Permitting & HOA · 12 August 2026 · Palmetto Premier crew
How HOA submittals work in the Lowcountry
Most Lowcountry neighborhoods, from Summerville to Mount Pleasant, run an architectural review process, and a backyard patio counts as an exterior alteration. That means a submittal before a shovel moves: a site plan showing where the work sits on the lot, dimensions, the material and color you have chosen, and often a drainage note explaining where water goes after the surface changes.
Review windows vary. Some boards meet monthly, some turn packages around in a week, and an incomplete package usually means waiting for the next cycle rather than a quick correction. That is where projects lose a month.
We prepare and file the package for you: drawings, materials, siting, and the drainage plan. The preparation fee credits toward your project total if you move forward with us. You sign, we submit, and we handle board questions if they come back with any.
If you are not sure whether your neighborhood requires review, send us your address and we will tell you what we find before you commit to anything.
Materials · 24 July 2026 · Palmetto Premier crew
Pavers vs. poured concrete in the Lowcountry
Poured concrete is cheaper on day one. The trade-off shows up later. Our soils move, our summers are hot and wet, and a slab handles that movement by cracking somewhere it was not scored to crack. Once it does, the repair is a patch that never matches.
Pavers move with the ground because they are individual units over a compacted base. Settlement shows up as a low spot rather than a crack, and a low spot is a morning of work: lift the pavers, correct the base, relay them. Same material, no seam.
Pavers also give you pattern, border courses, and colour blends that read as designed rather than poured, and they stay cooler underfoot than a broom-finished slab in July.
Where concrete still wins: long straight driveways on stable grade, and utility slabs nobody looks at. For a patio you will sit on every evening, we build pavers.
Site work · 3 June 2026 · Palmetto Premier crew
Why we grade before we pave
A patio changes where water goes. Put a level surface in the low corner of a yard that already holds water after a storm, and you have built a shallow pond with a nice border.
So we look at grade first. Where does the roof drain, where does the neighbour’s yard drain, and where can water leave the property. Sometimes the answer is a swale and a regrade. Sometimes it is a French drain and a downspout tie-in. Occasionally it is moving the patio ten feet.
Then comes base: excavate, compact, lay and compact aggregate in lifts, screed the bedding layer, and only then set pavers. The part you see is the last five percent of the work and the first thing to fail if the rest was rushed.
If your yard has a wet corner, tell us in the first conversation. It changes the plan, and it is much cheaper to solve before the surface goes down.
