What a 20x20 paver patio really costs

The breakdown, line by line

This is a 400 square foot patio on a level backyard, standard concrete pavers, running bond, no walls and no demolition. It is the most common version of this project on the flat tracts north of Ventura Blvd.

Notice that the base, the fabric, and the compaction labor together account for more of the bill than the pavers themselves. That surprises people, and it is the single most important thing to understand before comparing two quotes. This is one size on one kind of lot. Ranges for every surface we build are in installed pricing across Woodland Hills.

Common add-ons and what they cost

How 20x20 compares with other sizes

Twenty by twenty is the sweet spot for a reason. It is the smallest footprint that holds a dining set and a separate seating group without the two colliding, it is still small enough to build in a week, and it is the size most people settle on when they price a paver patio in Woodland Hills.

Now the part the tables cannot show

Those numbers assume a level lot with somewhere for water to go. In Woodland Hills that assumption holds on one side of Ventura Blvd and falls apart on the other.

North of the boulevard, out in the post-war ranch tracts running north across the valley floor, the lots are flat and easy to work, but the ground is sedimentary clay and silt. Clay does not drink rainwater, it holds it. Build a patio base on saturated clay without a separation fabric and a real drainage path, and the aggregate mixes down into the soil, the pad settles unevenly, and by the second winter you have a birdbath in the middle of your new patio. That is why the geotextile line and the drainage line on the table are not padding. On these lots they are the job.

South of the boulevard, climbing toward Mulholland through the Santa Monica Mountains foothills, the ground is firmer but nothing is level. A 400 square foot patio on a hillside lot is not really a patio project, it is a small grading project with a patio on top. You cut into the slope or build out from it, hold the change in grade with a retaining wall, drain behind that wall so water pressure never builds against it, and only then start on the paver base. Add narrow winding streets that limit truck size, plus the geotechnical report and City of Los Angeles grading permit that hillside work frequently triggers, and the same 400 square feet can land well north of $8,800. It is also, more often than not, the best outdoor space on the property once it is done.

How to read two quotes that are $2,000 apart

When one bid comes in far under another, the difference is almost never the pavers. Paver material is a commodity and everybody buys from the same distributors. The difference is base depth, whether there is fabric, whether compaction happens in lifts or all at once, and whether drainage got priced at all. Ask each bidder three questions: how deep is the excavation, is there a geotextile between the clay and the aggregate, and where does the water go. A crew that answers those clearly is a crew that has looked at your lot.

Also check what happens to your old slab. Most of the ranch houses here still have their original back patio, and demolishing and hauling 400 square feet of concrete is $1,200 to $2,400 of real work. If that is not on the page, it is coming later.

What we actually do on these lots

On a flat clay lot we dig out the soft material, put fabric down between the native soil and the new aggregate, build the base in compacted lifts, and set a consistent fall of about two percent away from the house. If there is nowhere for that water to run, a channel drain or a dry well goes in the quote before anyone signs, not after the first rain. On the big Walnut Acres parcels, where the old walnut orchard land now comes in one to two acre pieces, there is usually a natural low point to work toward and plenty of room to stage material, which keeps the labor efficient even on large areas.

On a hillside lot we walk the grade with you first and say plainly whether the project needs a wall, a geotech report, and a permit before we talk about pavers at all. If your property sits inside the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone that covers much of the area south of the boulevard, we will also point out where a noncombustible paved surface near the structure does double duty as defensible space. Every install is performed by licensed, insured crews, and the workmanship is backed by warranty.

A number is only half the value question. How long these surfaces hold on clay is the other half.

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