Field catalog · From $6,800
Stone Hardscapes — Patios, Walls & Fire Pits
Local fieldstone · dry-laid · compacted base
For anyone who wants stone that looks like it grew out of the mountain — and a wall that will still be standing plumb when the kids inherit the place.
$150 on-site consult — credited in full to the project.
How we do it
Stone is where our building background shows. Sam spent six years on Forest Service trail crews setting steps and cribbing walls in the Pisgah — work that has to survive freeze-thaw, spring melt, and ten thousand boots with no maintenance budget. That's the standard our residential stonework is built to. It's also why we mostly build dry-laid: stone on stone over deep compacted base, no mortar to crack when the ground moves. Done right, dry-laid work flexes with the mountain instead of fighting it.
We source local fieldstone and Tennessee flag from quarries within a couple hours of Asheville, because stone that formed in these mountains looks right in these mountains — the grays and rust-browns match the outcrops on your own ridgeline. A patio starts with eight to ten inches of excavated, compacted base and a two-percent pitch you'll never notice but your foundation will. Walls get drainage stone and weep paths behind them, because every failed wall we've ever been called to replace failed from water, not weight.
Fire pits are the happiest thing we build. A ring of dressed fieldstone, a crushed-gravel or flagstone apron sized so Adirondack chairs sit level, and smart placement for prevailing breeze so smoke goes over the ridge instead of into faces. October in the Blue Ridge around a fire you'll use forty nights a year — that's the whole sales pitch.
Questions we hear about this
Stone Hardscapes, asked and answered.
Dry-laid or mortared — which should I want?
In these mountains, dry-laid for almost everything. Mortared joints crack with freeze-thaw and repair ugly; dry-laid stone moves a hair and settles back. We mortar where code or structure requires it, and we'll tell you plainly which your project is.
What does a patio actually cost?
Flagstone patios generally run $28–$45 per square foot depending on stone and access — most finished patios land $6,800 to $18,000. Walls are priced by face-foot after we see the grade. You get a fixed number before we break ground.
Can you fix a wall another contractor built?
Usually, and it's a fair share of our work. Nine times out of ten the wall failed because there's no drainage behind it. We rebuild with the same stone where it's sound, add the base and weep paths it never had, and put our five-year warranty on the rebuild.
Do I need a permit for a retaining wall?
In Buncombe County, walls over four feet generally need engineering and a permit. We handle both — drawings, stamps, inspections — and fold it into the fixed price so it's not your headache.
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