If you can’t go to the patios, then it’s probably time to bring the patios back home to you. As the pandemic and public health restrictions have once again shuttered pubs and other favourite watering holes, homeowners have returned to their own backyards in growing numbers.
That means hardscaping companies are doing a booming business.
“It seems like everyone is spending their vacation money on their yards in the last year or two,” offered Matt Jarvis, co-owner of Timeless Hardscape Design and Construction. “I don't think that that would have been the case probably if it was a normal year.”
Jarvis said many of his customers have indicated they wanted to spend more time in their own little oases, only to realize they could “use a bit of work.”
A seasoned landscape construction industry veteran for more than a decade, Jarvis previously worked for Patio Magic until last year. He and his partner Jordan Roberts started up Timeless last June and, with essentially no advertising, found there were enough clients booking jobs through into the fall. They basically worked until it snowed, he exclaimed.
Their company specializes in building precast stone patios and custom wood decks, plus retaining walls, water features and fire features as well. They have done outdoor kitchens for clients, though they're in a higher price range obviously so they aren’t commonly requested.
That doesn’t mean they balk at larger projects.
“Our first job of this year was a 700-square-foot deck. The decking you can start earlier because you don't need to be digging into the ground. That's how, I think, going forward, we're going to try and start and finish landscaping seasons – by doing the deck piece and then in the middle, that's the precast stone projects: patios, garden walls, every once in a while someone wants a pond or a water feature like a gurgling rock.”
Wayne Boettger, owner of Patio Magic, confirmed one of the biggest trends in patios is larger formats, often with inlays and double borders.
"With this, the outdoor kitchen trend continues to grow as more and more people are using outside space. One last point is that larger spaces are becoming more common as people are required to have room to spread out safely when entertaining outside," he said.
Jarvis says no job is too big.
"Whatever people can kind of dream up for their backyards, it's not unattainable. It's just a matter of a little bit of work and then figuring out exactly how it fits into people's budgets."
The perfect patio is the wave of the future, he says, as it's a way of getting more square footage out of your house plus it decreases the amount of lawn that requires constant upkeep.
In his 10-plus years of industry experience, he has seen the volume in demand increase to the point where even just trying to get product from suppliers is harder. Timeless only has one job on the go at a time, but they book two months in advance basically for projects. All of that means that time is of the essence toward achieving your 'no-maintenance' outdoor space.
"It's a good business to be in because there's obviously already good demand and COVID has just made that more so."
