlets kept clear. Wood structures need a decision about sealing or letting them weather. Outdoor kitchens with water lines need draining before the first freeze. A contractor who has built a lot of these will tell you each of those without being asked.

Then ask what happens if something settles or shifts in the first couple of years, and get the answer in writing. There is no universally right answer, but there is a clear wrong one, which is a shrug.

Finally, ask how to reach the person responsible. On an owner-run business that is the owner. On a larger one it should be a named person, not a general inbox.

Scope, specification, exclusions, schedule, payment stages and who is responsible for the permit.

• A drawing or plan with dimensions and levels.
• The base specification: depth, material, lifts, drainage.
• The surface material by name, with colour and pattern.
• A written list of exclusions.
• What happens, and at what price, if rock is found.
• Who applies for which permit, and who pays for it.
• A start window and what can move it.
• Payment stages tied to progress rather than dates.

None of this is unusual to ask for. A contractor who has planned the job already has it.

Walk away when the answers stay vague after you have asked twice, or when the pressure to sign arrives before the plan does.

Specific warning signs are worth naming. A large payment demanded up front with no materials ordered and no start date in writing. A price that drops sharply the moment you hesitate, which tells you the first number was not a real one. A refusal to put the base specification on paper. A suggestion to skip the permit to save time. Any one of these is enough.

None of this is about being difficult. Hardscape is the part of a property that is hardest to undo, and the time to be particular is before anything is dug. A contractor who is confident in their work will be glad you asked, because it separates them from the ones who cannot answer.

A good contractor asks what you are trying to do with the space before asking how big you want the patio.

The first question at a Gallardo Custom Builds site visit is about how you want to use the space overall: who is out there, when, and doing what. Dimensions come after that, because a patio sized for the way you actually live is a different patio from one sized to fill a rectangle.

Expect questions about the budget you have in mind, framed as your number rather than a test. Expect questions about drainage you have noticed, where the water goes in a storm, and where the sun is at the times you are home. Expect them to walk the access route machinery would use.

They should also ask about the house: its age, the style, where the doors and windows are, and what you see from inside. Hardscape that ignores the house tends to look bolted on, however well it is built.

A contractor who asks nothing and quotes quickly is guessing. One who asks a lot is doing the work before they price it.