Walkway construction in Wilmington NC - a paver walk that stays level underfoot

Most folks call me when the old path has turned into stepping stones that rock, a strip of mud the dog wore in, or a walk that tips toward the house every time it rains. Here's what moves the price: how long and wide the walk runs, the paver you pick, how much digging and base the ground needs, how many curves, steps and cuts go into it, and tearing out an old path if there is one. The schedule turns mostly on the weather, getting the pavers delivered and any permit or historic district check for your address, which I sort out with you up front. When I come out, I walk the route with you and put the estimate in writing, so you see your own number before anything starts.

First I walk the route with you and we mark it out, checking where the water runs now so the finished walk sheds rain away from your house instead of toward it. Then our crew digs out the path and packs the ground under it down well, because that's what keeps pavers from settling later. Once the base is firm and sloped, we set the edging that holds everything in line, lay the pavers in your pattern, cut the pieces that fit the curves and ends, sweep the joints full and run the compactor over the top to lock it in. We clean up and walk it with you before we leave, so you can see what we did and why. If you like permeable pavers, the kind that let rain soak down through the joints, I'll lay out the extra cost and the extra care so you can decide with your eyes open.

A walk usually connects to something else, and it's easier to build the pieces together. If you want a low wall along the path or a brick border that ties it back to the house, that's our brick wall installation work. For natural stone steps where the walk climbs a grade, or a stone edge around a garden bed, we handle it through our stone masonry service.

Whether a walkway needs a permit here isn't spelled out, so it's worth asking before we dig. The New Hanover County Department of Permits & Inspections issues the building permits Wilmington requires for structures, and its list names structures, not walkways, so that office is the one to ask about your job. If your home is in one of the city's local historic districts or overlay districts, the city requires a Certificate of Appropriateness, its sign-off on changes, for alterations to buildings and structures there. I'll tell you which office handles your address and whether a historic review could come into your walk, and we help you get the paperwork together before work starts. A walk that runs out to the sidewalk, or a lot near the water, brings its own checks, which I cover in the questions below.

We're based in Wilmington and work across the cities around it. Around here we build front walks from the driveway to the door, garden paths out back, and walks that have to meet old brick steps and stoops without a lip that catches your toe, which is where our mortar work on older brick comes in handy. We build walks the same way on jobs in Leland and Carolina Beach, and I'll tell you which office covers your address there too.