Why homeowners call us
Everything under the paving goes in first
There is a short window on every job when the yard is open. The excavation is dug, the aggregate base is going in, and anything that needs to cross under a driveway or a walkway can be laid in minutes. Sleeves for irrigation, sleeves for low voltage lighting cable, a gas line to a fire pit or a kitchen. Once the paving closes over the top, every one of those becomes a day of lifting stone and recutting base. It is the same care we put into the paving side of what we do.
So we plan all three of these together. The hard surfaces set the levels and the falls for the whole yard, the lighting sleeves follow the same routes, and the irrigation crossings go in at the same depth while the machine is still on site. One plan for the yard beats three crews solving the same problem three different ways, which is why we would rather book a free estimate before anything is dug than be called in after.
Exterior Designs is family owned and operated in San Carlos and we only work in interlocking pavers and natural stone. We are an ICPI Certified Paver Installer and a Belgard Master Craftsman shop, every installation is built to ICPI specification, and it all carries a 20 year warranty.
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Landscaping services in San Carlos
Hardscaping
Hardscaping is every hard surface in the yard planned as one job instead of four. Paving, walls, steps, edging and drainage, all drawn off one set of levels so the patio meets the step at the right height, the wall cap lines through with something, and water leaves every surface instead of pooling where two jobs met. It also means the materials are ordered together, which matters more than people expect: pavers come in batches, and two orders a year apart can differ in tone. Doing it in one pass is cheaper per square foot than doing it in pieces, and it is the only way the levels ever really agree. Here is how we plan a whole yard as one job.
Outdoor Living
The patio, the seat walls, the fire and the built in grill run set out as one room rather than four separate jobs. One base, one set of levels, and the sleeves for gas, power and lighting laid while the ground is still open. See how we plan an outdoor living space.
Outdoor Lighting
Low voltage lighting, run off a transformer sized with headroom so you can add to it later. The cable that has to cross a paved area goes through a sleeve laid at the base stage, capped and marked, so nothing ever needs cutting open. The fixtures themselves are placed to do a job: uplights close in at the base of a stone wall or a mature oak so the light rakes across the texture, wall washers further back for an even sheet across a pillar or a garage face, and path lights spaced wide enough to leave pools of light rather than a runway of them. Steps always get lit. That is how we do landscape lighting.
Irrigation System Installation
The crossings are the whole story. Sleeves under every driveway and walkway during the base stage, while the ground is open and a length of pipe costs almost nothing, so a line can be pulled through years later without lifting a paver. Past that it is zones: lawn separated from beds, sun separated from shade, slopes on their own so short cycles can soak in instead of running off. Spray for lawn where you need even coverage, drip in the beds where you want water at the root and off the stone. Valve boxes go in planted ground where they stay reachable. That is how we install irrigation.
Plan the yard as one job
Hardscaping, lighting and irrigation across the Peninsula. Free estimates and a 20 year warranty on every installation.
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Straight answers about paver installation on the Peninsula
Do you do planting and lawn care?
No. We build the hard side of a yard: paving, walls, steps, lighting and irrigation. Plenty of our customers bring in a gardener for the planting afterward, and we leave the grades, the beds and the edging ready for that work.
Can lighting and irrigation be added later?
Yes, and it is far cheaper if we sleeved for them at the base stage. If we did not, pavers lift and reset, so we can open a run across a finished surface and put the same stones back. It costs a day.
Do you pour concrete for any of this?
No. We only work in interlocking pavers and natural stone. No concrete, no stamped concrete and no asphalt. The block we use is structure behind a stone or paver face, not a finished surface.
Where does all the rainwater go once a yard is paved?
Wherever we plan for it to go. Every surface is built with a fall, and it runs to a drain, a swale, a planted area or an open graded stone reservoir under permeable paving. We work that out before anything is laid.
Can you work on a yard in stages?
Yes. The important thing is that the levels and the crossings are planned for the whole yard on day one, even if only part of it gets built this year. Then the next stage lands exactly where it was always meant to.
Which towns do you work in?
San Mateo County, Santa Clara County and parts of the East Bay, out of San Carlos. Belmont, Redwood City, San Mateo, Burlingame, Hillsborough, Menlo Park and Atherton are regular ground, and we have worked in Foster City, Los Altos, Pacifica and Fremont too.