San Antonio – Whatever you do, don’t call it a patio.
The word patio is so yesterday, so pedestrian. It’s what your parents and grandparents had. It’s a bare slab of concrete adorned with some plastic furniture.
Are you ready to learn the new backyard vocabulary? An “outdoor living area” is more than a patio. It has a pool, a kitchen with granite countertops, a huge porch or detached cabana, and a fireplace.
Backyards have gone high-end, with a variety of luxuries that the interior of your house might envy, such as stainless-steel appliances, flat-screen televisions, and a price tag that can quickly reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“People are just going crazy in their backyards,” said landscape architect Mike Logsdon, whose Boerne, Texas-based Land Design has done everything from pools to putting greens and outdoor kitchens with $8,000 grills. “They put as much thought into their yard as they do in the rest of their house.”
Americans spent nearly $150 billion on home remodeling in 2005, and a third of that money went toward outdoor living areas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
And the trend doesn’t seem to be slowing. Almost two-thirds of architects this year have reported an increase in demand for outdoor kitchens, decks and amenities such as pools, gazebos or tennis courts, according to the American Institute of Architects.
“We call them exterior living rooms,” said Rick Montelongo of Montelongo Homes and Remodeling. “We never use the term ‘pa-
tio.”‘ Whatever they’re called, interest in them skyrocketed in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“People feel safer staying at home so they make their own paradise,” Montelongo said. “They create a place for their kids and their kids’ friends.” Logsdon’s business tanked immediately after Sept. 11. But by December of 2001, requests poured in for backyard pools, cabanas, kitchens and sport courts.
Bob Earl, co-founder and president of Casa Linda Remodeling, sees the popularity of outdoor living areas as a progression that started in the late 1980s.
“People built in fireplaces, then grills and then sinks,” he said. “Pretty soon you have an outdoor kitchen.”
Although elaborate outdoor areas can be tackled by a resolute do-it-yourselfer, having a professional construct cabanas that have gas lines, water lines, electricity and high-end kitchen equipment is as expensive as an addition to the house. “It’s easy for a cabana to cost $85,000 to $100,000,” Montelongo said.
Logsdon, too, said a detached cabana can cost around $75,000 because of all the infrastructure required, although he has done some simpler cabanas in the $20,000 range.
A custom pool with a spa, he said, averages about $75,000. But his most expensive pool in a private home cost $250,000.
“The sky is the limit,” Logsdon said. “People ask how much a pool costs and I say, ‘Well, I don’t know. It can cost whatever you want. It’s like a car. You can get a Ferrari.”‘ Montelongo has three backyard projects now: pools, cabanas, spas, sports courts and the like, that cost around $500,000. That’s more than the value of the home.
The highest-end backyard projects include large cabanas with fireplaces, full kitchens and living rooms – both indoors and out – along with guest quarters, exercise rooms and steam showers.
Granite countertops, refrigerators, dishwashers, flat-screen televisions and full sound systems are common.
But nice outdoor areas aren’t just for the well-to-do.
“It used to be that you found pools only in the $300,000 to $400,000 homes,” said Ronnie Peake with Keith Zars Pools. “In recent years that number keeps coming down.” Kitchens, too, have become more common in middle-class backyards. Many people ask for countertops and cabinetry, then drop in their own grill or smokers, Peake said.
Backyards can become like custom homes: People start with the basics, and by the time they’re finished and add on what they really want, the budget balloons.
Peake encourages people to consider which outdoor features they would use the most and focus on those first. Adding on later is easy.
The Hearth, Patio & Barbeque Association says anyone can create an outdoor room by making sure three key concepts are present: a grilling area, eating area and some sort of hearth: a fireplace, fire pit or chimenea.
The association recommends creating a wish list for the backyard and then, if budget is a factor, homeowners can create a living space over several years.
“We spend a lot of time asking people how they entertain,” Logsdon said.
“Do you have big parties with alcohol? Small parties that are family gatherings? That dictates your patio space. We try to figure out the family’s lifestyle.”
