Concrete Patios and Driveways on Hilton Head Island

Homes used part of the year

About 1 in 4 homes in the Town of Hilton Head Island is held for seasonal, recreational or occasional use, and about 1 in 3 in the south island’s ZIP 29928 (as of 2024), so plenty of owners hire a crew they cannot watch.

Age of the housing

Median year built is 1987 for the town and 1985 in ZIP 29928 (as of 2024), so many island driveways, walks and patios are 35 years old or more.

Rain

August is the wettest month at 7.6 inches, against 1.9 in May, so where the water runs off a new slab matters as much as the finish.

Communities named

MAJ Enterprises names Hilton Head Plantation, Indigo Run, Port Royal Plantation, Palmetto Dunes, Long Cove Club and Sea Pines on its site, and Carolina Paver and Turf names Sea Pines, Palmetto Dunes, Hilton Head Plantation and Long Cove.

Warranties

Carolina Paver and Turf advertises a 10-year warranty, and May River Concrete Coatings a 5-year product and 1-year labor warranty. HHI Masonry & Concrete and MAJ Enterprises do not publish one, so ask for it in writing.

Before anyone digs

South Carolina law asks you to contact SC811 (dial 811) before digging, even for a small project; the standard notice is three full business days and the call is free.

A concrete contractor on Hilton Head Island can mean a crew that pours slabs, a mason who sets brick and stone, or a hardscape company that lays pavers, and the companies above split along those lines. HHI Masonry & Concrete and MAJ Enterprises list poured driveways, patios and slabs; Carolina Paver and Turf and American Paving Design lay pavers; May River Concrete Coatings coats and resurfaces concrete that is already there.

Three things to ask before you sign: who holds the license and whether the name matches the contract, what the warranty covers and for how long, and who pulls any permit. South Carolina’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR) has a free licensee lookup at llr.sc.gov, and the Town of Hilton Head Island’s Community Development Department answers permit questions at 843-341-4757. The home services guide explains how to check a contractor in more detail.

HHI Masonry & Concrete lists concrete patios, slabs and decorative concrete, and MAJ Enterprises lists patios and pool decks. Reviewers of both describe a cracked patio replaced in three days, and a front walk, driveway and back yard patios replaced as a set. If you would rather have pavers than a poured slab, Carolina Paver and Turf and American Paving Design both list patios, fire pits and outdoor kitchens.

August averages 7.6 inches of rain on the island, so ask where the water goes: a patio that slopes toward the house will show it in the first summer storm. Many island houses are older than they look from the street (the town’s median home was built in 1987), so a new patio often meets old footings and old drainage; ask a crew what it has found on older lots like yours. The pressure washing guide covers keeping a finished patio clean, and the landscaping guide covers the beds around it.

HHI Masonry & Concrete lists concrete driveways, and MAJ Enterprises lists concrete and asphalt driveways and walkways. A MAJ reviewer describes a complete tear-out and redesign of a driveway with new brick steps, a tabby surface and brick aprons; an HHI Masonry reviewer describes a driveway finished in three days with crisp edges. Ask how long the surface has to cure before a car can drive on it, and who removes the old concrete.

A driveway usually has to meet a road, and which agency permits work in a road right-of-way depends on who owns the road: the Town, Beaufort County or the state. Ask your contractor who is handling it, and call the Town’s Community Development Department at 843-341-4757 if you are not sure. Inside a gated community, the architectural review board sets its own rules on driveway width, color and materials; American Paving Design is one company whose reviewers say it prepared the paperwork for the HOA.

HHI Masonry & Concrete lists decorative concrete among its services, MAJ Enterprises’ reviewers describe a tabby driveway and walkway with brick accents, and May River Concrete Coatings turns existing slabs into finished surfaces: polyaspartic garage floors that it says go in in one day, and Vuba Stone resin-bound patios and pool decks. Carolina Paver and Turf covers the same ground with pavers.

Ask each company for photos of finished work in your kind of setting (a pool deck in full sun and a shaded entry walk wear differently), and ask what sealer or coating is used and how often it needs to be redone. The painters guide lists the island painters that also do epoxy garage floors.

Hardscape is the non-plant part of a yard: patios, walkways, retaining walls, fire pits and outdoor kitchens. Carolina Paver and Turf, with its office on Corpus Christi Place, lists paver patios, driveways, pool decks, fire pits, outdoor kitchens and retaining walls with a 10-year warranty. American Paving Design says it has installed more than 6,000 paver projects since 2009. MAJ Enterprises and HHI Masonry & Concrete add brick, stone and tile work, and a MAJ reviewer describes new concrete and pavers built together in one driveway.

Pair the hardscape with the plants around it in one plan: the landscaping guide lists island companies for beds, irrigation and lawns. If you are planning from off the island, ask for a written scope and a date for each stage.

About 1 in 4 homes in the Town of Hilton Head Island is held for seasonal, recreational or occasional use, and in ZIP 29928, the south island with Sea Pines, Palmetto Dunes and Shipyard, it is about 1 in 3. For an owner who is away, the useful questions are who meets the crew on day one, who checks the work at the end, and whether the job can be scheduled around rental guests; a property manager can often let a crew in.

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. A job that is half done when a storm is forecast is a risk, so ask when yours will be finished and whether it can be done before the season begins; see the hurricane guide for how the island prepares.

The Town of Hilton Head Island’s Community Development Department issues building permits for new construction, changes to existing buildings and electrical, plumbing and heating and air work, and its permit pages say a project has to meet the building codes and the Town’s municipal code whether or not a permit is needed. The department answers questions at 843-341-4757. Whether a particular driveway or patio needs a permit, and what share of a lot can be paved, depends on the zoning and the community, so ask the Town before you pour, not after.

Anyone who digs in South Carolina is asked to contact SC811 first, even for a small project, and the standard notice is three full business days. If you hire a contractor, SC811 says the company doing the excavation should place the request, but confirm it has before any digging starts. Utilities mark public lines only: a private line to a well, a septic tank or a shed is yours to locate. For the contractor’s license, search the name at llr.sc.gov.