Walkways & Entrances
Paver Walkways and Front Entrances
A paver walkway is a pedestrian path built from interlocking units on a compacted aggregate base, most often running from the driveway or street to a front entrance. Walkways are priced by the square foot at pedestrian base depth, so a straightforward path is one of the least expensive hardscape projects, while entrances with steps and landings cost considerably more because the step work is the labour.
The front walk is the piece of hardscaping every visitor uses and almost nobody plans. It is usually whatever the builder put in, sized for one person walking single file, cracked at the joints, and heaved out of level at the point where it meets the porch.
We rebuild front entrances and install garden paths across the Downriver area. The two jobs look similar and are not. A front entrance has to handle steps, a landing, a transition to the porch, and the reality that people will walk it in the dark carrying things. A garden path is about route and rhythm, and it can be narrower and more informal.
Both share the same failure point in this climate: a path that is not properly based and drained will heave, and a heaved walkway is not just untidy, it is the most common trip hazard on a residential property.
What a walkway project includes
- Route planning at full size on the ground, so you can walk it before we build it
- Width sized to the use, generally wider than the path you are replacing
- MISS DIG 811 utility locate before excavation
- Removal and disposal of the existing walk or slab
- Excavation and compacted aggregate base at pedestrian depth
- Steps, landings, and risers built to a consistent height where the entrance needs them
- Grading so water sheds off the walk and away from the foundation
- Border course, edge restraint, polymeric jointing sand, and final compaction
Materials for walkways and entrances
- Oberfields pavers, in formats and textures suited to pedestrian traffic
- Textured or riven surfaces where slip resistance in wet and icy conditions matters
- Step and riser units, or wall block built up and capped, depending on the entrance
- Compacted aggregate base at pedestrian depth, deeper on poor soils
- Polymeric jointing sand, which resists the washout that narrow paths are prone to
- Spiked edge restraint along both open edges of the run
Authorized contractor
We are an authorized Oberfields contractor, which is particularly useful on entrances because the walk, the steps, and any flanking wall usually need to read as one material family. Buying direct from a single manufacturer range is how those three elements end up matching rather than approximately matching.
How we build a walkway, step by step
A walkway is a small project where the details are highly visible, because people look at their feet as they use it and pass within inches of every joint.
Route and width
We lay the route out on the ground with marking paint and walk it with you. This is where most walkways get fixed, because the existing path is usually too narrow and takes a line that nobody actually walks. A front walk that two people can use side by side changes how the entrance feels far more than the paver choice does.
Utility locate and demolition
The MISS DIG 811 locate goes in with the notice Michigan law requires. Front yards carry water and gas services, so this matters. The old walk or slab then comes out and is hauled away rather than being buried alongside the new one.
Excavation and subgrade
We excavate to the depth the base requires plus bedding and paver thickness, and compact the exposed subgrade. Front yards near a foundation frequently turn up backfill rather than undisturbed soil, which does not compact the same way, so we look carefully at what we find rather than assuming.
Base construction
Aggregate goes in and is compacted in lifts. Pedestrian guidance from the Concrete Masonry and Hardscapes Association puts a walkway base at roughly 6 to 8 inches of compacted aggregate over a stable subgrade, with more where soils are poor. On a narrow walk the compactor has less room to work, so this step takes more care than the square footage suggests.
Steps and landings
Where the entrance changes level, the steps get built before the field is laid. Riser heights are kept consistent across the whole flight, because an inconsistent riser is what catches a toe, and the tread depth is set so a full foot lands on it. Landings at doors are sized so you can stand on them with the storm door swinging toward you.
Grading and drainage
The walk is pitched so water runs off it and away from the house rather than collecting on it. Standing water on a walkway in Michigan becomes ice, and ice on the route to your front door is the outcome we are designing against more than any other.
Setting, edging, and jointing
Pavers are set off string lines with saw cut borders on curves. Edge restraint is spiked along both open edges, which matters more on a narrow walk than anywhere else, because there is no field width to hold the outer courses in place. Polymeric sand is swept, compacted, and cured, and the surface is washed down.
Winter safety and Michigan frost
A walkway is the hardscape element where Michigan winter turns from a durability question into a safety question. A path that heaves out of level creates a lip, and a lip under snow is invisible. A path that holds water becomes an ice sheet on the route people use to reach your door.
Both problems are solved below the surface. A properly compacted base with drainage designed in does not hold the water that freezes and lifts, and a walk pitched to shed water does not pond. That is why we spend the time on grading a small surface that could technically be laid flat.
Building the path as interlocking units rather than a poured slab also means that if one section does settle over time, those pavers lift out and reset. On a front entrance that is worth a great deal, because the alternative on a cracked concrete walk is replacing the whole run to make it match.
Steps deserve their own note. Riser height consistency matters year round and matters enormously under snow, when people cannot see the treads and are relying on rhythm. We build flights to a single riser height for that reason, not for appearance.
What a walkway costs
Walkways are priced by the square foot of finished surface at pedestrian base depth, which puts a simple path among the more affordable hardscape projects you can do. It is also one of the highest impact per dollar, because it is the surface every visitor uses.
The cost is not evenly spread though. A flat run of path is straightforward. Steps, landings, and the transition to a porch or stoop are where the labour concentrates, and an entrance with a flight of steps can cost several times what the same square footage of flat walk would.
Other variables are the same as elsewhere: what is being removed first, how much excavation the grade needs, whether the route curves and therefore needs saw cutting, and the paver line you choose. Front yards also frequently need irrigation and lighting worked around, which takes time.
We quote after walking the route with you, because the width and line usually change during that conversation and the price follows the square footage.
Project Gallery
Work we have completed across Southeast Michigan. Every photo is our own.
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Walkways FAQs
Common questions from homeowners planning hardscape projects in Southeast Michigan.
Where we work
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Rebuild the walk everyone uses.
We will mark the route out at full size, get the width right, and build it so it drains instead of icing over. Call us or send the form.