Money-saving tips for building a budget-friendly DIY paver block patio so you get more bang for your buck! How we increased our outdoor living space by over 200 square feet for under $600 with slate 24x24 patio stones. Our weekend paver patio project includes a small patio base for our gazebo plus a grid-style patio with Spanish and Irish moss. 

How To Build A Budget-Friendly DIY Paver Block Patio

If you're wondering, what is the least expensive way to build a patio? We hope you find our budget-friendly tips for saving money when building a DIY paver block patio helpful. We're also sharing tips on how to build the patio further down in the post.

For years the area between our cedar deck and fence sat empty. Such a waste of real estate that wasn't being utilized as outdoor living space. Instead of expanding the square footage of our existing wood deck, we learned it was less costly to build a paver block patio in this space. Plus the dark slate pavers add more visual interest to our backyard landscaping.

What are pavers? Pavers are large blocks or stones that cover an outdoor patio area instead of a concrete slab. They come in several different sizes and color choices.

Is it cheaper to build a patio with pavers or concrete? It depends! If you are pouring the concrete patio yourself, then it is cheaper. Hiring a contractor to build a concrete patio would be far more expensive than a DIY paver block patio. See how you can get even more bang for your buck with our money-saving tips below.

4 Money-Saving Tips For A Budget-Friendly DIY Paver Block Patio

These four tips can save you a lot of money when planning a paver block patio project for your outdoor living space.

Tip 1 - Build The Paver Block Patio Yourself

Half of the cost of building a paver block patio is materials. By building it yourself, you have control over cost-cutting ways to save money on the stone pavers (outlined in the tips below).

The other half of the cost is the labor and this is where you'll save the most money by doing it yourself. Especially important if you're on a budget! Yes, building a paving stone patio is a back-breaking laborious task, but with the right tools, it can be done. Some of the tools you'll need can be rented at your local home improvement store.

We are no spring chickens and we built ours by ourselves over a weekend! Call in some favors with family and friends, especially the young strapping ones, who are willing to be compensated with cold brews and pizza!

Tip 2 - Build A Grid-Style Paver Block Patio

Building the patio in a grid-style pattern uses fewer pavers. The larger the gap between each paver, the more money you'll save.

If your designated patio area is quite large, then lay sod in every second grid rather than a paving stone. But if your patio area is smaller, then leave a small 4-6 inch gap between each paver.

Tip 3 - Use Large Paving Stones

Build the patio with large 24x24 paving stones that cover more square feet than smaller pavers. Plus, smaller pavers cost more money per square foot.

Tip 4 - Plan Ahead To Save Money

This is the biggest money-saving tip! Patio stones can be pricey, especially when you need a lot of them. If you plan your paver block patio ahead of time, you can save a lot of money by taking advantage of end-of-season clearance sales.

We hit the jackpot when our local Home Depot still had stacks of the same color pavers available in late August. While we were lucky, there is the possibility you may have to go to multiple stores to get the quantity you need. But if it helps save a ton of money by buying the stones on clearance, it's worth the inconvenience!

We stored our pavers under a tarp over the winter so we could begin our paver patio project the following spring. The old doors leaning against the stacked pavers were turned into a fabulous repurposed louvered door garden fence.

Now that we've covered money-saving tips for a paver patio, included below are some helpful building tips for a budget-friendly DIY paver block patio.

What You'll Need To Make It

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Supply List

24" x 24" Pavers
Paving Slab Lifter (optional)
Long Level
Tamper Tool
Rake
Long Handle Garden Spade
Tape Measure
Crushed Gravel Mix
Garden Soil Mix (optional)
Spanish and Irish Moss Or Sod (optional)

Tips For Building A Budget-Friendly Paver Block Patio

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, I should mention that we are self-taught DIYers and not trained professionals. These tips are based on our building knowledge only. However, if you are a do-it-yourselfer like us, you'll find these tips helpful if you plan on making a version of our paver patio.

1. It's important that the area you plan on building your paver patio is level. First, rake the dirt until it looks relatively level.
2. Rent a tamper to compact the soil.
3. Periodically check with a long level that the compacted soil is perfectly level before moving on to the next step.
4. It is commonly suggested to use sand as a stabilizing sub-base material for pavers. Because we live in a freeze-thaw climate, we chose to use a crushed gravel mix instead to help eliminate any heaving.

Earlier I mentioned we stored the pavers under a tarp all winter but unfortunately, they were on the opposite side of the yard. So if you're wondering how to haul hernia-inducing pavers, using a dolly is the best option. Not having one available, we rigged 2x4s on top of our wheelbarrow to carefully move them across the yard.

How Do You Lift Heavy Patio Pavers?

To lift heavy pavers there is this very handy paving slab lifter or I found these brick tongs on Amazon. Otherwise, hold the paver upright on the ground and rock the paver back and forth to its location.

If you need to lift a paver to readjust its position, use a spade or flat shovel and gently ease the slab in place. If you lay a paver block down and it is rocking and not laying perfectly flat, carefully lift the block and remove some of the material from the center.

Budget-Friendly Grid-Style Paver Block Patio With Moss

If you plan on making a grid-style budget-friendly DIY paver block patio like we did adjacent to our deck, determine the space between each block. We left a 4-inch gap between ours but as mentioned earlier, you can make the gap as large as the paving stone.

You'll need to use a tape measure to check the gap on all four sides as you lay each paver block so the grid remains perfectly straight.

What Can I Plant Between A Paver Block Grid Patio?

Spread a potting soil mix in the gaps between the paver block grid. We chose to plant a combination of Scottish and Irish moss that we got on sale. The Irish moss is a pretty dark emerald green color while the Spanish moss is a lighter golden color. Keep in mind that the moss requires partial sun to grow nice and lush.

The Spanish and Irish moss spreads approximately 12-inches so depending on the size of your pavers, you may want to plant two on each side. It will take a few years before the moss matures and spreads across the gaps but once it does, it'll showcase the paver grid beautifully. Especially once the moss starts to bloom with pretty little white flowers!

If your patio will be a well-trafficked space, then another more hardy and less expensive option might be planting sod between the grid gaps. The sod can be cut to fit perfectly between each gap, so one piece of sod will go a long way!

Aside from your local garden center, Facebook Marketplace is a great resource for finding leftover sod people are trying to get rid of for next to nothing.

When we purchased the paving stones on clearance last August, Home Depot was also clearing out the large cedar planters pictured above for $14 each. We can't build cedar planters for that price and couldn't resist grabbing four for our new patio space.

Gazebo Budget-Friendly DIY Paver Block Patio

As I mentioned earlier, we separated our paver block patio into two zones; the grid-style patio adjacent to our deck and a paver block base for our 8 x 8-foot gazebo. In this area, we butt the paving stones against one another four pavers wide by four pavers deep to make an eight square foot patio.

It took a total of 50 blocks to complete our budget-friendly paver block patio project at a cost of under $600, not including the moss.

We later decided to build a DIY Water Wall feature for our paver block patio to flank the cedar planters. The trickling water is such a relaxing sound to enjoy in our new outdoor living space.

Now you'd think this labor-intensive project would have made us never look at another paver stone project again. But nope, on the opposite side of our yard, we built a roman paver fire pit with stone surround for seating.

Thanks for stopping by the Interior Frugalista today! I hope you were inspired by these tips for building a paver block patio on a budget.

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