Patio design from a photo
Almost every disappointing patio is a sizing failure rather than a taste failure. Get the dimensions and the fall right and the material choice becomes comparatively easy — and materials are the part a render is genuinely good at.
A 3.6-metre square patio seats six around a table with room to push chairs back; a 2.4-metre square does not, and that one dimension decides more than the paving choice. AI Landscape Design renders paving, planting and furniture onto a photo of your own patio across 18 styles.
We publish AI Landscape Design, so treat the recommendation accordingly. It renders a patio; it does not measure one, price one, or tell you whether the base underneath is deep enough.
Size it from the furniture, not from the plan
Start with the objects that go on it. A six-seat table is about 1.8 by 0.9 metres. Pushing a chair back to stand needs 900 millimetres behind it; walking past someone seated needs 1.05 metres.
Add those up and a table for six needs 3.6 by 2.7 metres of clear paving before anything else happens on it. That is why a 3.6-metre square works and a 2.4-metre square only ever takes a bistro table for two.
Lounge seating is tighter: 400 to 450 millimetres between the sofa front and the coffee table, 900 millimetres for circulation behind.
The test that settles it costs nothing. Chalk the outline on the existing ground and carry the actual furniture onto it before ordering a single slab.
Paving materials and what they cost
Installed prices published by US contractor-quote aggregators in 2025 cluster into four bands. Gravel runs about $3 to $8 per square foot, or $32 to $86 per square metre. Poured concrete is roughly $8 to $15 per square foot, $86 to $160 per square metre. Concrete pavers sit around $12 to $22 per square foot. Natural stone such as bluestone or flagstone is $17 to $30 per square foot, $180 to $320 per square metre.
The base costs much the same whichever surface you pick and matters more than any of them: 100 to 150 millimetres of compacted aggregate on stable ground, deeper on clay.
Unit size changes how the space reads. Large-format 600 millimetre slabs make a small patio look bigger; small setts over the same area read busy and cost more to lay.
Fall, threshold and shade
A patio should meet the house at one step or less, with the finished surface at least 150 millimetres below the damp-proof course. Build it flush with the internal floor and you have moved rainwater into the wall.
Surfaces need to shed water away from the building — a fall of roughly one in sixty to one in eighty, which is about two per cent, is the usual specification. Flat paving holds puddles and grows algae by the second winter.
Shade is the difference between a patio used twice and one used all summer. A west-facing patio is unusable between four and seven on a hot afternoon without something overhead. A three by three metre pergola with fifty per cent slat coverage, or a 2.7 metre cantilever umbrella covering about 5.7 square metres, both solve it.
Rendering a patio you have not built yet
Photograph the area twice: once standing inside the door looking out, because that is the view you will have most often, and once from the far corner looking back at the house.
Run both through AI Landscape Design, the app Skyble Lab publishes. It edits your photograph, so the door, the wall and the existing threshold stay put, and you can compare eighteen surface and planting treatments against your own brick rather than against a showroom.
Understand which half of the job it is doing. The render is reliable for material, colour, unit size and furniture arrangement. It has no tape measure, so it will happily draw a beautiful surface at the wrong dimension, and it gives no cost estimate at all. Set the dimensions yourself, then use the guide to photo-based generation to read the result honestly. Download AI Landscape Design and test paving against your own wall before ordering.
Frequently asked questions
How big should a patio be?
For dining with six people, 3.6 by 2.7 metres of clear paving is the working minimum: the table takes 1.8 by 0.9 metres and each side needs 900 millimetres to push a chair back. Add a lounge group and you want closer to 4.5 by 4 metres. Under about 2.4 metres square, plan for two people rather than six.
What is the cheapest patio material?
Gravel over a compacted base, at roughly $3 to $8 per square foot in 2025 US installed pricing, well under poured concrete at $8 to $15. It drains freely and can be lifted later. The trade-off is that it shifts under chair legs and needs an edge restraint, so it suits lounge seating better than a dining table.
How much fall does a patio need?
About two per cent away from the house — a fall of one in sixty to one in eighty is the common specification, so roughly 60 millimetres across a 3.6 metre patio. Keep the finished surface at least 150 millimetres below the damp-proof course. A render will not check any of this; it draws every surface perfectly level.
Try it on your own yard
18 landscape styles, about 10 seconds per design, 3 free at full resolution. Your house, fence and driveway stay where they are.
