Garden paths, front gardens and back gardens paved, and sunken paving lifted and re-laid
Paving in Rotterdam takes a beating from below. Much of the city lies below sea level on soft clay and peat. Your house most likely sits on piles, but the garden rests on that soft ground, and over the years it sinks. Slabs start to rock, water collects by the back door, and the joints fill with grass. We lay new paths and garden paving, and we fix the sunken bits: lift the stones, build the sand bed back up, compact it and put the paving down tight again. If your old bricks are sound, we reuse them. You get one contact and one quote, and we can look at the rest of the outside while we're there.
Get a paving quote
- 1Tell us what you need
- 2We visit and measure up
- 3You get a fixed price
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 re-lay it
Paving in Rotterdam: what doing it properly gets you
Laying stones looks easy. What decides whether a path is still level in five years is what's underneath: a properly compacted sand bed and a fall that takes water away.
No more standing water
Everything is laid to a gentle fall, away from the house and towards the garden, a drain or the gutter in the street. Rain runs off instead of sitting against your wall. Send it towards a planted border and it soaks away there, which the gemeente (the city council) encourages too. Its website lists whatever schemes are running now.
Sinking dealt with
On soft ground, paving will always settle a little. We raise the sand bed, compact it well and make sure the step up to your door is the right height again.
Your old bricks, reused
Fired clay pavers (klinkers) last for decades. If yours are still whole, we lift them, clean them off and put them back. That saves money and a skip-load of waste.
Safer underfoot
A loose or tilted slab is easy to trip on, especially after dark or with a pushchair. A flat path with straight edges is simply nicer to walk on.
Fewer weeds
Joints that are brushed full of sand and a level base leave weeds less room to settle in. That means less time on your knees with a weeding knife.
The rest of the house too
Gutter needs a look, or the window frames want painting? We cover everything from the roof to the garden path, so it's one firm and one visit.
Patterns
Herringbone, stretcher bond or basket weave?
The pattern you lay pavers in is called the bond, and it does more than look nice. Herringbone locks together tightly and barely shifts. Stretcher bond, with each row offset by half a brick, is calm and suits a narrow path. With a 1930s house in Hillegersberg or Kralingen, a lot of people go for fired clay bricks in warm reds and browns, while a new build in Nesselande tends to suit crisp grey concrete pavers. We'll bring a few samples so you can see them against your own walls.
- Clay bricks or concrete pavers in a wide range of colours
- Herringbone, stretcher bond, basket weave and more
- Concrete edging kerbs (opsluitbanden) or a brick-on-edge border
- Your existing stones reused where they're good enough
- A fall towards a drain, gully or planted border
How it works
From first visit to swept-clean path
Whether it's a few metres of path or a whole back garden, the job runs in the same order. You know what we'll do and what it costs before we start.
- 01
Survey
We come round, measure the area and look at where the water goes now. We also check whether the stones already there can be lifted and laid again.
- 02
Written quote
The quote covers the paving, the groundwork and taking away the old material. Nothing is left as a vague extra that turns expensive halfway through.
- 03
Lifting and digging out
The old paving comes up, we dig down to the right depth and take away rubble and soil. Before any mechanical digging we do a KLIC check, the legally required search for buried cables and pipes.
- 04
Sand bed and laying
We spread paving sand, compact it and screed it flat to the right fall. Then the stones go down in your chosen pattern, with the edges cut to fit.
- 05
Jointing and handover
We brush jointing sand in, run the compactor over once more and sweep up. Then we walk the path with you and check the water runs the right way.
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What next?
Send us a message about what needs doing. A quote costs you nothing.
Ask for a quote →
Questions
Paving in Rotterdam: questions we hear a lot
Why does my paving keep sinking?
Much of Rotterdam sits below sea level on clay and peat. That ground compresses over time, particularly after a dry spell. A house on piles stays put, but the garden doesn't, so after a few years you get a dip or a lip by the wall. A well-compacted sand bed slows it down a lot, but nobody can stop it entirely. Topping up now and then is part of having a garden here.
Can you reuse my old paving bricks?
Usually, yes. Fired clay bricks are very hard-wearing and happily go round a second time. We lift them, scrape off old sand and moss and lay them again on a fresh bed. Any broken ones we replace with the closest match we can find. Concrete slabs that are cracked or worn are better replaced.
How long does it take to pave a back garden?
It depends on the size and on how much has to come out first. A typical back garden behind a terraced house, say in Zevenkamp or Zuidwijk, is usually done within a few working days. If there's a lot of soil to remove, or the only way in is through the house, it takes a bit longer. We'll give you a realistic timescale when we measure up.
Our garden can only be reached through the house. Is that a problem?
Not at all, it's very common in Rotterdam, especially in older terraces without a back alley. We cover the hallway and floors, then bring sand and stones through in wheelbarrows or bulk bags. It takes a little longer, and that's written into the quote, so you know about it from the start.
What VAT will I pay on paving work?
Paving is charged at the standard Dutch VAT (BTW) rate of 21%, labour included. The reduced 9% rate does apply to painting a home that's more than two years old, but not to paving or groundwork. Our quotes show prices including VAT, so there's no 21% sprung on you at the end.
Service area
Paving in Rotterdam and nearby
We're based in Spaanse Polder, so Overschie and Schiebroek are just up the road. We also pave gardens on the post-war garden-city estates of Zuidwijk and Pendrecht, the terraced streets of Prins Alexander and the older neighbourhoods around the centre. Outside the city we work in Schiedam, Vlaardingen and Capelle aan den IJssel, among other places.
- Rotterdam
- Schiedam
- Vlaardingen
- Capelle a/d IJssel
- Krimpen a/d IJssel
- Barendrecht
- Ridderkerk
- Rhoon
- Berkel en Rodenrijs
- Bergschenhoek
- Maassluis
- Spijkenisse
Want a path that stays level?
Give us a ring or email a few photos of your garden. We'll arrange a time to measure up and send you a clear, written quote.