Paver Patios in Kirkland, WA

Two, in almost every case where the ground falls more than about eighteen inches across the area you want. The reason is arithmetic rather than taste: holding a level surface out over a slope means a retaining edge whose height — and therefore whose cost — grows with the distance you carry that level. Splitting the same square footage into two terraces a step apart halves the height each edge has to hold and roughly halves the imported fill. It also usually produces a better garden, because two defined areas at different heights give you somewhere to eat and somewhere to sit rather than one large paved rectangle. The case for a single level is a genuinely large table, or a household where steps are a problem — both good reasons, and we price it that way when they apply.

Behind the retaining edge, into a drain, and out to a route that existed before we arrived — and settling that last part is the first thing we do rather than the last. A terrace cut into a Kirkland slope interrupts water that was previously running down that slope, so the patio has to give it a new path or it will find one, usually through the fill and out of the face of the wall. That means a perforated pipe in free-draining rock behind the edge, wrapped in geotextile so the fines cannot silt it up, falling to somewhere real. On the lake-slope streets that is often the trickiest part of the design, because the natural destination is downhill and downhill is a neighbour. Getting it agreed at the estimate stage is considerably easier than getting it agreed after the first heavy autumn.

Yes, and a good share of our Houghton and downtown work is exactly that. Base rock, sand and pavers come in by barrow along a side return, through the house on floor protection, or occasionally by conveyor over a fence. What changes is time rather than feasibility — a patio that is a two-day build on a Rose Hill lot can run to four here. We walk the access route before quoting and price it as its own line, which sometimes makes our figure look higher than a bid from someone who has not yet worked out how the material is getting in.

On a Kirkland lake lot this is a real tension and it is worth deciding deliberately rather than by default. The view is generally west across the water, which is also where the afternoon and evening sun comes from — so the two frequently coincide, and that is a genuinely good outcome. Where they do not, our usual recommendation is two areas rather than one compromise: a smaller terrace positioned for the view and evening light, and a larger everyday surface closer to the house where the door is. Splitting the budget across two well-placed areas beats one large one in the wrong spot.