When it comes to building your dream patio, you should never compromise. While it may be easier in the short term to cut corners or give in to someone else’s vision, you want to ensure that your outdoor space is a slice of heaven that matches your idea of perfection. That philosophy, along with a lot of hard work, won William Ridgwell and the team at WDR Hardscapes August’s HARDSCAPE HERO, their first award in the program.
You might say that outdoor living is in William’s blood. “Growing up my parents were in the nursery business,” he says, recalling his childhood, “They had landscape operations on top of running commercial garden centers and a wholesale nursery chain from Virginia Beach, all the way up into the Nelson County/Wintergreen area.” In 1996 William moved to Franklin County near Roanoke where he started his own business in 1998. He made the move from landscapes to hardscapes because of its durability and creative potential. “Landscapes are nice to look at but to me, hardscapes are the foundation for outdoor living. Hardscapes are practical while still being beautiful. Plus, I don’t have to worry about that concrete block dying a year from now,” William explains chuckling.
William started this winning project last summer, coordinating with an interior designer who designed the inside, and the homeowner was looking to have that same feel continue into the outdoor space. “The client has a big family who lives in the house and entertaining guests is incredibly important to him,” says William, “So we wanted to make sure that all of the entryways to the house flowed into the hardscapes seamlessly, and ensure that everything from the driveway to the covered patio and pool meshed so nothing felt piecemeal.” And when you get a bird’s eye view of this massive project, that blending between all the elements puts William’s attention to detail on full display.
The homeowner was working with a builder who was pushing for a smaller, refined patio despite the client wanting a large space to entertain up to 200 guests. William came into the project between the two and began advocating for the homeowner saying, “This is your house, do it the way you want and not the way your builder wants, you’re paying the bill.” And the homeowner was glad they listened to him. “We’re doing something at every house on that street,” William continues, “They referred us to a bunch of their friends and it’s brought in a lot of business.”
William’s favorite aspect of this project was how the driveway flows into the backyard space. “The angle from the cul-de-sac leading up the steep hill was kind of funky, so I’m really glad we got that transition looking nice and smooth,” says William, “My Belgard sales rep Cole was super helpful in making sure we used the right paver for the driveway. We could have used Dimensions to match the pool deck, but he recommended using the smaller Charleston cobble paver to reduce the risk of cracking and it gave the driveway a nice classic feel.”
His favorite thing about this industry is that every job is a new journey, “I love seeing things get built from the ground up. It’s awesome to see the fruits of your labor play out over a few weeks and just how much you can transform someone’s outdoor space in that time.” William sees driveways as the place where he can show his creative chops the most. He particularly enjoys building half-moon aprons in front of garage doors and playing with different paver patterns to make those transitional spaces pop.
William’s biggest takeaway during his decades in the industry is to do things right the first time and create a strong foundation to build everything else on. “I’ve had homeowners ask if we can cut corners here or there to save cost,” he remembers, “and I told them ‘Yeah, you can do that, but you’ll need to find someone else.’ I don’t want to put my name on anything I’m not proud of, there’s a reason all my jobs have a ten-year warranty on them.” William’s approach to projects is that you should be able to sleep at night knowing you did the best work you could, gave your client an honest day’s work and never took advantage of anyone. “As a contractor, the only thing we have to stand on is our word. If you can’t stand by what you say, you won’t be in business very long.” From the look of things, we think William and the team at WDR are all sleeping pretty well at night, and we can’t wait to see the fruits of their labor moving forward.
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Derman Gomez
Isai Alarcon
The following Belgard products were used in this project:
Dimensions 12 – Cheswick DURAFUSION
Dimensions 6×9 – Midnight
Charlestone – Midnight
Charlestone – Chesapeake