Picture Perfect

When it comes to creating award-winning backyard landscapes, all homeowners can learn from this Renter.

         Even as a young boy, Bill Renter was interested in transforming landscapes. He built quite a few treehouses in his youth, an enterprise that has served him well in the ensuing years.

            Today, Bill runs his own landscape contracting firm – The Deck and Patio Company of Long Island, New York – and still enjoys the challenge of helping a client turn his backyard into an oasis. From breathtaking waterfalls to beautiful maintenance-free decks, he has the kind of ideas that can help you create the backyard of your dream. And he has the awards to prove it.

            For two years in a row, Bill and his staff have won first place in the prestigious North American Decorative and Durable Pavement Awards, which are organized by Concrete Products magazine and co-sponsored by the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute (ICPI) and the Decorative Concrete Council of the American Society of Concrete Contractors. Selected in 2004 and 2005 from dozen of leading landscapers nationwide, The Deck and patio Company’s winning entries, both in the Residential category, make extensive use of water and multi-level structures to create an idyllic outdoor environment.

            If you’re like many homeowners, you many already have a landscaped backyard, possibly with a pool that’s been through a number of summers. You’ve probably considered doing something with it, but what? Take a look at the pool renovation project that helped Bill capture the #1 ranking in 2004.

            “As the mason contractor on the job, we were dealing with a 20-year old pool with similarly-aged coping that was surrounded by grass, and had never had a patio,” he recounts. “There was also a concrete spa that was never used because it was uncomfortable. We began by demolishing the old spa and replacing it with a new acrylic one. Then, using Techo-Bloc Creta wall stone, we created the face between the raised acrylic spillover spa and the swimming pool. Techo-Bloc stones were also used to create the steps and retaining walls, as well as a patio around the swimming pool.”

            The fact that the clients really loved the existing pool coping make Bill’s job even more interesting. After visiting several mason suppliers and finding it impossible to obtain the original coping, he turned again to Techo-Bloc to make a match. “The coping had tan and grey tones, and Techo-Bloc’s sandalwood paving stones were an extremely good complement,” Bill states. “The results were tremendous, winning our firm a national award and, more importantly, making our client very happy.”

            Those contemplating a rear deck for their home should check out the design that brought Bill first-place honors again in the 2005 contest, in addition to awards from two national pool and spa associations. Like his client, you would probably shudder at the thought of maintaining a backyard deck. “This couple came to me and said ‘we don’t want to deal with any kind of maintenance. We don’t want to clean it, waterproof it, or anything.’ The answer was a raised patio.”

            The challenge for Bill and his crew was the relatively steep slope in the backyard that ran away from the house. In the original design, there was a significant elevation change from where the pool was going to be to the proposed location for the sliding rear glass door. The deck was to come out of the house, with steps leading down to the pool patio.

            With the change to a raised patio, it was necessary to put solid compactable materials underneath to avoid settling issues later on. Then they constructed a retaining wall and masonry steps down to the pool patio. The finished design featured a five-level patio all around the swimming pool. “It was a bit more than what a deck would have cost, but the savings in maintenance will pay for it over time,” Bill asserts. “And the end result is really beautiful.”

            Bill’s early interests led him to the landscaping industry, where he learned the simple way: by doing and asking questions. Even after studying landscape design at the State University of New York at Farmingdale on Long Island, he’s never ceased his quest for knowledge. In 1980, he started his own landscape contractor business, and later opened The Deck and Patio Company in 1992. Today, he still loves going to work and coming up with new ideas.

            “That’s the fun part of my job…the creativity,” he admits. “We’re always looking for exciting new and better ways to do things. For example, we’ve started using natural gas ‘firepits’ around our pools to create warm areas on the patios especially on cool evenings, as well as wireless outdoor speakers. Instead of placing a single speaker in one spot, we place as many as ten throughout the project area so our clients enjoy a subtle, consistent sound all around them. With recent advances in landscaping, swimming pools, and technology, virtually anything you can conceive of should be discussed with an experienced landscape and mason contractor. With a little imagination, the sky’s the limit.

            “That’s why I use Tech-Bloc in so many projects,” Bill continues. “It’s not only cost-effective, but so flexible and adaptable. Techo-Bloc was the first paging stone that doesn’t look like one…it looks like natural stone. Just as important, they have so many different sizes and shapes, and a broad range of colors, which makes my job a lot easier. You can put them down and they look both natural and eye-catching. Instead of simply one brick that repeats throughout the entire patio or retaining wall, you get an attractive random-looking design, so you don’t just see straight lines and flat images. Then the block I use for the patio can be matched for the retaining walls, the steps, risers, coping…whatever.”

            As any good businessman, what’s good for his customers is good for his home, as well. In fact, for  2006, he’s entering his backyard in the ICIP-sponsored contest in the hopes of a ‘three-peat.’ There are five different patio levels around the pool, all comprised of Techo-Bloc. The design features cascading water, a hot water fall into a new spa, then a spillover from the spa five feet above the main pool. In total, there are five waterfalls, plus a swim-up bar in the pain pool that features stunning granite countertops. From the highest waterfall to the lawn below in an elevation change of twelve feet, all with a different grades. Bill was able to integrate natural moss rock stone in with Techo-Bloc colors that blended beautifully.

            Obviously, Bill’s come a long way from his days in the trees. If you’re interested in creating your own backyard paradise, whatever the size of your space, remember that a little creativity goes a long way.