Concrete, ceramic and natural stone patios, finished just below your door sill and falling gently away from the house
Getting a patio in Rotterdam right is mostly about what happens below the slabs. Much of the city is built on soft clay and peat, and that ground slowly sinks. Your house sits on piles and stays put. The garden around it doesn't. So older patios sink along the wall and send rainwater back towards the door. We dig out the old layers, lay and compact a fresh sand bed, set the finished surface just below your door sill and give it a gentle fall towards the garden. Then you pick the finish: concrete, ceramic or natural stone. If the gutters or the paintwork need doing too, it all goes on one quote.
Ask for a patio quote
- 1Tell us roughly how big the garden is
- 2We visit, measure up and check the levels
- 3You get a written, itemised quote
Call us, or email a few lines on what needs doing and where you live. Photos of the roof, gutter or paving help.
- Free quote
- Price agreed in writing
- Roof and ground
- Painting & cleaning
- English & Nederlands
Why it matters
A patio in Rotterdam that still sits flat after a few wet winters
Slabs on sand always look fine on day one. The gap between a careful job and a quick one shows up a few winters later.
Water runs away, not in
We build in a fall of roughly one to two centimetres per metre, away from the wall. Rain heads for the lawn, a border or a channel drain instead of pooling at the kitchen door.
Settling kept even
Soft spots, old rubble and loose backfill come out, and the sand bed goes down in layers, each one compacted. The clay and peat under Rotterdam always move a little, but this way it moves evenly rather than dipping at the edges.
A step-free threshold
The patio finishes just under the sill of your back door or French doors. You can walk straight out with a tray of drinks, and there's still a margin to stop water creeping under the door.
A finish chosen for how you live
Concrete slabs are good value and easy to lift and replace. Ceramic shrugs off stains. Natural stone picks up character as it weathers. We talk it through based on how you use the garden, not on a brochure.
Room for rain to soak in
A garden doesn't have to be paved wall to wall. We can leave a border or a gravel strip beside the patio, so a heavy shower drains into the soil instead of all of it going to the sewer. The gemeente Rotterdam is keen on fewer tiles and more green in gardens too, so it's worth checking the council website for anything currently on offer.
One firm for the whole job
Downpipe in the wrong place, or garden doors that need repainting? We fit that into the same schedule, so you aren't juggling three different tradespeople and three sets of dates.
Materials
Concrete, ceramic or stone: choosing your patio tiles
Concrete slabs in 60x60 or 40x60 are the workhorse of Rotterdam back gardens, from the terraced streets of Zevenkamp to the newer houses in Nesselande, and they lift out easily if a pipe underneath ever needs reaching. Ceramic tiles are thin and very hard. They barely absorb dirt or grease, but they need a flat, firm bed of crushed sand or fine grit to sit on. With natural stone, such as Belgian bluestone or granite, no two slabs are quite the same colour. Some types are porous and mark from leaves or barbecue fat, so we go through the upkeep before you commit. Garden paths can be laid to match.
- Concrete: good value, easy to lift later
- Ceramic: stain-resistant, needs a precise bed
- Natural stone: every slab different, may need sealing
- Paths laid to match the patio
- Joints in sand, grit or jointing mortar
How we work
Laying a patio in Rotterdam: our five steps
You'll know in advance what happens on which day. No surprises halfway through.
- 01
Site visit and levels
We come round, measure up and check the height of the door sill and where water can drain to. We also look for existing sinking, tree roots and old foundations hiding under the current patio.
- 02
Quote and choosing tiles
Your quote lists groundwork, sand, tiles and drainage separately. We'll show you real samples before you decide, because a photo tells you very little about colour or how a tile feels underfoot.
- 03
Digging out
Old slabs, sand and rubble come out and are taken away. If we're using a mini digger, we first file a KLIC request with the Kadaster, the legally required check for buried cables and pipes before mechanical digging.
- 04
Sand bed and fall
The sand goes down in layers, each one run over with a plate compactor, then screeded to the right fall. You'll never see this part again. It still decides whether the patio stays flat for years.
- 05
Laying, jointing, handover
The tiles go down, edges get kerbs where they need them and the joints are filled. Then we walk the patio with you, tip a bucket of water over it and show you where it goes.
- →
What next?
Send us a message about what needs doing. A quote costs you nothing.
Ask for a quote →
Questions
Patio questions we get asked
How high will the patio sit against the back door?
Just below the door sill. That gives you an easy step out while leaving a small margin so rain can't run inside. If your current patio is higher than the sill, we'll bring it down to the right level, even if that changes how it meets the lawn or a border. We go through this on the first visit.
Why does my patio keep sinking next to the house?
In Rotterdam the house usually sits on piles and stays put, but the garden doesn't. The strip along the wall is often loose backfill left over from the build, which is why the dip shows there first. We dig the soft material out, top up with sand and compact it properly. You can't stop peat settling altogether, but you can make it far more even.
Can I reuse my old slabs?
Sometimes. Concrete slabs that are whole and flat can go back down on a new sand bed. Cracked, worn or badly stained ones we'd advise against. We look at them on the first visit, and the quote shows what reusing them would save.
Is ceramic worth the extra cost?
It depends on how you use the patio. Ceramic soaks up very little dirt or grease, keeps its colour and is easy to keep clean. On the other hand, the tiles cost more and laying them takes more precision. If you mainly want somewhere flat for a table and chairs, good concrete slabs often do the job just as well.
Do you lay garden paths as well?
Yes. A path from the back door to the shed or the back gate is often done together with the patio, in the same or a matching material. It gets the same groundwork, just narrower. Doing both at once means the levels and falls line up properly.
Service area
Patios across Rotterdam and nearby
We're based in Spaanse Polder, on the north-west side of Rotterdam. From there we lay patios in back gardens in Overschie, Hillegersberg, Prins Alexander and IJsselmonde, and outside the city in places like Schiedam, Vlaardingen and Capelle aan den IJssel.
- Rotterdam
- Schiedam
- Vlaardingen
- Capelle a/d IJssel
- Krimpen a/d IJssel
- Barendrecht
- Ridderkerk
- Rhoon
- Berkel en Rodenrijs
- Bergschenhoek
- Maassluis
- Spijkenisse
Ready for a patio that stays level?
Send us a few photos of the garden and the back door, and we'll book a time to come and measure up.