Patio & walkway installation · Greater Boston
- On-site estimate00
- Design & material selection01
- Excavation & grading02
- Base installation03
- Paver, stone or concrete installation04
- Joint sand, compaction & edge restraint05
- Walk-through & cleanup06
What's under the paversdecides if they're flat in five years.
Paver, natural stone and poured concrete patios and walkways — graded for real drainage, excavated and built on a properly compacted base, with edge restraint that actually holds the field together. The part you walk on is the easy part; the part underneath it is the part we get paid to get right.
- Estimate
- Free on-site estimate
- Written price
- Graded for real drainage
- Track record
- 21 years in business
- Based in
- Maynard, MA · Greater Boston
- Grading & drainage plan
- Excavation & base prep
- Edge restraint
- Paver, natural stone or poured concrete
- Walkway construction
- Joint sand & compaction
- Steps & transitions
- Final grading & cleanup
The argument
Apaverpatiodoesn'tfailatthepavers.Itfailsatthebaseunderneath—thecompactedgravelandsandnobodyeverthinksaboutagainafterthefirstweek,untilthefieldstartstodipandspreadafewyearslater.
Scope of work
What a 7 Days patio or walkway actually includes
This is the scope sheet we hand you at the estimate — the same list, in the same order, that the crew builds from. Nothing on it is a line item we add later.
Sheet
Scope of work
08 items · rev. 2026
Grading & drainage plan
The site graded to carry water away from your house's foundation before a single paver or form board goes down — the single most common thing a cheap patio job skips.
Excavation & base prep
Excavated to the proper depth, compacted gravel base built up in lifts and compacted at each one, not dumped in all at once and walked on.
Edge restraint
Paver or concrete edging set and staked so the field is held in place and doesn't spread, gap or creep outward over a few seasons.
Paver, natural stone or poured concrete
Concrete pavers, natural stone such as bluestone or fieldstone, or poured/stamped concrete — we walk through the real trade-offs in cost, look and maintenance at the estimate.
Walkway construction
Same base principles at walkway width, with a slope built in along the run so water sheds off the path instead of pooling on it.
Joint sand & compaction
Polymeric sand swept into the joints and compacted to lock the paver field together and resist weeds — not left loose to wash out with the first hard rain.
Steps & transitions
Masonry or paver steps built where the grade changes, tied properly into the main patio or walkway rather than butted up against it.
Final grading & cleanup
Lawn and bed edges restored, the whole surface washed down, and a walk-through with you before we call it done.
The sequence
How a patio or walkway job runs
Everything that determines whether a patio stays flat happens before the first paver is set. Here is the order we build in.
Base compaction and paver setting need workable, unfrozen ground, so most patio and walkway installs run from spring thaw through late fall in Massachusetts. We'll tell you honestly at the estimate if your project needs to wait on the ground rather than the calendar.
- 00
On-site estimate
Thirty minutes at your house, Monday to Saturday between 3 and 5 PM. We walk the site, look at the existing grade and drainage, and talk through material options.
- 01
Design & material selection
Footprint, material — paver, natural stone or poured concrete — and pattern decided and written into a proposal within 48 hours.
- 02
Excavation & grading
Site excavated to the depth the chosen material and base require, graded to move water away from the house.
- 03
Base installation
Compacted gravel base built in lifts, with geotextile fabric where the soil calls for it, to keep the base from migrating into the subgrade over time.
- 04
Paver, stone or concrete installation
Material set to the layout, with cuts planned around the edges rather than improvised at the end.
- 05
Joint sand, compaction & edge restraint
Polymeric sand compacted into the joints, edge restraint staked, and the whole surface compacted a final time.
- 06
Walk-through & cleanup
Beds and lawn edges restored, surface washed down, and a walk-through with you before the final invoice.
Why 7 Days
What a patio or walkway job needs to get right.
Base depth, not base promises
The compacted gravel base is what survives a Massachusetts freeze-thaw cycle. We build it in lifts and compact each one — the part of the job you'll never see again is the part that decides whether the patio stays flat.
Graded away from the house
Drainage is designed into the grading plan before anything is set, not discovered as a puddle against your foundation after the first storm.
Edge restraint that actually holds
Staked paver or concrete edging keeps the field from spreading. Skipping this is the most common reason a few-year-old patio starts gapping at the edges.
Natural stone or manufactured pavers — your call
We install both and we're honest about the trade-offs: natural stone costs more and varies piece to piece, pavers are more consistent and easier to match later if one ever needs replacing.
The work
Patios and walkways we install.
Paver, stone and concrete patios, walkways and steps — graded, based and set to last through New England freeze-thaw cycles.
Fig. 01
Fig. 02
Fig. 03
Fig. 04Reference builds in the configurations and materials we work in. Photography of 7 Days projects is added here as jobs are completed and released by the homeowner.
What clients say
Verified reviews,on Angi.
Verified reviews from the 7 Days profile on Angi, including patio and walkway work.
4.8
4 reviews
on Angi
“I hired 7 Days Remodel & Contracting to replace my deck and repair the front porch. I also needed new kitchen and bathroom flooring and tile on the kitchen counter and upstairs bathroom. Al and his team were extremely professional and multitasked to complete interior and exterior while I was away on military orders. Pleasantly surprised and extremely satisfied with the outcome and highly recommend them — Al communicated consistently throughout the process and completed the work as discussed prior to my return and on budget.”
“Al did a great job on our renovation of our three-unit apartment building. He showed up, his team showed up, and everyone was skilled, delivering a great result.”
R.S.S.
Angi · Oct 7, 2025
“They start and finish the work and I'm happy.”
Jim B.
Angi · Sep 12, 2025
“The job was done in a timeframe that was shorter than projected. Their team was very professional and did a great job cleaning up behind themselves.”
Gregory H.
Angi · Aug 16, 2025
Genuine, verified customer reviews from the 7 Days profile on Angi. Names are shown exactly as Angi publishes them.
Straight answers
What people ask about patios & walkways.
How long does a patio installation take?
A standard paver patio usually runs about a week on site, including excavation and base compaction — the base work takes longer than setting the pavers themselves. Natural stone or larger footprints run longer, and we give you the real calendar in the written proposal.
What's the difference between pavers and poured concrete?
Pavers go down on a compacted gravel base with sand joints, which means individual pavers can be lifted and replaced later and the surface flexes slightly with the ground. Poured concrete is a single rigid slab — cheaper per square foot up front, but a crack is a crack for the life of the slab.
Why does my existing patio have gaps or sinking pavers?
Almost always a base problem — gravel that wasn't compacted properly, or no edge restraint holding the field together. We can usually rebuild the affected section on a proper base rather than repaving the whole patio, depending on how far it's spread.
Do you handle drainage so water doesn't pool near my house?
Yes — grading the site to move water away from your foundation is part of the design before anything is excavated, not an afterthought we address if you ask.
Can you build a walkway to match an existing patio?
Yes, if the paver or stone is still available, or we'll help you pick the closest current match. We'll tell you honestly if an exact match isn't realistic before you commit to it.
Does a walkway need the same base depth as a patio?
The base principles are the same — compacted gravel, proper excavation depth, drainage — even though a walkway is narrower. Skimping on a walkway's base fails the same way a patio's does, just in a smaller footprint.
Do you build retaining walls as part of a patio project?
Small grade changes, yes. Taller structural retaining walls are masonry restoration-and-rebuild work with their own drainage and engineering requirements — see our Masonry Restoration page for that scope.
Beyond the bathroom
Other trades, same shop
Each of these runs with its own partner and its own crew.
- 01
Carpentry & Painting
A paint job fails at the caulk line and the bare spot behind the radiator. A trim job fails at the scribe — the gap where the casing meets a wall that was never straight. Both failures are invisible until you're standing in the room, which is why we run both trades under the same eye.
- 02
Deck & Porch Construction and Repair
A deck doesn't fail at the railing or the decking boards — it fails at the two parts nobody sees again once the job is done: the footings and the ledger board. That's where we spend the engineering attention, not the baluster style.
- 03
Masonry Restoration & Repair
Mortar is supposed to fail before the brick does — it's the sacrificial part of the wall, by design. Our job is telling you when that's happening on schedule and when it's a sign something behind the wall, usually water, has already gone wrong.
- 04
Patio & Walkway Installation
A paver patio doesn't fail at the pavers. It fails at the base underneath — the compacted gravel and sand nobody ever thinks about again after the first week, until the field starts to dip and spread a few years later.
Free on-site estimate
Book a free patio or walkway estimate
We walk the site with you, look at the grade and drainage, and put a written itemized price in your hands within 48 hours.
- Estimate window
- Mon–Sat · 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
- On site
- About 30 minutes
- Written price
- Within 48 hours