What patios, walkways, and pool decks cost and take to build in Plantation, FL
Building a new paver patio, walkway, or pool deck in Plantation, FL typically runs between $3,500 and $11,000 for a well-built surface that handles our wet summers and shifting limestone base. Most projects we take on move from permit to final cleanup in 5 to 9 working days, though the schedule depends on the scope, material choices, and whether we need to tie into existing drainage. Call (844) 638-7249 and we’ll walk you through what your specific yard needs, with upfront numbers and no guessing.
How we build a patio, walkway, or pool deck on a Plantation lot
Every yard in Plantation sits on the same flat limestone shelf, but no two jobs excavate the same way. Here’s the sequence we follow so you know what happens and when.
Day one: layout and excavation. We mark the perimeter on the ground with line paint so you can see exactly where the finished surface will sit, then we strip out grass, old concrete, or failing pavers. The dig depth in this part of Broward County almost always lands between 6 and 10 inches, depending on the paver thickness and how much base rock we need to bring the grade flush with your back door or pool coping. We haul off all spoil the same day, leaving you with a clean site and no dump pile sitting on your lawn. This is also the moment we decide whether we’re tying into an existing drainage line or adding a French drain along the low edge, which matters on Plantation lots where water pools fast during a summer afternoon storm.
Day two: base and compaction. A crushed-limestone base goes in, typically 4 to 6 inches deep, wet down and plate-compacted in lifts. On pool decks, we’re especially careful with the lifts directly abutting the shell because we’ve seen what South Florida’s water-table swell does to decks built on thin sub-base: the edge sinks, the coping cracks, and you’re redoing it in four years. We compact to 95 percent standard proctor density at minimum and check the fall with a laser level, guaranteeing a quarter-inch of drop per foot away from the house and away from the pool, which is a minimum code requirement under Broward County’s drainage regulations.
Day three or four: sand screeding and paver laying. A clean, washed concrete sand gets screeded across the compacted base, and then the units start going in pattern. For walkways winding between tight side-yard clearances, common in Plantation’s late-60s and 70s-era subdivisions, we’re often cutting pavers on both edges to fit a 36- or 40-inch width without leaving a sliver course that looks afterthought. Edge restraint goes in as we go, not as a rushed step at the end, so the border stays locked during compaction.
Day five or six: polymeric sand and final compaction. Dry polymeric sand is swept across the joints, vibrated down, and then mist-activated. This is where we earn the 730-Day Done Right Promise - if the sand washes out or ants mine through it within two years, we’re back at no charge. After a final pass with the plate compactor on a protective mat, the surface is walkable the same day but fully cured after about 48 hours.
Day eight or nine: inspection sign-off and cleanup. Broward County requires a final inspection on poured-in-place pool decks and on most hardscape jobs that alter drainage patterns. Our crew walks the site with the inspector, then does a full pressure wash and runs a magnet bar across the yard before we hand it back to you. The whole thing wraps in under two weeks, and most homeowners in Plantation are grilling on their new patio the weekend after final sign-off.
The options you’ll choose between, and what each one costs you long-term
The surface you pick changes the budget, the timeline, and what the space looks like in ten years. These are the real choices our homeowners in Plantation weigh.
- Concrete pavers, roughly $8 to $18 per square foot installed. Pavers made by brands like Belgard and Oldcastle give you the widest color and texture selection, and because each unit moves independently on its sand bed, they handle Plantation’s swelling wet-season soils without cracking the way a continuous slab will. The trade-off is upfront cost and a joint-maintenance task every few years.
- Poured concrete with broom or textured finish, roughly $10 to $22 per square foot installed. A clean, modern look that works especially well around mid-century CBS homes that want a minimal transition from interior terrazzo to the outdoor space. It requires control joints cut at regular intervals, which you’ll see, and the Broward County wind-blown rain pattern will stain it faster than pavers unless we seal it with a penetrating coat every two years.
- Travertine or natural-stone pavers, roughly $14 to $28 per square foot installed. The surface stays cooler under a Florida sun than concrete, which is a real consideration for pool decks where kids and bare feet are the daily use case. The stone is more fragile during installation and costs more to replace a broken unit, though we’ve seen properly laid travertine decks here in Plantation hold up for 20-plus years with just a re-sand every fourth season.
- Permeable paver systems, roughly $12 to $22 per square foot installed. These are becoming more common in Plantation neighborhoods where the city’s stormwater runoff rules require on-site retention. The wider joint gap lets water pass straight through to the graded stone reservoir below, and the catch is that the joints need periodic vacuum-sweeping instead of polymeric sand, which some homeowners find more upkeep than they signed up for.
What patios, walkways, and pool decks cost in Plantation, FL
A standard patio or pool deck job in Plantation lands between $3,500 and $11,000 when we’re building on reasonably level ground with good access, and the variables that push the number toward either end are straightforward. A 200-square-foot walkway with simple soldier-course edges will sit near the bottom of that band; a 600-square-foot wraparound pool deck with multiple radius cuts and a drainage tie-in will sit near the top.
The five things that move the price the most: first, the square footage you’re covering, which drives the material and base rock cost linearly. Second, the existing condition of the site - if we’re pulling out a cracked 4-inch slab that’s been soaking in pool chemicals for 20 years, the demo and haul-off line jumps. Third, access - a Plantation yard where every wheelbarrow load has to go through a 36-inch side gate adds a day of labor versus a wide-open backyard where the skid steer can drive straight in. Fourth, the paver type you choose; a tumbled travertine set in a herringbone pattern costs nearly double what a standard concrete paver in a running bond costs, and the cutting waste is higher. Fifth, whether the job triggers a Broward County permit, which any pool deck or any surface over 500 square feet connected to drainage will; the permit fee and the inspection hold add roughly $400 to $800 to the total.
Our written estimate breaks those line items out clearly: excavation and disposal, base rock and compaction, sand and laying labor, paver material at the square-foot price of the product you select, edging and polymeric sand, and the permit line if it applies. The number you see is the number you pay; we don’t write change orders halfway through because the soil looked different than we guessed. That’s the upfront pricing, no surprises commitment we’ve built the company on, and it’s backed by Derek Hollenbeck’s 42 years of doing this work across Florida.
How Plantation’s specific lots shape the way we build these surfaces
Plantation was developed as a master-planned community almost entirely between the late 1950s and the mid-1980s, which means the CBS homes sitting on those subdivision lots share a construction vocabulary we rarely see in the patchwork-built municipalities around us. If you’re also considering indoor updates, see our Small & Partial Kitchen Remodels service in Plantation. The side-yard setbacks are narrow, often 5 feet or less, so a walkway connecting the front driveway to the backyard pool needs tight-cutting skill and a paver pattern that doesn’t look chopped together when it turns a corner in a confined space. The backyard elevation is frequently within a foot of the swimming pool’s bond beam, which means our base-depth calibration on a pool deck has to account for the exact swell-crush cycle of South Florida’s seasonal water table - get it wrong, and the new deck settles unevenly against the coping within two monsoons.
Because Plantation falls under Broward County’s building jurisdiction rather than Miami-Dade’s stricter High-Velocity Hurricane Zone rules, patios and walkways here don’t trigger the same sub-base engineering requirements that you’d see in Aventura or Cutler Bay, but if you need roof work we also offer Specialty Roofing in Plantation, but they still have to pass a drainage inspection that’s pickier than what Palm Beach County typically enforces. We know which Broward inspector review points tend to slow down a permit submittal - primarily the grading plan and the bubblers for property-line drainage - so we front-load those details and keep your job moving without a desk-delay stall.
We also see a lot of 40-to-65-year-old pool decks in neighborhoods like Plantation Acres and the subdivisions east of University Drive that were poured as monolithic structures without expansion joints along the beam. When we cut out those sections and tie the new pavers into the existing shell, the joint detail is the difference between a deck that cracks again in three years and one that stays flat for a decade. This isn’t a generic paver-laying job; it’s fixing 50 years of Plantation’s particular construction history one yard at a time.
Serving Plantation, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Plantation area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
Frequently asked - patios, walkways, and pool decks in Plantation
Most patios, walkways, and pool decks in Plantation do require a permit, especially any surface over 500 square feet, any surface that alters the property’s drainage pattern, or any pool deck that touches the existing bond beam. Our team pulls the permit as part of the job, handles the Broward County inspection scheduling, and makes sure the final sign-off is in your file before we close out. Homeowners sometimes pair this work with a larger outdoor project - if you’re also considering ADU Site Prep & Utilities in Plantation, we can stage the ground-disturbance work together and save you the cost of two separate excavation mobilizations.
You can walk on a new paver patio or pool deck the same day we finish the polymeric sand activation and final compaction. We ask that you wait about 48 hours before placing heavy furniture or a grill, which gives the sand enough time to cure to its full bond strength in Florida’s humid air. A poured concrete surface needs a minimum of 24 hours before foot traffic and 7 days before you set anything heavy on it.
Properly installed pavers with edge restraint and polymeric sand hold through a tropical storm without washing out. The sand in the joints hardens into a flexible seal that drains water through at roughly 2 gallons per square foot per minute, which matters on Plantation lots where a sudden 3-inch rain in July will pond water on a solid slab but percolate straight through a properly graded paver surface. If a joint does wash after a direct eyewall hit, we’re back under the 730-Day Done Right Promise to re-sand it at no charge.
Yes, we can match color and pattern closely, though if the existing surface is more than four or five years old, there will be some visible difference from sun fading and wear. For a seamless look across the whole property, homeowners often have us do the Driveway & Pavers in Plantation and the pool deck in the same product run. If you’re also thinking about an interior refresh, we can coordinate the hardscape timing with Full Kitchen Remodeling in Plantation so your house isn’t under construction on two fronts at once.
The workmanship is covered by our 730-Day Done Right Promise, one of the longest guarantees in residential hardscape construction. If a paver settles, a joint fails, or an edge shifts within two years of completion, we fix it. The paver manufacturers we work with, including Belgard and Oldcastle, back their products with a separate lifetime structural warranty against cracking and color fade. That’s the built to last, backed in writing commitment: our labor, their material, your peace of mind. Call (844) 638-7249 for an exact quote on your project - estimates are free and we’ll give you a written number on the spot.
Schedule your free patio, walkway, or pool deck estimate in Plantation
We’ll come out to your property, take measurements, talk through material options and drainage requirements, and hand you a written line-item estimate before we leave. No voicemail, no callback delay - a live person answers (844) 638-7249 24/7, and we can usually have someone on-site within a few days. The quote is free, the upfront pricing is firm, and the 730-Day Done Right Promise covers everything we build.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., serving Plantation and all of Broward County.