Proper base, proper drainage, done once — how McCoy scopes full backyard builds across Oakville and Burlington.
Most Oakville homeowners calling us about a “full backyard” are really thinking about three or four separate projects stitched together — a patio this year, a wall next year, lighting eventually. A full backyard hardscape means the opposite. It's one designed scope, built in the right order, by one crew, in one window.
Here's what that usually looks like:
Every full backyard build touches most of this list. Miss one and the rest suffers — a patio without drainage floods, walls without lighting disappear at 8 p.m., new sod with no grading dies in the first July drought.
The anchor of the project. Typically 400–900 sq ft on a full-yard build, sized around dining, lounge, and built-in features. Techo-Bloc, Unilock, or Permacon pavers on a 6–10 inch compacted aggregate base with geotextile fabric.
Seating walls frame the patio. Retaining walls handle grade — especially on Burlington hillside lots and escarpment-edge Milton properties. Walls over 1.2 metres need engineered drawings and, near the escarpment, conservation-authority sign-off.
Fire pits (gas or wood), pergolas, privacy screens. These get designed at the start — footings, gas lines, and electrical rough-ins all happen during base prep.
How you move around the space. Side yards, gate landings, pool deck connections. Often overlooked until the patio's done and the old grass path is a mud strip again.
The element that decides whether the build lasts. On Oakville and Burlington properties with clay soils and high water tables, drainage is the first line item scoped — not optional.
Low-voltage wiring gets buried during base prep, before pavers go down. Adding lighting later means cutting into finished hardscape.
New sod, topsoil, planting beds, mulch, and edging. The “before and after” moment depends on softscape being finished as carefully as the patio.
This is where a full hardscape project scope oakville homeowners research online most often goes sideways. The order looks obvious on paper. It's brutal in practice. Miss one step and the next three get compromised.
Here's the sequence we follow on every full-yard build:
Skip drainage rough-in and the patio is wet all spring. Pour wall footings after the patio's laid and you're cutting pavers to make them fit. Run lighting wire after the base is compacted and you're trenching through finished work.
Done in the right order, a full backyard build is one continuous site. Done wrong, it's three repair jobs three years from now.
Timelines depend on scope, access, weather, and whether engineering or permits are in play. Here's what we see on most McCoy builds across Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga, and Milton:
Factors that stretch West GTA timelines:
Peak season (May–October) books 6 to 12 weeks ahead. Larger scopes routinely book 3 to 4 months out.
A straight-talk section on backyard hardscape cost ontario homeowners don't see coming until the estimate lands. Not every homeowner undershoots the budget — but when they do, it's almost always one of these five line items.
The invisible line item. On clay-soil, high-water-table properties, drainage can be 15–25 percent of the total. Weeping tile, catch basins, rerouted downspouts — none of it shows in the after photo. All of it decides whether the patio is still level in year 10.
Ontario freeze-thaw is real. Proper base means 6 to 10 inches of compacted aggregate, geotextile fabric, and compaction in lifts. Homeowners pricing “just the pavers” miss the two-thirds of the work that sits under them.
Fire pit, pergola, privacy screens, built-in seating. Each one is a separate scope inside the scope. Three features doubles the trades and the footing work.
Low-voltage lighting on a full yard typically runs 12 to 30 fixtures — path, step, wall, and tree uplighting. A real line item, not an add-on.
New sod, topsoil, planting beds, mulch, edging — easily $3K–$8K on a full yard. On a full backyard build, most of the old lawn is gone by week two.
You don't need a designer, a drawing, or a final material list to call us. You do need a clear picture of how you want to use the space. The more specific, the better the quote.
Before your consultation, put together:
Have that ready and a one-hour site visit is enough to scope the full project. Backed by a 3-year warranty, built to last in Ontario winters.
Full backyard builds in West GTA typically start around $60K–$80K and go up from there — engineered walls, and larger paver footprints push the number higher. We don't quote flat per-square-foot numbers because drainage, walls, and feature count are where real cost lives. Call us for a site visit and we'll quote the real scope in writing.
You can, and some homeowners do — but it usually costs more. Phasing means mobilizing twice, redoing sod that gets torn up for wall footings, and cutting into finished hardscape to run lighting wire later. If your budget only covers half the scope right now, we'd rather scope the first phase with the second phase already planned underneath.
Patios and low walls usually don't need a municipal permit in Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga, or Milton. Walls over 1.2 metres, structures with roofs, gas lines, and anything near an escarpment or conservation area do. We confirm permit requirements during the on-site visit and handle engineered drawings where they're needed.
Plan on 4 to 8 months end-to-end. That's 2 to 6 weeks of design, 6 to 12 weeks of lead time before break-ground in peak season, and 6 to 10 weeks on-site. Add 2 to 6 more if the project needs engineered drawings or conservation sign-off.
Mostly, no — not the parts near the work. Heavy equipment and excavation tear up grass. That's why softscape reinstatement is baked into the scope. New sod, topsoil, and planting beds get laid at the end, and the finished yard looks better than the one we started on.
Before. Always. Drainage gets scoped at the consultation, trenched during rough grading, and installed before any base material is compacted. A patio laid over bad drainage is a patio you'll replace in five years — so fixing the water first is non-negotiable on every McCoy build.
We find something on most full-yard builds. Old clay tile, buried debris, unmarked utilities. The estimate covers standard conditions and we flag unknowns upfront. If something shows up mid-build, we stop, document it, show you the options in writing, and only move forward when you've signed off.
Why water gets solved before the first paver goes down — signs to watch for, what to fix, and what it costs.
The hidden base-prep work that decides the 15-year outcome — base depth, geotextile, edge restraint, polymeric sand activation.
Share a little about what you want built and we'll set up a no-pressure consultation. Every hardscape is backed by our 3-year warranty.
