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Belgard Home Additions & ADU: The Dallas Owner’s Guide
If you’re planning a home addition or ADU in Dallas with Belgard products, the installed price typically runs $45,000 to $130,000 for a full addition, while a detached ADU construction lands between $90,000 and $220,000. Those numbers include site prep, foundation work, framing, finishing, and the Belgard pavers or wall systems you choose for patios, walkways, and retaining features. Most homeowners call us after their first contractor bid came back vague, or after they discovered their existing Belgard paver patio is settling and the new addition will have to tie into it correctly.
We’re Penhallow Remodeling Dallas, an independent general contractor. We’re not affiliated with Belgard, but we install their products regularly because they hold up in North Texas clay soil better than most. Trevor Nash runs our Dallas operation, and the first thing he’ll tell you is the same thing he tells every homeowner: “Give you a number before I pick up a tool, that’s the only way I know how to start.” That number includes the Belgard-specific details most bids miss.
Which Belgard Models This Applies To
Belgard makes three product lines that matter most for additions and ADUs in Dallas: pavers (Holland Stone, Cambridge Cobble, Mega-Arbel, Dublin Cobble), wall blocks (BelAir Wall, Diamond Pro, Weston Stone), and permeable pavers (Aqua-Bric, Eco-Dublin). Each line has different thickness specs. Holland Stone runs 60mm thick for patio and walkway use, but you’ll want 80mm pavers if you’re creating a driveway or any surface that will see vehicle traffic. The gotcha we see: a builder installs 60mm pavers, the homeowner later decides to park on it, and cracks start within a season or two of Dallas’s freeze-thaw cycles.
The compatibility question matters when you’re tying a new addition’s hardscape into an older Belgard patio. Belgard has shifted some paver dimensions slightly over the years, and color lots vary. You cannot mix a 2024 Cambridge Cobble with a 2015 Cambridge Cobble and expect the joint lines to land clean. We match by measuring the actual paver on site, not by trusting the name on the old invoice. OEM Belgard pavers are the safest bet for a seamless match. Quality aftermarket equivalents exist, but the color consistency and dimensional tolerance aren’t as tight, and we won’t put our 365-Day Done Right Promise behind a product that’s likely to shift or fade differently than your existing hardscape.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Belgard Home Additions & ADU Is Failing
- Paver settling or lippage around the addition’s foundation line. This usually means the base wasn’t compacted in lifts, or the builder didn’t account for the disturbed soil where the addition’s footer was poured. In Dallas’s expansive clay, this shows up within the first 18 months.
- Retaining wall blocks leaning or bowing outward. Belgard walls rely on proper drainage gravel and geogrid. Skip either one and hydrostatic pressure behind the wall will push it over time. We see this most often on Oak Cliff hillside lots.
- Efflorescence (white chalky film) spreading across pavers near the addition’s roofline. That’s mineral salts wicking up through the paver, usually because the grade wasn’t sloped away from the structure correctly. Water is pooling under the pavers instead of draining.
- Joint sand washing out after every rain. If the sand between pavers disappears within weeks of a North Texas downpour, the edge restraint is failing or the joints were over-sanded and never sealed. This is a sign the install was rushed.
- Cracks in pavers near a new concrete slab or foundation. Concrete and pavers expand and contract at different rates. Without a proper expansion joint or isolation detail, the concrete will win that fight and crack the neighboring pavers inside a year or two.
See the difference
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
For a Dallas home addition or ADU that includes Belgard hardscape, the full addition runs $45,000 to $130,000, and an ADU construction lands between $90,000 and $220,000. The range comes down to square footage, whether you’re doing a stick-built addition or a garage conversion ($30,000 to $80,000), how much site prep your lot needs, and the Belgard product line you choose. A simple patio extension with Holland Stone stays on the lower end. A full outdoor living area with retaining walls, drainage, and premium wall block pushes higher.
What you get from us is a written price before any work starts. That price includes demolition of failed hardscape, base prep and compaction, the Belgard product, labor, edge restraint, and cleanup. If we hit rock, a broken sewer line, or something else under the surface that no one could see, we stop and talk to you before spending a dollar more than the written number. The number on day one is the number on the invoice. Every job carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise in writing: if the work fails inside a year, we come back and fix it at no charge. No service call fee, no re-inspection fee, no fine print.
DIY or Call Us?
If you’re diagnosing an existing paver problem, there are things you can check safely. Walk the paver surface and mark every spot that rocks underfoot. Look at where water pools after a rain. Check whether the edge restraint is visible and intact. Those observations help us give you a faster, more accurate estimate over the phone.
What we don’t recommend is pulling up pavers or rebuilding a retaining wall yourself. A Belgard retaining wall over four feet tall is a structure, and if it’s holding back soil on a sloped Dallas lot, a collapse during the rebuild is a real injury risk. Same goes for any addition work that touches electrical, gas, or the home’s foundation. That’s licensed contractor territory. If your Belgard hardscape is failing around a planned addition, call us at (940) 204-5368. We’ll come look, give you a written number, and explain exactly what’s going on before you spend a dime.
FAQs
A correctly installed Belgard paver patio or retaining wall should last 25 to 30 years in Dallas before you see meaningful failure. What shortens that lifespan is our specific soil: expansive clay that swells when wet and shrinks when dry. A base that isn’t compacted in 4 to 6 inch lifts, or drainage that wasn’t built correctly, can cut that lifespan to under 10 years. Call (940) 204-5368 if you want us to assess what you have before you build around it.
Yes, in most cases the common failures like settling, joint sand loss, or minor edge restraint issues can be repaired without a full teardown. We lift the affected pavers, re-grade and re-compact the base, and reset them. Full replacement is only needed when the base layer itself has failed or the pavers are cracked through from vehicle load. Call (940) 204-5368 and we’ll tell you which one you’re looking at, in plain English, with a written price.
A garage conversion typically runs 8 to 12 weeks. A full home addition runs 4 to 8 months depending on scope and the city of Dallas’s permit review timeline. We give you a schedule in writing before work starts and we hit it because Trevor quotes the schedule he can actually keep, not the one that sounds good.
We order per job to guarantee color lot consistency and the right product spec for your site. We also work with KraftMaid and Cambria for interiors on the same addition, and we can coordinate with Silestone if you’re doing countertops in the new space. The hardscape and the structure come from one written contract, one schedule, and one company that answers the phone. Call (940) 204-5368 for a free estimate.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner, Penhallow Remodeling Dallas at Penhallow Remodeling Dallas, serving Dallas and nearby areas.
