MODERN PATIO DESIGNS Exterior Design–Build
Call 201.555.0148 Start a design consultation
07 Who you are hiring Building in North Jersey since 2009

One crew.
One set of eyes on it.

Every photograph on this site was made by the person who built what is in it. That is the whole differentiator, and it is not a marketing position — it changes what gets built.

NJ HIC # 13VHXXXXXXXXXLicensed & fully insured · $2M general liabilityGoogle 4.9 / 5 — 127 ReviewsTecho-Bloc / Unilock / Belgard AuthorizedHouzz Pro
Portrait — stand-in
Final crop 4:5
01

The photography

One crew. One set of eyes on it.

The photographs on this site were made by the person who built what is in them. That is why the crew comes back at 8:40 in the evening instead of shooting at noon, why the fixtures get aimed before the camera comes out, and why you will not find a catalogue image of somebody else’s patio anywhere on this page. If a project is not worth standing in front of at blue hour, it is not finished — and it does not go up here.

Michael Ferrante — Founder
Building in North Jersey since 2009 · ICPI certified installer

02

How we build

Six to eleven weeks, typical

Four stages, in this order, every time. The sequence is not a sales narrative — it is the order the work has to happen in, and each stage carries a number you can hold us to.

01

Survey & drawing set

Base plan at 1/8″ = 1′-0″ · 1 ft contours

We shoot grades before we price anything. Every step riser, wall course and drain invert is dimensioned on the plan you approve — so nothing gets decided standing in the mud in week four.

02

Excavation & base

150 mm ¾″ clean · 75 mm lifts · 95% Proctor

Cut to 235 mm under foot traffic, 300 mm under vehicles. Stone goes in in two lifts, each compacted and plate-tested before the next. Nobody photographs this stage; it is the only one that decides year twenty.

03

Setting & cutting

60 mm units · 25 mm bedding · wet-saw only

Units come off three pallets at once so colour lots blend instead of banding. Every cut is made wet, on a table, off the patio — no chipped edges, no grinder dust in your planting beds.

04

Edge, light & handoff

12 V · 300 W transformer at 60% load

Polymeric sand, spiked restraint, then the fixtures aimed after dark with you standing there. You leave with an as-built plan, the material record, and 40% headroom on the transformer for whatever you add next.

03

Credentials

Verifiable, all of it
NJ HIC
13VHXXXXXXXXX
INSURANCE
Licensed & fully insured · $2M general liability
CERTIFICATION
ICPI certified installer
AUTHORISED
Techo-Bloc, Unilock, Belgard
GOOGLE
4.9 / 5 — 127 reviews

Questions we get asked

Do you use subcontractors?
Not on the hardscape. The crew that draws the base plan is the crew that runs the plate compactor. We bring in licensed trades for gas, electrical and pool shells, because that is what the law and good sense require, and we supervise them directly.
How many projects do you take at once?
Two, occasionally three when one is in the drawing stage. One crew means a hard ceiling on volume, and it is the reason we can hold a two-week start window in our priority towns.
08

Start here

Tell us what
you are building.

Four short steps, about ninety seconds. You will get a written range before anyone comes out.

201.555.0148 Mon–Sat · 7a–7p
STEP 01 / 04Project type

What are we designing?

Select one — you can add scope later

No selection yet

NJ HIC # 13VHXXXXXXXXX · Licensed & fully insured · $2M general liability · Google 4.9 / 5 — 127 Reviews · Techo-Bloc / Unilock / Belgard Authorized · Houzz Pro