Decks, Pergolas & Outdoor Living in Dallas, TX

One plan for the whole yard, even if it is built in stages

Back yards usually get built in pieces. A patio one year, a pergola two years later, a fence when the old one fails. Each piece is fine on its own and together they do not read as one place: levels that do not meet, materials that nearly match, and drainage nobody planned for arriving at the lowest corner.

• The whole yard drawn before the first stageWe work out where everything eventually goes even if you build one part this year. That way the patio is poured at the height the future structure needs and the fence line leaves room for what is coming.
• Drainage decided before any slabEvery hard surface you add sends water somewhere. Planned together, that water leaves the yard. Added piece by piece, it collects against the newest thing you built and usually against the fence.
• One set of materials across everythingStain, stone and metal finishes get chosen once, for the whole yard. Matched later, across different suppliers and different seasons, they land close enough to look like a mistake rather than a choice.
• Power and lighting planned before the hardscapeAlmost every finished yard eventually wants light, sound or a heater, and every one of those needs a cable that is far easier to run before the paving goes down. We plan the routes at design stage even if you fit nothing for years, because a conduit under a slab costs very little and cutting one in later costs a great deal.

Building in stages is completely normal and we plan for it. What costs money is building in stages without a plan. We are happy to plan a yard we do not build all of. If the budget covers the patio this year and the structure in two years, the plan is still worth doing now, because it is what stops the second stage from being compromised by decisions made during the first one.