Hardscapes

A residential front yard with a curved stone walkway, landscaped with various plants, shrubs, and small trees, and a street with parked cars in the background.

DURABLE OUTDOOR SURFACES AND STRUCTURES, BUILT TO STAND THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST CLIMATE.

Hardscaping is what gives a landscape its structure — the surfaces, walls, steps, and features that define how a property looks and functions. Summit Landscape & Construction builds hardscapes that are designed to last, installed with the proper base preparation that prevents settling and failure over time. From paver patios to retaining walls, fire pits, and gravel driveways, we handle the full range of outdoor construction across Snohomish and King Counties.

Hardscape Service Options

Paver Patios, Walkways & Driveways

A paved patio area with gray interlocking tiles next to a dirt patch, with trees and a cloudy sky in the background, and construction tools visible on the left side.

Pavers transform outdoor spaces — adding beauty, function, and lasting value to a property. Summit installs concrete, natural stone, and permeable pavers for patios, walkways, pool surrounds, and driveways. Every installation starts with proper excavation and a compacted base layer that keeps pavers level and prevents the heaving and settling that cut-rate installations produce.

  • Concrete paver patios and entertaining areas

  • Natural stone and flagstone walkways

  • Paver driveways and parking areas

  • Permeable paver installation for drainage

  • Polymeric sand jointing and sealing

Retaining Walls (Block, Rockeries & Timber)

A landscaped garden with tiered stone walls, small bushes, and plants, surrounded by trees and a cloudy sky.

On sloped properties, retaining walls do essential work — holding soil, preventing erosion, creating usable flat space, and defining planting areas. Summit builds retaining walls in block, natural rock/rockery, and timber, selecting the right system for the height, soil pressure, and aesthetic of each site. We design for drainage behind the wall — the detail most failed walls are missing.

  • Modular concrete block walls (Allan Block, Versa-Lok, and similar)

  • Natural rockery and boulder wall construction

  • Timber retaining walls for garden and landscape applications

  • Drainage aggregate and pipe behind all walls

  • Engineered wall design for tall or load-bearing applications

Fire Pits

A backyard patio with wooden Adirondack chairs around a fire pit with a burning fire, set on a stone surface. In the background, there is a spacious lawn, a wooden playground set, and a backdrop of tall evergreen trees under a partly cloudy sky.

A fire pit is the feature that turns a backyard into an outdoor living room. Summit installs built-in fire pits in block, natural stone, and custom concrete — designed and positioned to create a gathering space that works with the rest of your hardscape. We handle the patio or paver surround, seating wall options, and any gas line prep coordination for gas fire features.

  • Block and natural stone fire pit construction

  • Gas fire pit prep and surround installation

  • Integrated patio and seating wall design

Outdoor Living Spaces

A landscaped backyard with a stone pathway leading to a patio area with outdoor seating, surrounded by lush greenery, potted plants, and a small waterfall feature with rocks.

Summit builds complete outdoor living areas — combining paver surfaces, retaining walls, fire features, outdoor steps, and landscape lighting into a cohesive space designed for how you actually want to live outside. We work from your vision, helping you lay out the space before any digging starts, and build it to a quality that adds real value to your property.

  • Full outdoor entertainment area design and build

  • Patio, wall, fire feature, and step integration

  • Pre-construction layout and planning

  • Combination hardscape + softscape installation

Aggregate Delivery & Installation

A beautifully landscaped backyard at sunset with a stone pathway, wooden steps, and landscaped garden beds surrounded by rocks and plants, with outdoor lighting and a view of mountains and a lake in the background.

From decorative rock and river stone to crushed gravel and drain rock, Summit delivers and installs aggregate for landscape beds, drainage applications, pathways, and surface areas.

  • Decorative rock and river stone installation

  • Crushed gravel and drain rock delivery and spread

  • Pathway and surface aggregate installation

  • Weed barrier fabric installation under aggregate

Outdoor Steps

Stone steps and retaining walls with a patch of dirt and greenery in the background, including shrubs and trees.

Steps that look great and function safely are one of the details that separate a well-built landscape from a hasty one. Summit builds outdoor steps in pavers, natural stone, concrete block, and timber — sized, spaced, and finished to meet code and feel natural underfoot.

  • Paver and natural stone stair construction

  • Block and boulder step installation

  • Entry and landscape step systems

  • Code-compliant riser and tread dimensions

Gravel Driveway Installation

Gravel driveway surrounded by green grass and trees.

A properly installed gravel driveway handles Pacific Northwest rainfall without rutting, washing out, or becoming a mud pit. Summit grades the driveway base, installs appropriate geotextile fabric, and delivers and compacts the right gravel specification for your traffic level and soil conditions.

  • Driveway grading and base preparation

  • Geotextile fabric installation

  • Crushed gravel delivery and compaction

  • Edging and surface crown for drainage

Edging, Steel & Aluminum Borders

Night view of a landscaped garden with a stone pathway, illuminated by outdoor lighting, beside a wooden house with patio furniture, overlooking a lake and forested mountains in the background.

Clean landscape borders make the difference between a landscape that looks maintained and one that's constantly fighting itself. Summit installs steel and aluminum landscape edging to create crisp, permanent separations between lawn, beds, pathways, and hardscape — borders that hold their line season after season.

  • Steel and aluminum landscape edging installation

  • Bed definition and lawn border installation

  • Pathway and hardscape transition borders

Request A Quote

Call or Text: 425-780-5433 | Serving Snohomish & King Counties

Your Hardscape Questions, Answered

  • A standard patio (400–600 sq ft) typically takes 3–5 days from excavation to final sand jointing. Timeline varies based on site access, base conditions, and design complexity. We'll give you a project schedule before work begins.

  • Wall height determines permit requirements — walls over 4 feet (measured from the bottom of the footing) typically require a permit in both counties. Summit is familiar with local building department requirements and will identify permit needs during the quote process.

  • Rockeries use natural boulders stacked and battered (angled back into the slope) for a naturalistic look — excellent for Pacific Northwest properties. Block walls use engineered concrete units with a geogrid system and are better suited to taller walls or sites that need a more formal look. Summit will recommend the right system for your site and budget.

  • "Summit built a natural rockery along our driveway that looks like it's always been there. They were thoughtful about placement and the whole thing integrates with our existing landscaping perfectly. Several neighbors have already asked who did it."

    Retaining Walls and Shrubs — Homeowner, Monroe, WA

  • "We had a big backyard we never actually used — just lawn and a sad concrete pad. Summit redesigned the whole thing: paver surface, built-in seating walls, lighting, the works. What impressed us most was how they thought through the layout before anything was built. Greg walked us through the flow of the space, where the furniture would go, how the sight lines would work from the house. The finished product feels like an extension of our home, not an afterthought. We've spent more time outside this year than in the previous ten combined."

    Outdoor Living Space — Homeowner, Redmond, WA

  • "We have a steep backyard that was eroding every winter and losing us usable space. Summit built a block retaining wall and it completely transformed the property — we gained a flat area for the kids to play and the erosion is done. The wall looks solid and clean. Greg walked us through exactly how it would be built and why it would last. Really appreciated the transparency."

    Retaining Walls, Sitework & Lawn Installation — Homeowner, Kirkland, WA

  • "Summit built us a massive paver patio with a built-in fire pit and it is the centerpiece of our entire backyard. The base preparation alone took a full day — they didn't cut a single corner — and the finished surface has stayed perfectly level through two winters. The fire pit is surrounded by a raised seating wall that makes the whole area feel like an outdoor room. We entertain out there from April through October. Every single person who sees it asks who built it."

    Fire Pit & Large Paver Patio — Homeowner, Kirkland, WA

  • "The bones of our landscape were fine, but everything bled together — lawn creeping into the beds, gravel migrating everywhere, no clean definition anywhere. Summit installed steel aluminum edging throughout the entire property and replanted all the beds with a mix that actually makes sense for our light conditions and climate. The difference is dramatic. Everything looks intentional now. The edging has held a perfect line through the seasons without any of the lifting or warping we had with the plastic stuff we tried before."

    Aluminum Edging & Landscape Planting — Homeowner, Lake Stevens, WA

  • "We have a sloped front entry that always felt unwelcoming — just a steep concrete path to the door. Summit rebuilt the whole approach with natural stone steps and installed large custom planters on either side at each landing. They helped us select a planting plan with staggered bloom times so something is always happening — spring bulbs give way to lavender and ornamental grasses in summer, and the Japanese maples carry the color through fall. In winter the structure of the planters and the evergreen groundcovers still look polished. It's the first thing people comment on when they visit."

    Outdoor Steps & High-End Planters — Homeowner, Snohomish, WA