Hillsborough paving contractor
Yes, we work all over Hillsborough
Hillsborough sits in San Mateo County on the ground that lifts away from the bay toward the hills. El Camino Real (CA 82) and US 101 run along the flat to the east, Interstate 280 and Skyline Boulevard (CA 35) ride the ridge to the west, and the town fills the rolling ground in between. Lots here are large, the roads wind, and the house is often well above or well below the street.
That shape changes every part of a paving job. A drive that climbs has to be built to hold traffic on a grade and shed water at the same time, and the wall or the steps beside it are usually part of the same build. We only work in interlocking pavers and natural stone, which suits a hill: the surface flexes with the ground instead of cracking across it, and any section can be lifted and reset later. The paver crew from our San Carlos shop is in Hillsborough most weeks, and every estimate is free.
What makes a Hillsborough job different
Three things. Access is the first. Long private drives, tight turns between mature trees and a house set back off the road mean we plan how material gets in and old surface gets out before anyone starts. Second is water. On a slope, rain does not sit and soak, it runs, and it runs fastest right where the drive meets the garage or the street. We set the fall, cut in trench drains or catch basins where they are needed, and build an open graded base that keeps water moving under the pavers instead of pushing them around.
Third is the review. Hillsborough has large minimum lot sizes and strict design and tree protection rules, so work here usually needs planning approval and permits before a shovel moves. We build to the drawings, keep the equipment clear of protected trees, and stage the site so the neighbors keep their road. If you want us to come and look at the slope and tell you honestly what it needs, have us come and price it and we will set a time.
What we handle here
What we build in Hillsborough
Driveway Paving
The common Hillsborough call is a long drive on a grade that has lifted, cracked or started shedding gravel at the edges. We take the old surface out, dig to firm ground, compact the base in layers, screed the bedding sand and lay the field in a pattern that locks under a car's weight. Every drive gets a real fall on it and an edge restraint so nothing creeps downhill. Here is the way we build a paver driveway, base and all.
Retaining Wall Construction
On a hill, the drive and the wall are one job. We build segmental block and stone faced walls on a compacted base, with drainage stone and filter fabric behind them and a drain line at the bottom, because the thing that pushes a wall over is water, not soil. Todd is an Allan Block Certified Installer, so the block walls we build are engineered courses, not stacked stone. See how we approach wall building on Peninsula slopes.
Outdoor Steps
A set of steps is only comfortable when the rise and the run stay the same the whole way up, and on an uneven slope that takes measuring before it takes building. We cut the flight into the bank rather than sitting it on top, set each tread on compacted base, and tie the steps into the walls and the path either side so it reads as one piece of work. Our step builds in paver and brick get handled the same way whether it is three risers or thirty.
Drainage Solutions for Driveways
Water off a Hillsborough hillside has to go somewhere, and a garage at the bottom of a drive is usually where it chooses. We read the fall of the site, then build the answer into the paving: a trench drain across the apron, catch basins at the low points, solid pipe to daylight, and joints and base that let the surface breathe. Our driveway drainage work goes in as part of the build, not as a patch afterward.
Why Hillsborough calls us
Why Hillsborough homeowners call Exterior Designs
Because pavers are all we do. Exterior Designs is family owned and operated out of San Carlos, and we only work in interlocking pavers and natural stone. That means the parts of the job you never see, the excavation, the compacted base, the screeded bedding layer, the edge restraint and the joint sand, get the attention they need, and on a hillside those are the parts that decide whether the work is still flat in ten years.
Todd Chandler is an ICPI Certified Paver Installer, a Belgard Master Craftsman and an Allan Block Certified Installer, so the drive, the wall and the steps on your property are all built by people certified in that specific work. Every installation is built to ICPI specification and carries a 20 year warranty. Estimates are free and there is no obligation, so have us walk the site with you before you commit to anything.
Where you will see us around Hillsborough
We come in off the flat. El Camino Real (CA 82) and US 101 run along the eastern side of town, and from there the roads climb west through the hills toward Interstate 280 and Skyline Boulevard (CA 35) on the ridge. Burlingame sits to the north, San Mateo to the south, and Hillsborough fills the rising ground between the bay plain and the range, with creeks cutting down through it toward the flats.
That climb is why the work here looks the way it does. Homes sit on large lots under an old tree canopy, often well above or well below the road, reached by a private drive rather than a short apron. So you will see our trucks on long drives, on the walls and steps that hold those drives in place, and on the terraces and pool decks behind the houses. If your ground runs flatter than that, our crews do the same work on the level lots down in San Mateo.
Where we work
Paver work we build in Hillsborough
We cover Hillsborough and the towns either side of it, so we are usually on the same run for our Burlingame customers to the north and San Mateo to the south, all from our shop on El Camino Real in San Carlos.
Ask a paver installer
Straight answers about paver installation on the Peninsula
Do you work in Hillsborough often?
Most weeks. It is a short run north from our shop on El Camino Real in San Carlos, either up El Camino Real itself or US 101. There is no travel charge to come out, look at the job and give you an estimate.
Can you build a paver driveway on a steep slope?
Yes, and on the Hillsborough hills it is most of what we do. A drive on a grade needs a deeper compacted base, an edge restraint that holds the field in place, and a drainage plan so water leaves the surface fast. Built that way, pavers grip better than a smooth slab and they do not crack across the middle when the ground moves.
Do I need a permit for paving work in Hillsborough?
Usually yes. Hillsborough has large lots and strict design and tree protection rules, so driveways, walls and steps generally go through planning and permits before work starts. We will tell you what your job is likely to need at the estimate and we build to the approved drawings.
Can you work around the protected trees on a Hillsborough lot?
Yes. We keep equipment and excavation out of the root zone, hand dig where we have to, and we can run a permeable or open jointed surface near a tree so water and air still reach the roots. If a design asks for something a tree will not survive, we will say so before you spend money on it.
Do you pour concrete or lay asphalt?
No. We only work in interlocking pavers and natural stone. That is the whole trade here, which is why the base, the bedding layer, the compaction and the joint sand all get done properly instead of rushed.
What warranty comes with the work?
Twenty years, on every installation. Todd is an ICPI Certified Paver Installer and a Belgard Master Craftsman, and every job is built to ICPI specification. Estimates are free and there is no obligation.