Patio Cost Guide 2023: How Much To Lay A Patio?

If you are planning to build a new patio, you need to know which factors affect mostly the cost as several might be out of  your control.

It used to be that patios—better known then as front porches or verandas—served as vantage points from which one could admire attractive gardens. Gardens, in turn, were often designed to be looked at rather than lived in; they were usually limited to front yards, where everyone could see them. Back yards were either large play areas or service yards given to garbage cans, clotheslines, and (during World War II) victory gardens.

However, landscape design centers upon homeowners’ need for comfortable, inviting, and usable outdoor rooms open to attractive gardens.

Although the challenge in creating a unique landscape is particularly significant where rising property values limit lot sizes, careful planning and imagination can transform even a tiny subdivision lot into an inviting and distinctly personal outdoor room.

How much does a patio cost?

It’s a question many garden and DIY enthusiasts are eager to know the answer to. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as conjuring a final figure out of thin air.

Patios offer a perfect hosting venue for summer barbecues and outdoor events and can even provide you with that much-needed space where you can lounge and relax in peace and comfort.

Average Patio Installation Cost

Even though the cost of a patio will vary from place to place, depending on what kind of material you choose and how you want it shaped and installed in your garden. Expect to pay anywhere between £800 – £4,000.

Factors Affecting The Cost Of A Patio Installation

Pаvіng уоur раtіо wіll likely bе уоur bіggеѕt lаndѕсаріng еxреnѕе. Cоnсrеtе іѕ usually the cheapest орtіоn, whіlе ѕtоnе іѕ thе mоѕt еxреnѕіvе орtіоn. Hоwеvеr, соѕtѕ саn vаrу соnѕіdеrаblу wіthіn еасh mаtеrіаl саtеgоrу. Bеlоw аrе several оthеr fасtоrѕ thаt аffесt thе patio installation cost.

Concrete Patio Cost

The typical cost of a concrete patio, which includes the preparation of the ground, digging out the required area, laying the base and making it compact for laying the patio slabs in the sand and pointing between them, costs between £30 to £40 per square meter for labor and materials.

Thе average concrete раtіо іnѕtаllаtіоn cost including materials comes around to £115 реr ѕԛuаrе meter. Of соurѕе, thе асtuаl рrісе wіll vаrу bаѕеd оn a numbеr оf fасtоrѕ іnсludіng thе contractor’s ѕkіll, thе рrоjесt’ѕ lосаtіоn аnd thе numbеr оf еxtrа fеаturеѕ thаt thе hоmеоwnеr rеԛuеѕtѕ.

Paving Mаtеrіаlѕ – Concrete vs. Brick

The bіggеѕt еxреnѕе wіth аnу раtіо іnѕtаllаtіоn рrоjесt іѕ the mаtеrіаl. Thеrе аrе numеrоuѕ mаtеrіаlѕ оnе саn uѕе tо сrеаtе a gоrgеоuѕ раtіо, rаngіng frоm fіеldѕtоnе аnd trаvеrtіnе tо сlау аnd сеmеnt. Nоnеthеlеѕѕ, twо оf thе mоѕt рорulаr раtіо tуреѕ аrе brісk аnd соnсrеtе. Below you can see the advantages and disadvantages of each patio type:

Cоnсrеtе Advаntаgеѕ

• • Environmentally frіеndlу.
  • Rеquіrеѕ lеѕѕ mаіntеnаnсе thаn оthеr tуреѕ оf раtіоѕ.
  • Strоngеr аnd vеrу durаblе.

Brісk Advаntаgеѕ

• • Durаblе.
  • Mоrе dеѕіgn орtіоnѕ.
  • Mоrе flеxіbіlіtу.
  • Eаѕіеr tо DIY.

Brick Patio Installation Cost

Brісk раtіоѕ tеnd tо bе mоrе еxреnѕіvе. Thе рrісе саn vаrу, thе соѕt оf brісk раtіо mаtеrіаlѕ rаngе frоm £35 tо £45 реr ѕԛuаrе meter (labour + materials).

Lаbоr Cоѕt Fасtоrѕ

Thе соѕt оf lаbоur іѕ аlwауѕ a соnѕіdеrаtіоn. Althоugh lауіng раtіоѕ аnd wаlkwауѕ іѕ nоt a соmрlісаtеd рrосеѕѕ, іt dоеѕ tаkе еxреrіеnсе аnd рrасtісе tо dо іt wеll. Although уоu mау wаnt tо trу a DIY patio installation to reduce the overall соѕt, іn thе lоng run уоu mау wіѕh that уоu hаd hired a professional to do the work. Pаtіоѕ аnd wаlkwауѕ аre рrоnе tо сrасkіng аnd ѕеttlіng. A рrоfеѕѕіоnаl patio іnѕtаllаtіоn саn оftеn mаkе thе dіffеrеnсе bеtwееn a раtіо thаt dеvеlорѕ сrасkѕ аnd unеvеnnеѕѕ оr оnе thаt lооkѕ ѕmооth for many years to come.

Patio Rераіrѕ Cost

Nаturаl uрkеер аnd mаіntеnаnсе ѕhоuld аlwауѕ bе соnѕіdеrеd іn аnу hоmе rеmоdеlіng рrоjесt, іnсludіng раtіоѕ. Sаdlу, brісk раtіоѕ саn сhір оr fаdе, аnd соnсrеtе раtіоѕ саn сrасk duе tо thе foundation оr bad wеаthеr conditions.

Hоmеоwnеrѕ ѕhоuld еxресt tо рау bеtwееn £1,300 аnd £1,800 tо rераіr thеіr раtіо. Duе tо thе lаbоr аnd nесеѕѕаrу tооlѕ, іf уоu a hіrе a рrо, a соnсrеtе раtіо wоuld соѕt mоrе thаn brісk. Hоwеvеr, аѕ I ѕаіd еаrlіеr, соnсrеtе раtіоѕ аrе mоrе durаblе аnd ѕhоuld lаѕt longer thаn mоѕt brісk раtіоѕ.

Patio Materials Cost

Coming back to the question of the cost, the total cost of laying a patio depends on the material used. These materials include the likes of paving, stone flagging, and wooden planks, among many more.

Patio slabs are also available in many shapes and sizes. The most common size is 450 x 450 x 35mm. If you are looking for budget flagstones or slabs, you can choose the 20 mm thick slabs to expect to pay from 8 per square meter. However, keep in mind that even though the 20mm pavers might look strong and durable, they are not suitable for heavy use.

The following chart will give you a good indication of how much patio slabs should cost per m2.

Material	Lowest price per m2	Highest price per m2
Manufactured Square Flags	£15	£32
Stone-Style Paving	£45	£85
Sandstone Flags	£18	£22
High-Quality Textured Flags	£40	£57

Another factor that influences the cost is the design is. The design to be used may be an ordinary one or a perpendicular one consisting of edges and straight lines or a very elaborate design. The cost can vary a lot, depending on the design used. Further, laying a patio may be expensive if the paving is textured or the surfaces are in a chessboard pattern.

Patio Installation Cost – Lowest & Highest prices

Patio cost per square meter can vary for construction companies because more experienced constructors will have a higher patio cost per m2. Still, it is also a safer and more secure investment because you will be assured of the quality of the construction.

The cost of flagging per square meter ranges from £14 -£40 for low-quality flags and £40-£57 for high-quality flags. For labor cost alone, estimate to pay between £75 and £100 per square meter to prepare and lay the flags on a mortar mixture.

The following table is based on a 30 square meter surface, and the price includes both materials and installation costs.

Material	Lowest price 30m2 (all included)	Highest price 30m2(all included)
Manufactured Square Flags	£2,760	£3,960
Stone-Style Paving	£3,750	£5,550
Sandstone Flags	£ 2,950	£3,660
High-Quality Textured Flags	£2,520	£4,710

Remember, although these figures might help you develop some early idea of how much a new patio cost per m2, they are just estimates.

Block paving costs

Block paving has become extremely popular in our days, as there are many options available. Paver blocks ensure that the patio can customize the patio to suit any taste and budget. Block pavers come in a wide range of colors and shapes, and skilled block paving installers can create many different patterns.

Below is a rough guide to blocking paving prices. For more accurate prices, please request a quote.

Surface	Price per m2
Standard Paver Blocks
5m²	£200
25m²	£1,250
50m²	£2,500
75m²	£4,000
150m²	£7,500
Premium Quality Paver Blocks
5m2	£250
25m²	£1,500
50m²	£3,000
75m²	£4,700
150m²	£9,000
200m²	£12,000

Which Patio Type To Choose?

These are all great for backyard patio cost estimations or front yard patio construction costs, even though the price will vary for materials, design, and contractors.  Building a covered patio costs much more than ordinary patios because you need to build an alleviated slab and a roof.

Natural Wood (patio)

Pros

• • Fantastic for decks.
  • who can install it easier and quicker than other patios?
  • Looks and smells nice.
  • Patio decks are relatively low-cost.

Cons

• • Require a lot of maintenance; otherwise, it cracks, splits, and changes color.
  • Availability and price are determined by region.

Composite (patio)

Composite or wood-polymer composites is a wood alternative that has become an increasingly popular decking material for residential use for the past twelve years.

Pros

• • Weather-resistant.
  • Stain and mark resistance.
  • Lightweight material.
  • Very strong.
  • Low maintenance.

Cons

• • Not all look natural.
  • Several brands produce slippery products.
  • Not impervious to mold and mildew.
  • It shows signs of age and decay with time.
  • Sags and bends more than natural wood.

Pressure-treated Wood (Patios)

Less durable woods such as Southern pine and Western fir undergo a preservative process that helps them become more rot and insect resistant (termites, microorganisms, fungal decay, etc.).

Pros

• • Low cost.
  • More available than other types of wood.
  • Ideal for surface decking and structural parts.
  • Strong and durable.
  • It can hold more wear and tear than other materials.
  • Scratch and dent resistance.

Cons

• • Not very natural-looking colors.
  • Wraps or bends easily.
  • Contains toxic materials.

Plastic Looking Wood (Patios)

High-density plastic lumber (PL) is made from recycled polyethylene (HDPE) plastic, which is a great move toward protecting the environment.

Pros

• • Weather-resistant.
  • It doesn’t need to be stained
  • Lightweight.
  • Eco Friendly.
  • Relatively easy to clean.

Cons

• • Requires more underfloor support compared to wood decking.
  • Not so great looking compared to natural wood.

Natural Stone (Patios)

Pros

• • Natural look.
  • Natural stone or flagstone is perfect for giving a completely new look to your patio or garden.
  • Available in many different types, such as flagstone, slate, bluestone, and limestone.

Cons

• • It costs more to install as it takes longer to lay down.
  • Higher patio laying cost because the material is much scarcer and is more difficult to construct.

Brick Patios

Pros

• • Elegant and classic.
  • Very strong and durable.
  • Stain-resistant.
  • Require very little maintenance.

Cons

• • Limited colors and textures.
  • Difficult to maintain.
  • Bricks crack when the weather becomes too cold.
  • Develop usually moss in shady areas.
  • Limited flexibility when it comes to modifications.

Concrete (Patios)

For decades concrete used to be the most popular option for homeowners. Today, even though many more options are available that are more DIY friendly, cement is still a favorite choice. However, as with any paving material, it has its pros and cons, which each homeowner must consider carefully before making the final decision.

Pros

• • Affordable.
  • Durable and long-lasting.
  • Versatile and adaptable.
  • Easy day-to-day maintenance.

Cons

• • Poor quality of concrete wears away over time, and the color fades.
  • In misty or heavy rain areas, it becomes slippery.
  • Prone to cracking (in areas that experience extreme high or low temperature).

Cons

• • The cheapest kinds of concrete can wear away over time, and the color will fade because it doesn’t permeate the whole thickness of the paving.

Clay Pavers Patios

Clay bricks have been in use for centuries and have been both long-lasting and aesthetically pleasing. Perhaps the only disadvantage is the additional cost for both material and labor.

Pros

• • Durable and strong.
  • Its thickness and durability are similar to concrete but clay patio pavers.
  • Clay pavers come in a wide variety of natural colors and shades.
  • Colors do not fade over time.
  • Hard-wearing and easy to maintain.
  • Environmental friendly.
  • Low maintenance.
  • Easy to install and match with other materials.

Cons

• • Limited colors and designs.
  • Corners can chip over time.
  • The initial installation cost is higher than for concrete.

Pavers

• • Pavers offer a great array of advantages, the most important being having the same thickness, making it a lot easier to put down.
  • They also come in many different shapes, colors, and patterns and are available from Belgard, Cambridge Paving Stones, Techo-Bloc, Nicolock, etc.

If you are more the DIY type, you could even curve them in various shapes by simply buying one of the circle kits available in the market. Laying a patio yourself will cut back greatly on patio paver costs. With pavers, you can extend your patio whenever you want at a relatively low patio extension cost. Patio tile installation costs vary for the type, color, and patterns that you decide on.

Planning Your Patio

First steps toward a pleasing outdoor room

When you decide to add a patio to your home—or give your old patio a facelift—you cannot overestimate the value of planning. As an extension of your house, a patio can give you all the comforts of indoor living out-of-doors; as part of your garden, it can become a favorite entertaining and sitting area for at least part of the year. Given proper planning, a patio can also make interior rooms seem more spacious and provide a gracious architectural transition between house and garden.

Although the classic patio is the open inner court of a Spanish-style house, by common usage, the word patio has come to refer to any outdoor sitting or entertaining area, be it a wood deck, brick terrace, lanai, detached garden room, atrium, or gazebo. Whichever kind of patio you choose for your situation, allow yourself plenty of time to plan it carefully. Your patio is what you make it, and thoughtful planning will pay generous rewards, as well as protect you from costly mistakes.

Use the following information to plan a successful patio: what makes a patio successful, how you can experiment without spending money, where to go for help when you need it, how to estimate patio costs (and how to trim them down), and what to expect from building codes.

Successful Patio Design

Whatever the size of your lot, whatever your landscaping problem, good design will bring out the best in your patio: privacy, comfort, flexibility, safety, and beauty.

Privacy. As an extension of your indoor living space, your patio should give you a feeling of privacy, just as interior rooms do. Even if your yard faces busy street traffic, you can make your street-side patio pleasantly private and still maintain a sense of spaciousness.

Comfort. You’ll be more comfortable on a patio where adjustments have been made for particular climate problems. Getting and maintaining a comfortable patio “room temperature” often depends on using the right combination of design elements (location, overheads, vertical screens) to modify strong prevailing winds or excessive summer temperatures.

Flexibility. Good patio design should accommodate and adjust to your family’s varying activities —casual gatherings, children’s games, reading, outdoor dinners, barbecues, and so on. A good way to achieve flexibility is to give multiple design elements: built-in benches that store sports equipment and fire pits that double as low tables. Creating access to your patio from more than one of your main indoor living areas makes it more flexible.

Safety. Make it a point to learn about various patio building materials’ properties and avoid using any that might encourage accidents. For example, some paving materials become slippery when wet, others are too uneven for children’s games, and some deck railings, though architecturally appealing, are not substantial enough to be safe.

Beauty. Most of the patios you see in the idea section (pages 34-79) are successful because they achieve a certain balance—both architecturally and esthetically— in the overall garden scheme. Materials used in patio construction blend with those used in the house, and colors and textures harmonize in the patio plants and decorative touches. Attention to construction and decorative details will contribute greatly to your patio’s overall atmosphere.

Getting Started

The first thing to do is decide what functions you want a patio to serve. Then you can examine your landscape to see what you have to work with and where you want your patio to go.

Assessing Your Needs

Your first thought should focus on your family’s needs and habits. Considering the way you live, make a list of what is most important to you (if you have children, get their input, too); then, you can compromise on the less important things if you need to compromise. Here are some questions to consider.

Do you like to entertain with frequent outdoor dinners? Do the neighborhood kids like to play in your yard? Do you like to garden? How much time do you have to keep your patio in good condition? Do you prefer formal or casual living? Will your pets damage fragile patio plants or furniture? Your answers to these questions will determine some basic design elements for your patio.

Sizing Up The Landscape

Next, take stock of your yard’s assets and liabilities. Even if you plan to enlist the services of a landscape architect, architect, or landscape designer, you should have a good understanding of your existing landscape.

Can your patio plan capitalize on a fine view? Is your property bounded by woods? Perhaps your design can take advantage of a sunny southern exposure, a mature garden, or an impressive garden tree.

Consider also your yard’s handicaps—is your lot on a steep slope? Is much of the lot exposed to street traffic? Is humidity a problem in summer? Does your present patio open off the wrong room, get too much sun or shade, or lack sufficient space? You’ll want to plan a patio that minimizes your special problems.

Choosing A Patio Location

Where your patio goes will depend largely on the size of your lot, the way your house sits on it, the uses you have in mind for the patio, and your climate. Even if you’re stuck with a slab of concrete off the wrong room, you can still remedy a poor patio location.

Locations and lot sizes. If your house sits on a smalt lot, you probably have room for only one patio, most likely in a conventional spot off the living room, dining room, or kitchen. However, a single patio can link and expand two or three interior rooms for an L or U-shaped house without consuming additional space. Detached decks can make available yard space more usable.

If most of your yard space is in the front, perhaps your patio belongs there, protected from front street traffic and noise by a screen of shrubs or fencing. And don’t overlook a narrow side yard or a garage roof—you may be surprised how a little imagination can transform dead space into a cozy outdoor room.

If your lot is steep with no ground room for a patio, plan a wood deck constructed above ground. It can relieve horizontal claustrophobia by extending one or more rooms or wrapping around the house to open up the whole interior.

Homeowners with generous lots often find that several related patios suit their needs better than a single large one. If your lot is large, consider breaking up space with two patios, one close to the house, the other at the far end of the garden.

With patios at different spots in the yard, you can take advantage of their different exposures to sun and shade. Separate patios off the living room, kitchen, and master bedroom—planned for entertaining, informal outdoor dining, and solitude—provide alternatives for a family’s changing and sometimes conflicting needs.

Remedies For Hand-Me-Downs

If you’ve inherited a poorly planned patio along with your house, you can renovate it to suit your landscape plan. Try enlarging it, resurfacing it, or connecting it to a new patio by a garden path. If you’re leaning heavily toward changing the patio completely, it’s wise to remove the old patio and start with a totally new design.

How Is the weather?

Understanding the climate around your home is important in patio planning. Two factors—the path of the sun over your house and the prevailing wind direction—govern the warmth or coolness of your outdoor room. If you know what to expect from the weather around you, you can plan a patio that will be enjoyable over a longer outdoor season.

The general forecast

If you’ve lived in your present climate through several seasons, you are already familiar with its benefits and hazards. But if you have moved to a new region, you may want to obtain accurate information to help you get acquainted with general weather patterns.

Your relation to the sun

Theoretically, a patio that faces north is cold because it rarely receives the sun. A south-facing patio is usually warm because, from sunrise to sunset, the sun never leaves it. A patio on the east side is cool, receiving only morning sun. A west-side patio is often unbearably hot because it receives the full force of the sun’s midafternoon rays; in addition, the late afternoon sun often creates a harsh glare.

The sun by seasons. Another factor to consider in planning your patio is the sun’s seasonal influence. As the sun passes over your house, it makes an arc that changes slightly every day, becoming higher in the summer, and lower in the winter. Changes in the sun’s path give us long days in summer and short ones in winter —and, as you can see from the illustrations below, they also alter sun and shade patterns on your patio.

Screening Against Wind

Study the wind patterns around your house and over your lot. Too much wind blowing across your patio on a cool day can be just as unpleasant as no breeze at all on a hot summer day. Evaluating the wind will help you discover how to control or encourage it with fences, screens, or plants.

Although you can determine the prevailing winds in your neighborhood by noticing the direction the trees lean, the chances are that the prevailing winds around your house are different. Wind flows like water, spilling over obstacles, breaking into currents, eddying, and twisting. After blowing through the trees, the wind may spill over the house and drop onto your patio.

Tips For Hiring The Right Patio Installer

Whenever people plan on hiring a contractor for laying the patio in their garden, they should have ready a design plan of exactly what they want so that these professionals could inspect or analyze them. People should also be ready to compromise on the kind of services offered by such professionals.

Most construction companies calculate patio cost per square meter in the UK, making it easy for you to calculate exactly how much the patio installation and materials cost will be.

Although it is quite difficult to find a professional who could do everything, people should hire someone who could at least do a few basic things like:

• • digging out the existing patio or garden,
  • laying down the topsoil and the new turf, based on the area specification,
  • compacting the foundations,
  • aligning any shrubbery or hedges,

Which surround the existing patio area, and after the final flagging, the professional could go ahead with brushing in the pointing. Nevertheless, if people are well versed with all these jobs and have done them earlier, then there is no reason for them to go to a professional when they could do all this independently.

People should only be sure of what they are getting into before they start making calls and signing deals because it is hard work and requires a lot of ground leveling, compacting, and preparations, so your patio will look great.

Patio Cleaning Tips

Patios can be cleaned with pressure washers effectively, which results in low patio cleaning costs.

Most contracting companies will clean your patio properly for free once it has been installed. The best way to save money on patio cleaning is by investing in your own pressure washer. With a pressure washer, you will save time and water. You won’t be exposing your children and pets to harmful chemicals because pressure washers provide proper patio cleaning without the use of harmful chemicals.

Follow these step-by-step instructions to clean your patio: 

1) Clear – move everything, including the furniture, of your patio before you start cleaning.

2) Sweep – use a broom to sweep your patio clean of surface dirt and debris.

3) Weed – if your patio is made of paving slabs, you’ll need to weed between the cracks; weed often to keep on top of this task or use a weed killer to get rid of them for good. Try to choose an eco-friendly weed killer that won’t harm other plants, wildlife, or pets.

4) Apply the cleaner – if you’re using a specially formulated cleaning solution, follow the directions on the bottle carefully. Wear protective clothing, gloves, and goggles and try to choose an eco-friendly cleaner and safe for pets; cover any nearby plants with plastic sheeting, so the cleaning solution does not kill them off. Ensure that you cover all patio areas with cleaning solution and leave to absorb for at least 15 minutes or as long as the manufacturer advises.

5) Scrub – now it’s time to scrub your patio clean. There are two ways you can do this: by hand or with a pressure washer. Scrubbing by hand with a tough scourer or hard-bristled brush can be tough and long-winded while hiring a pressure washer is quicker and easier but will cost you money if you choose to rent a pressure washer from a garden or hardware store check that you buy the right type for your patio and take care to read the manufacturer instructions before you begin.

6) Rinse – once you’ve scrubbed your patio, rinse it well with clean water. You can either use a hose or rent a pressure washer, fill it with clean water and run it back over the patio.

7) Dry – leave your patio to dry before moving furniture back onto it – summer is a good time cleaning your patio. If you don’t have time or cannot clean your patio, it could be worth hiring a patio cleaning service to do it for you. Prices for this will vary depending on what company you hire, where you live, how big your patio is, and what it’s made of. Compare at least three quotes from patio cleaning companies and ask for references before you choose who to hire.

References

Wood and Composite Decking: Pros and Cons-  https://www.thespruce.com/best-decking-materials-pros-and-cons-2736284

Pros and Cons of Pressure Treated Wood- https://www.doityourself.com/stry/pros-and-cons-of-pressure-treated-wood

Benefits of Pressure Treated Wood –  https://www.homedepot.com/c/discover_benefit_pressure_treated_wood_HT_BG_LC

Pros and Cons of Paver Patio – http://homechanneltv.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-pros-and-cons-of-brick-paver-patio.html

Pros cons of brick pavers –  https://www.thespruce.com/pros-and-cons-of-brick-paver-1398074

Landscape Paving 101: How to Use Brick for Your Path or Patio – https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/50533651/list/landscape-paving-101-how-to-use-brick-for-your-path-or-patio

Clay Pavers – http://www.pavingexpert.com/clays01.htm