Hardscaping Contractor in Olympia, WA — Engineered for 50" of Rain

ND Brick Pavers runs its office out of Yelm, in the same county as Olympia and east of Lacey, and its crews work across Thurston County and Pierce County. Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater are regular stops, not an occasional trip. The same in-house crew that digs the base sets the pavers and cuts the borders. Nobody on the job is a subcontractor.

The company has 19 years in the trade and more than 425 completed projects, and it holds Washington contractor license NDBRIDB815M5. Its Google rating is 4.7. Those numbers matter less than the method, so the rest of this page explains how ground and local rules in the Olympia area change the way a paver job should be built.

NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals for the Olympia Airport station put average yearly precipitation at 50.62 inches. That is roughly ten inches more than NOAA's normal for its Tacoma station (40.81 inches), and the difference shows up in the wet months. November averages 8.21 inches at Olympia Airport, December 7.85, and January 7.80. July averages about half an inch.

Two things follow for a paver job. First, December through February alone brings about 21 inches, so the ground under a patio sits wet for months, not days. Second, the dry window from June through September is short, and that is when most homeowners want the work done. We schedule base work so the subgrade is not left open in a downpour, and on wet-season jobs we plan for pumping and covering an open excavation.

Thurston County soil changes block by block. USDA soil survey data, which feeds the Web Soil Survey, maps a large share of central Olympia as Yelm fine sandy loam. That soil formed in sandy glacial outwash in old glacial lake basins and drainageways. USDA rates it moderately well drained, with signs of seasonal wetness starting about 20 to 40 inches down.

Go east into Lacey and the survey shows more Everett very gravelly sandy loam and Spanaway gravelly sandy loam. These are prairie and outwash soils left by the retreating ice sheet: coarse gravel and sand that USDA rates somewhat excessively drained. Around Tumwater the survey maps Nisqually loamy fine sand on flat outwash terraces, another fast-draining prairie soil. On these sites rain soaks in quickly, and the risk is less a soggy base than a base that loses fines or a sand layer that shifts.

Then there are the exceptions that cause most failed jobs. Near Black Lake, USDA maps Mukilteo muck, an organic soil whose water table can sit at the surface to about a foot down at any time of year. Pockets of McKenna gravelly silt loam and Norma silt loam carry a water table at or near the surface from roughly November through April. Skipopa silt loam, found on some terraces, has a perched water table one to two feet down from November through May and a layer that water barely passes through. Alderwood soils, mapped on parts of the west side and in Lacey, have a dense glacial till layer 20 to 40 inches down that stops water and perches it above.

The City of Olympia's permit guidance lists several exemptions that cover a lot of paver work, with conditions attached. A retaining wall is exempt when it is not over 4 feet tall measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, unless it holds back extra load such as backfilled soil, a nearby foundation, parking, a driveway, or water pressure. Sidewalks and driveways of not more than 800 square feet are listed as exempt when they are under 30 inches above grade, not over a basement or story below, and not part of an accessible route.

The same guidance says work in the City right-of-way needs a permit, and so does excavation or fill. A new or widened driveway approach at the curb is right-of-way work. The city also notes that a project with no permit must still meet code and development standards. Because the details depend on the exact site, we confirm the permit path with the Permit Center before we price the job, and any permit goes into the plan and schedule from the start.

Olympia applies its 2022 Drainage Design and Erosion Control Manual to applications submitted on or after November 28, 2022. The city's Guide Sheet 1A sets the thresholds a homeowner is most likely to hit. More than 2,000 square feet of new plus replaced hard surface requires an Abbreviated Stormwater Site Plan. More than 5,000 square feet requires a full Stormwater Site Plan and a scoping meeting. Disturbing more than 7,000 square feet of land also requires a full plan.

Two details on that guide sheet surprise people. The city defines hard surface to include permeable pavement, so switching to permeable pavers does not shrink the count. And clearing or hard surface built under another permit since January 1, 2000 is added to the current project. A driveway replacement plus a new patio plus a garage built ten years ago can push a lot over 2,000 square feet without anyone noticing. We add up the areas before design, not after.

Smaller projects are not off the hook. The guide sheet says every project, regardless of size, has to control construction runoff with erosion and sediment measures. On a paver job that means protecting storm drains, covering stockpiles, and keeping mud off the street.

The City of Olympia states that every winter, rain saturation causes some slopes in the city to fail. Its guidance points to grades over 40 percent, and grades over 10 percent with layers water cannot pass, springs, seeps, or past movement. Steep slopes are critical areas under the city's tree removal and landslide hazard rules. A patio or wall near the top of a bluff above Budd Inlet or a ravine needs that review and, often, an engineer.

Groundwater is the other local concern. Olympia gets about 85 percent of its drinking water from the McAllister Wellfield, and the city protects large areas around its wells. It names lawn fertilizer nitrates as a major threat and may require a groundwater monitoring well where stormwater is infiltrated. For a homeowner that is a reason to keep sealers, cleaners, and spilled polymeric sand off bare soil, and to send only clean roof and paver runoff into the ground.

Olympia also adopted low impact development as its default approach in 2016. In practice the city expects runoff to be managed close to where it falls, which favors rain gardens, dispersion, and well-built permeable systems on the gravelly soils where they work.

Most calls from the Olympia area fall into a few patterns, and each one points to a different service.

The first visit includes the free soil test. We dig where the paver field will go and look at what comes up: clean gravel, sandy loam, gray mottled silt, or wet muck. That decides base depth, whether the base needs a drain line, and whether a permeable design is realistic. It also tells us whether the site may hit one of the city's critical area or permit triggers.

Next comes the free 3D design, so you can see the layout, levels, and steps before anything is dug. The quote is free and on site, and it names the cost drivers for your lot: size, base depth, soil, access for equipment, material, drainage, demolition of old concrete, slope, and any permit work. Then our own crew builds it, cleans up daily, and walks the finished job with you.