Hear from Our Customers
There’s a version of this where you get a patio that looks great in June, starts shifting by October, and a contractor who doesn’t pick up the phone by the following spring. That’s what we see in complaint after complaint in this industry. It’s completely avoidable when the work is done right from the start.
Aston’s housing stock tells you a lot about what you’re working with. Most homes here were built between the 1940s and 1960s established properties with mature trees, settled soil, and drainage patterns that have shifted over decades. That’s not a problem. It just means your patio needs to be designed around your specific lot, not a standard template. Done right, a patio on an Aston property can solve drainage issues, add usable outdoor square footage, and return more than 80% of its cost at resale with pavers specifically delivering 30–50% better ROI than plain concrete.
What you actually get out of a well-installed patio is simple: a space you use. A place to have dinner outside without fighting the slope of your yard. A fire pit area that doesn’t flood after a rainstorm. A surface that looks the same in year eight as it did in year one because the base was built for Pennsylvania’s 40+ freeze-thaw cycles not ignored.
Spennato Landscaping is based in Aston. Renato Spennato has been working on properties in this township and across Delaware County for over 15 years, and that local experience shows up in the work. We know the drainage behavior near Chester Creek. We know what the soil looks like on the older lots off Concord Road. We know which backyard configurations in Aston need extra grading attention before a single paver goes down.
We run one experienced crew no subcontractors rotating in and out, no handoffs midproject. You deal with the same people from the first visit to the final walkthrough. And when the job is done, we’re still reachable. That’s not a standard practice in this industry, but it should be.
It starts with a conversation about how you actually use your yard or how you want to. Where does the afternoon sun hit? Which door do you use to get outside? Do you want a dining area, a lounge space, a fire pit, or all three? That conversation shapes the design before anything else happens.
From there, the focus moves to your specific lot. Aston properties especially those built in the mid-20th century often have drainage patterns that need to be addressed before installation begins. That’s not a complication; it’s just part of doing the job correctly. Proper slope away from your foundation, a compacted aggregate base deep enough to handle Pennsylvania’s frost line, edge restraints that hold their position, and polymeric sand that keeps water from working its way underneath these are the details that determine whether your patio is still level and tight a decade from now.
Once the base is right, material selection and layout come together. Whether you’re looking at pavers, flagstone, stamped concrete, or a combination, the installation follows the same standard: no shortcuts on the foundation, no rushing the process. Permit questions for Aston Township get handled upfront so there are no surprises mid-project. When we leave, your yard is clean and the patio is ready to use not a construction site waiting for a follow-up.
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Paver patios are the most popular choice for Aston homeowners, and for good reason. Individual pavers can flex slightly with ground movement which matters a lot when the ground is freezing and thawing dozens of times a year. If one section settles, it can be lifted, the base corrected, and the paver reset without touching the rest of the surface. That’s a repair. With a concrete slab, the same scenario is a replacement.
Flagstone and natural Pennsylvania Bluestone are a strong fit for the older, more established neighborhoods in Aston. The character of natural stone complements homes that have been here since the 1940s and 1950s in a way that manufactured materials often don’t. It’s a premium option, but on the right property, it’s the right call aesthetically and long-term.
Stamped and standard concrete are also available and can work well when installed with proper base preparation. The honest answer is that concrete is more vulnerable to cracking in Delaware County’s climate than pavers, but it’s a legitimate option for the right project and budget. We can incorporate covered patio structures pergolas, pavilions into any of these installations for homeowners who want year-round usability out of their outdoor space. Pricing across these options typically runs $15–$50 per square foot, with most Aston projects falling between $3,500 and $12,000 depending on size, material, and scope.
The realistic range for patio installation in Aston is $15–$50 per square foot, with most residential projects landing between $3,500 and $12,000. Where you fall in that range depends on the size of the patio, the material you choose, and what the site requires before installation can begin.
For Aston specifically, site prep is a factor worth discussing upfront. Many properties here particularly those built in the 1940s through 1960s have drainage issues or grading irregularities that need to be addressed before any surface goes down. That work adds cost, but skipping it is what leads to a patio that’s heaving or flooding two years later. Pavers sit at the higher end of the material cost spectrum but consistently outperform concrete at resale, returning 30–50% more ROI than a plain slab. A free estimate gives you a real number for your specific yard.
Pavers are the most durable option for Delaware County’s climate, and the reason comes down to how they handle freeze-thaw cycles. The Philadelphia metro area which Aston sits within averages more than 40 freeze-thaw cycles per year. That means the ground beneath your patio is expanding and contracting dozens of times between November and March. Concrete slabs resist that movement until they don’t then they crack, and the repair is a full replacement.
Pavers are designed to move slightly with the ground. If a section settles, individual pavers can be lifted, the base corrected, and the surface reset without disturbing the rest of the patio. Flagstone and Pennsylvania Bluestone are also excellent performers in this climate and tend to complement the character of Aston’s older housing stock particularly well. Whichever material you choose, the base preparation underneath it matters more than the surface material itself that’s where most patio failures in this region actually start.
For most at-grade patio installations in Pennsylvania, a building permit is not required but the answer depends on the specific scope of your project. If your patio includes a retaining wall above a certain height (commonly four feet), or if the work involves significant grading changes near a property line, Aston Township’s Building and Zoning Department may need to be involved.
We handle permit requirements at the start of the project. They get confirmed before work begins so there are no mid-project surprises or delays. If your project does require a permit, we manage the process as part of the job not handed off to you to figure out.
For a standard residential patio in Aston say, a 400–600 square foot paver installation the physical work typically takes two to four days once the project is scheduled and materials are staged. Larger installations, projects that include drainage corrections, or designs that incorporate covered structures will run longer, but a realistic timeline gets established before work starts.
The bigger variable is scheduling. Spring is the busiest season for patio installation in Delaware County, and contractor schedules fill up fast often by February or March for April and May starts. Homeowners in Aston who want a patio ready for summer entertaining are better off reaching out in late winter to lock in a spot. Fall is also a solid installation window in Pennsylvania, and it positions you well for a patio that’s fully settled and ready when the following spring arrives.
The overwhelming cause of paver failure in this area is inadequate base preparation specifically, a base that wasn’t excavated deep enough, wasn’t compacted properly, or didn’t account for drainage. When water gets beneath a paver surface and the ground freezes, it expands. When it thaws, the soil shifts. Do that 40 times in a winter and a poorly built base starts to show it.
On Aston properties particularly those near Chester Creek’s drainage corridor or on lots with mature tree coverage soil conditions and root systems can complicate excavation if they’re not accounted for during the design phase. A proper installation means excavating to the right depth for Pennsylvania’s frost conditions, compacting the aggregate base in layers, setting edge restraints that hold their position, and finishing with polymeric sand that resists water infiltration. That’s the work you can’t see once the patio is done and it’s exactly the work that determines how your patio looks five and ten years from now.
The most common complaint in this industry and it shows up consistently in BBB filings and online reviews is contractors who are responsive until the job is done and then become impossible to reach. For a $5,000–$12,000 investment, that’s a real problem when something needs attention six months after completion.
A few things worth checking before you commit to anyone: Does the contractor publish pricing openly, or do they only discuss numbers once they have you in a conversation? Do they use their own crew, or are they coordinating subcontractors you’ve never met? Is there a named individual not just a company name who stands behind the work? Spennato Landscaping checks all three. Renato Spennato is a named, local operator who has been working in Aston for over 15 years. Our pricing is published. Our crew is our own. And the phone still gets answered after the job is done.
