Driveway Construction
Driveway Construction from Design to Build Out
Exterior Worlds specializes in driveway construction and design for the purpose of upgrading home curb appeal and creating a link between home architecture and the surrounding landscape design. Because hardscape constitutes up to 80 percent of any given landscape, we put great time and effort into designing a driveway that will serve to introduce the various hardscape designs that will subsequently occur throughout the property.
We also make certain that whatever shape or size driveway we ultimately build for our clients introduces the home as a grand and central feature of theHouston landscape. Without ignoring the practical needs of a low-maintenance and durable surface, we assure the creation of a truly aesthetic landscape element as well.
Driveway construction is planned and undertaken in phases to ensure a proper use of time and materials. This protects the client from overspending and eliminates the possibility of investing in a material build that turns out to be inappropriate for the property after the fact.
The first phase of this process is a meeting with the homeowner(s). During this consultation, we learn as much about client preferences, lifestyle, desires, and plans for future home entertainment. This helps us intuit a basic conceptual approach to driveway and landscape design in terms of style, look, and overall feel.
We then initiate a careful study of home architecture. Because the driveway is so close to the house, its first and foremost aesthetic function is to support home architecture. In order to better compliment the house, we carefully study it from every angle and isolate the key motifs in its design that we can use to build corollary geometry in the hardscape below.
The materials used for driveway construction will be chosen partly on the basis of home design and partly on the aesthetic wishes of the homeowner for overall landscape design. Some materials, such as brick, work very well with traditional landscapes. On the other hand, more contemporary, eclectic landscapes, may call for brick driveways, gravel driveways, or decorative concrete driveways. It all depends on what works best with the landscape, and on what best unites the structure of the home itself with surrounding natural and manmade elements.
Other factors are then examined before driveway construction gets underway. To begin with, it is very important to take a close look at the overall size of the front yard because the driveway must be designed to introduce both the façade of the home and the yard that surrounds it.
We must also factor in the practicality of sufficiently accommodating the number of vehicles that will be using the driveway. Once these factors are all weighed and balanced in relationship with one another, we can determine the exact size and geometric shape that the driveway needs to be.
The materials we use for driveway construction can come from any number of sources. They range in cost from relatively inexpensive materials (like certain types of gravel) to very high-end items like quarried stone. Client budget is always taken into account before finalizing any purchase order on materials, and client preference is always respected as well.
Certain materials may require us to subcontract concrete experts or masonry professionals to expedite construction of the driveway. It is to the homeowner’s advantage to allow Exterior Worlds to act as the general contractor for driveway construction because this gives residents a single point of contact and payment that handles everything from design to final inspection of the hardscape.
It also ensures that the work of any subcontracted specialists will more harmoniously blend with home and landscape elements that have been developed by our landscaping designers in the landscape master plan.
For more the 20 years Exterior Worlds has specialized in servicing many of Houston’s fine neighborhoods.