A homeowner’s fancy lightly turns to outdoor living

Spring is the season for home improvements, and outdoor living spaces like patios, decks, and even kitchens can be added now for months of warm-weather use.

The average client for Richard Ott, of Custom Building of East Berne, wants something fairly simple. Ott said that a 12-by-16-foot deck is standard.

“That’s what most people are after,” Ott said. Wrap-around or multi-level decks can cost between $2,000 and $20,000, he said.

Other people want something more extravagant.

“Anything they can do indoors, we can do outdoors,” said Tom DePalma, an administrator with CR Gas Logs and Fireplaces, Inc. in Voorheesville. “Family rooms are passé. The years have moved living space outdoors. It’s a resort without leaving to go to a resort.”

CR Gas Logs creates custom outdoor patios, fire pits, pergolas, and stamped concrete with landscaping. Grills, outdoor entertainment centers, and cabana structures are also offered by CR Gas Logs. The company has been in business for 35 years, but has branched into outdoor spaces in the last six.   

DePalma said that grills can now be solar-powered, and that cabanas with folding shutters can be built for outdoor reading or napping areas.

CR Gas Logs hosts gourmet grilling classes featuring host chefs from Jack’s Oyster House, the Albany County Country Club, The Epicurean, and BFS Mediterranean. Funds raised from each grilling class support different charities, DePalma said.

Some clients “begin with a simple grill for $500,” he said. Other grills can range from $700 to $2,000, he said.

Kitchen islands, like those found in homes, are popular now outdoors, he said. The islands can include a sink, grill, refrigerator, stereo system, television, and a covered structure to protect it all. Costs for patio islands can range from $3,500 to $9,500, DePalma said.

CR Gas Logs did a recent project at a Clifton Park home, installing an outdoor cooking island and an outdoor fireplace. Next to the pool, CR Logs added a stamped concrete patio and landscaping. The concrete was mixed to color-match the landscape stone, giving the entire space a 13^th-century English garden look, DePalma said.

“It came out beautifully,” he said.

While most of Ott’s clients choose simple garages or decks, along with other traditional kitchen or bath renovations, a Delmar client recently created a resort-like patio.

“We raised the house up to have an elevated patio,” Ott said. He graded the area with a bulldozer, backfilled and elevated the home with stones, and built stairs into the stonewalls that surrounded an octagonal deck with a hot tub and two entrances into the home. The project was 1,100 square feet.

“It was a pretty unique project,” Ott said. The cost was about $65,000, he said.

A deck takes Ott about a week to complete, he said.

“I pretty much do everything, myself, and work with two or three guys,” he said. He suggests that people hoping to improve their homes try to schedule in the winter, and “get their prices and thoughts together. I’m almost booked up through the year, now,” he said. “Before they do anything, [they should] research the project they want to do, and check out the people before they do the work.”

“Many people think that the outdoor room is out of their reach, but they can do it incrementally,” DePalma said. “Interest-free financing makes it affordable.” He said that some people have an outdoor island built, then add side grills, a refrigerator, and a covering later.

Because many of the outdoor pieces can be ordered pre-made, installation can take only a day, he said. More complicated orders, like those with coverings and stamped concrete, can be done in one to seven days, he said.

“You can do it slowly, or do it all at once. It makes it very affordable,” he said.