Loth & SonLawn Care & Landscaping
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Stone that stays where it was set.

Patios, walkways, retaining and garden walls, and steps — in pavers or natural stone, across Lower Merion Township.

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A curved flagstone stepping-stone path set in river stone, edged with granite cobble, running through a newly planted bed with path lighting.
Stepping-stone path in river stone with a granite cobble edge, and a bed planted the same week.
  • Veteran-ownedU.S. Marines, 2008–2017, Sgt.
  • PA HIC #PA196377Insured $1M / $2M.
  • Family-run since 2019Father founded it; Rathana runs it.
  • Free estimatesA reply in 1–2 business days.

How we think about it

A patio is mostly the part you cannot see. The excavation, the base depth, the compaction, the drainage, the edge restraint. Get those wrong and the surface tells on you in about two winters: sunken spots, rocking stones, a wall that starts to lean out at the top.

That is the work Loth & Son does first, and it is why we do our own grading rather than hand it to somebody else. The crew that decides how the water leaves your property is the same crew that sets the stone on top of it.

On the property

A grey paver pad and walkway laid in a running bond with a soldier-course border, meeting an existing concrete walk and stone steps.
Paver pad and walk, cut in to meet the existing concrete and the stone steps.
Round stepping stones set into a river stone bed with granite cobble edging and low path lights, curving past a mailbox toward a driveway.
Stepping stones in river stone, cobble edge, path lights set the same day.

What this covers

  • Patios

    Paver and natural stone, laid on a base built for this soil and this climate.

  • Walkways & steps

    Front walks, garden paths, stepping stones, and the steps that connect grade changes.

  • Retaining walls

    Structural walls that hold a slope, built with the drainage behind them that keeps them standing.

  • Garden walls & seat walls

    Lower walls that shape a bed, terrace a lawn or edge a patio.

  • Edging & restraint

    Granite cobble, steel or paver soldier courses. This is the detail that keeps an edge crisp for years.

  • The grading underneath

    Cut, fill and pitch, so water goes where you want it instead of toward the house.

In more detail

Questions we get asked

  • What is included in hardscaping?

    Everything on a property that is built rather than grown: patios, walks and paths, steps, retaining and garden walls, edging, and the grading and drainage underneath all of it. On most Main Line jobs the grading is the biggest single part of the work and the part nobody sees when it is done right.

  • How do I choose a hardscaping contractor?

    Ask what goes under the surface, and how deep. Ask who does the grading and where the water goes when the patio is finished. Ask whether the same people who set the stone will be the ones who come back if something moves. A contractor who can answer those three in plain words has done this before. Then ask for the estimate in writing.

  • Can you lay pavers on dirt?

    You can, and by the second spring you will have a walk that dips at the threshold and a patio with stones that rock. Soil holds water and moves with frost. Pavers need a compacted stone base that spreads the load and drains, a screeded setting bed, and an edge restraint along every open side. That base is most of the labor and all of the reason the surface stays level.

Also

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Tell us about the property.

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Free, written down, answered in one to two business days. Or call Rathana on 215-803-7742.