If you’ve decided to upgrade your home’s exterior with a patio, you no doubt have already considered the project from multiple angles. You want something stylish, a patio that your family can spend summer nights relaxing in luxury, and something that will dramatically increase your home’s resale value. You also want something durable, able to hold strong through the sun, sleet, and snow that’s so common here in Minnesota.

This combination of factors might have led you to decide that a paver patio is the right choice for you. You might be ready to call up the contractor even now.

Not so fast! Concrete patios, whether they’re made of decorative concrete or stamped concrete, bring all that to the table and more. Indeed, in many senses, they’ll serve your family more stylishly and strongly than a paver patio would.

But don’t just take our word for it as residential concrete contractors; take our evidence for it, too. Below, we’ll dive into all the ways that a concrete patio is by far the smarter investment between the two options.

Many people think that in order to have a luxurious outdoor hideaway to relax in, they must invest in a pricey paver patio. These same people might view concrete as the economical option, perhaps due to its association with urban landscapes and garage floors.

This isn’t the case at all, though! Stamped concrete and decorative concrete can create just as luxurious an aesthetic as can pavers, as they can be made to mimic anything from wood to Yorkstone to even pavers themselves! Regardless of your budget, everyone deserves a quiet, stylish, accessible spot to take a load off in, and stamped concrete patios make this possible for more people than ever.

Additional benefits of stamped concrete patios over pavers include the following:

The same cannot always be said for pavers, which can be made of a variety of materials, which causes them to have varying resistances to the cold. You live in Minnesota—we need not say which option would suit the climate better!

For example, because they are one solid slab of material, concrete patios won’t have as many issues with weeds as pavers. Because it’s easier to maintain your concrete patio, it’s easier to ensure it will last you for as long as it can.

Indeed, concrete patios tend to be less expensive than pavers, but this is a good thing! It means that you have more money left over to invest in your patio’s necessary maintenance.

It’s not the primary reason you’d choose a concrete patio over pavers—we’ve just listed a bunch of those—but it certainly is a nice bonus! When done by a quality contractor, concrete structures take far less time to install than pavers. You’ll be all set to enjoy your new investment sooner and be able to enjoy the last few warm days of the year before winter sets in.

Once your contractor has wrapped up their work—which will vary in time frame depending on the project’s scale—How long concrete takes to cure, or solidify, varies; check out our blog on the topic to learn more. Generally, it’s no more than a few days.

However, just because concrete is quick to install doesn’t mean it’s easy! You should always hire a professional to do this job. Even a relatively straightforward slab involves framing, digging, making sure the concrete is the right consistency; the list goes on and on. A single error in any part of this process can lead to project failure, so play it safe and hire the pros. We cover the merits of this in more detail in our blog.

And if you’re still looking for a pro, an A+ BBB-rated one like us is a great place to start.

We’ve previously mentioned here that stamped concrete is a great mimic; just check out a few of the gorgeous textures it can take on! What we haven’t touched on, though, is the flexibility that this gives the design process.

With pavers, prices can rise or fall depending on the material used. If budgets are a constraint in your project, as they are with many, this limits the looks you can go for. Stamped concrete, on the other hand, has a wide variety of looks at relatively consistent pricing. This means that you can make the patio of your dreams while still staying under budget. Talk about the ideal patio material!

We’re New Brighton concrete patio contractors, and we’d love to help you experience the benefits of concrete structures over their competition firsthand. Give us a call now at 612-414-7932.