Outdoor Living Contractor in Wayne, PA: Kitchens, Fire Features and Seating Walls

An outdoor living space is a patio planned as a room. There is somewhere to cook, somewhere to sit, a fire to gather around and an edge that holds it together. Built well, it works like an extra room of the house.

We are Mex Landscaping, and we design and build these spaces for homes in Wayne and across the Main Line, including Radnor, Villanova, Bryn Mawr, Gladwyne and King of Prussia. One team designs the whole space and builds it. The kitchen, the fire feature, the seating and the paving are drawn as one plan and finished in materials that belong together.

This page covers four parts of an outdoor living space: outdoor kitchens, fire pits and fireplaces, seating walls, and the patio they sit on. It also covers what decides whether a project goes smoothly: where the gas, electric and water come from, what each township asks for before work starts, and what moves the price. Where we or a township publish no figure, we say so and do not guess.

Our Google profile is listed under the category Landscaper and showed a rating of 4.9 when it was read on October 3, 2026. The about page says more about how we work, and our home page covers landscape design build in Wayne for a whole property.

What an outdoor living space includes

On mexlandscaping.com, our main website, we list the common elements of an outdoor living space as a patio, a fire pit or fireplace, an outdoor kitchen, seating walls, a pergola or shade structure, water features and lighting. Nobody needs all of them. We plan zones for cooking, dining, lounging and gathering, size the paving to match, and lay out how people move between them.

Element	What we build	What to settle early
Patio	The floor of the room, in concrete pavers, flagstone or bluestone, travertine, clay brick or large-format porcelain	Size and shape, because township stormwater rules turn on the area of new work
Outdoor kitchen	A masonry base finished in stone, veneer or paver, with a built-in grill and, as wanted, side burners, prep counters, storage, a sink, refrigerator space and bar seating	Which appliances, because they decide what gas, electric, water and drainage have to reach the spot
Fire pit or fireplace	Wood-burning or gas, finished in stone, block or brick to match the paving around it	Fuel and position, because both affect which township rules apply
Seating wall	A low wall capped at seat height that rings a patio or a fire pit	Whether it only seats people or also holds back soil, which changes how it is built

Pergolas and shade structures, water features and low-voltage lighting are named on our main website too. When a project includes them, they are planned with the rest of the space. This page stays with the kitchen, the fire, the seating and the paving.

Who this service suits

It suits a homeowner who wants more than one of those elements and wants them to read as one space. When the kitchen, the fire and the seating are designed together, the materials match and the routes between them make sense. Nothing has to be dug up later to get a line across a finished patio.

• You are starting from an open yard and want cooking, fire and seating planned and built as one project.
• You already have a sound patio and want to add a fire feature, a kitchen or a seating wall. We assess the existing patio and its base first and tell you plainly what it can carry.
• You want to build in stages. Many clients start with the patio and the fire feature and add the kitchen later, working from one plan so the first stage does not get in the way of the second.

It is the wrong page if you need one thing only. Paving on its own is covered under patio installation in Wayne, and a slope that has to be held back is work for a retaining wall contractor in Wayne. A yard that needs rethinking as a whole, with grading, drainage and planting, is a backyard renovation in Wayne.

Outdoor kitchens: structure, appliances and utilities

An outdoor kitchen is a piece of masonry with appliances set into it. We build the base and structure in masonry and finish it in stone, veneer or paver so it matches the patio and the house. Counters are stone or another durable surface. The layout follows how you cook: where the grill sits, where food is prepared, and where guests gather while you work.

What goes into the layout

• Cooking. A built-in grill, with side burners if you use them.
• Preparation and storage. Prep counters and storage cabinetry sized to what you keep outside.
• Water and cold. A sink and space for a refrigerator, where the lines can reach.
• Seating. Bar seating at the counter, so guests can sit with the cook.
• Light. Lighting worked into the structure so the kitchen can be used after dark.

Gas, electric, water and drainage

This is the part that needs the plainest answer. We coordinate gas, electrical, water and drainage during construction, and coordinate is the accurate word. Those lines are planned with the layout and go in while the kitchen is built, so they are set in cleanly and not retrofitted later.

Who makes the gas connection and the electrical connections on your job, and under whose permit, is a question to put to us directly. Ask it when you call, and have the answer written into the proposal by name.

Permits follow the utilities. Pennsylvania’s Uniform Construction Code requires a permit to install, alter or replace an electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system that the code regulates. Tredyffrin Township’s permits page says the same and names the 2021 International Building Code.

Upper Merion Township’s permit requirements sheet lists electrical work and plumbing among the work that needs a permit. Its residential permits page also asks for a mechanical permit application for the gas line to a generator, so ask the township what it wants for a line to a grill.

Fire pits and outdoor fireplaces

We build both, wood-burning and gas, in stone, block or brick chosen to sit with the paving around them. The two decisions to make first are the fuel and the form.

Wood or gas

Question	Wood-burning	Gas
What you get	A traditional fire	A flame that is convenient to start and shut off
What it asks of you	Fuel to store, a fire to tend and ash to clean up	Utility planning
When to raise it	At the site visit, when the spot and the seating are chosen	As early as you can, so the utility planning is part of the design

Pit or fireplace

A fire pit is open and social. People sit around it, and it suits a group. An outdoor fireplace is a vertical focal point: it gives the seating a direction to face, offers a little shelter from wind and sends its heat one way. When a fire feature and a kitchen are planned together, footings are set and gas and electrical runs go in during the build.

Where a fire feature can go

Placement is a township question as much as a design one. On site we look at the proposed spot in relation to the house and other structures, the planting, the routes people walk and where water drains. Then we review what applies to the property during planning, because we do not assume the same rules for every township.

Upper Merion Township, which takes in King of Prussia and part of Wayne, gives one example of how a township words it. Its fire and EMS department posted in November 2024 that open burning is prohibited under the township’s adoption of the International Fire Code unless the fire code official authorizes it. The same post says the rule does not restrict portable outdoor fireplaces, fireplaces connected to the building or outdoor cooking equipment, and that recreational fires and bonfires carry restrictions of their own.

We print no setback distance for a fire pit here. Requirements vary by municipality and by project details, including the type of feature and any utility work, so one number would be wrong for some addresses. Ask us for the rule that applies to your address, and expect the answer to name the township.

Seating walls and the edge of the room

A seating wall is a low wall capped at seat height. It rings a patio or a fire pit, so it gives the space an edge and gives guests somewhere to sit without more furniture. We build seating walls in materials that match the fire feature and the paving, so the wall, the cap and the patio read as one piece of work.

There is one distinction to get right at the design stage. A wall that only seats people and a wall that also holds back soil are different structures, even when they look alike from the patio side. A wall that retains a slope needs a compacted base, free-draining backfill, a drain pipe and, on taller walls, geogrid reinforcement. That work, and the engineering and permit questions that come with height, is on the retaining walls page of this site.

The patio underneath

Everything on this page stands on the patio, so the patio has to be built to carry it. Every patio we install starts with excavation to the proper depth and a compacted aggregate base, with drainage built in so water moves away and does not collect or freeze under the surface. Edge restraints and polymeric jointing hold the finished paving in place.

That is also why adding to an existing patio starts with an assessment. Layout, base conditions, drainage, materials and utilities all shape what we propose. If the hardscape already there was not built to support a new feature, we tell you what is needed before the design goes further.

Paving materials, borders and inlays, sealing, and the comparison between pavers and stamped concrete are on the patio installation page. This page stays with what goes on top.

How a project runs, from the first call to the build

1. The call. Tell us the address, what is in the yard now and what you want to add. If you already know which appliances or which kind of fire you want, say so.
2. The site visit. We come to the property and look at the yard itself: the layout, the grade and where water goes, access, the condition of any existing patio and base, and the utilities.
3. One design. The kitchen, the fire feature, the seating and the patio are laid out as a single plan, with the materials coordinated across all of them.
4. An itemized estimate. Cost depends on scope, so the estimate lists the parts of the job separately. That lets you see what a first stage would cost on its own.
5. Township requirements. We review what applies to the property during planning, so the requirements are known before construction starts.
6. The build. The same team that drew the plan builds it.

On site: below the surface first

Everything below the surface has to be in place before the surface is laid. These are the parts of the build that we plan around that rule.

• Utility mark-out. Pennsylvania law requires a call to 811 at least three business days before any digging, so underground lines can be marked.
• Excavation and base. The area is dug to the proper depth, a compacted aggregate base goes in, and drainage is built in so water moves away from the paving.
• Footings and lines. Footings are set and any gas and electrical runs go in during the build, so nothing has to be retrofitted later.
• Structures and paving. The kitchen structure, the fire feature, the seating walls and the patio surface are built, with edge restraints and polymeric jointing to hold the paving in place.
• Finishes. Appliances are set into their openings and the lighting is completed.

We do not publish typical durations, and a number here would be a guess. Ask for a start date and a schedule in writing with your proposal.

Permits and township rules for outdoor living projects

The mailing address says Wayne, Villanova or Bryn Mawr. The permit comes from a township, and the town name does not tell you which one. The table sets out what each township’s own published material says that bears on a patio with a kitchen or a fire feature. Rules change, so treat it as the start of a conversation with the township and not the last word.

Township	Covers	What its published material says
Tredyffrin Township, Chester County	The Chester County part of Wayne	A stormwater permit for new construction projects over 499 square feet. A grading permit for land disturbance over 5,000 square feet, or 1,000 square feet on a steep slope. Where a project needs one of those permits and a building permit, the plans can be reviewed at the same time. The township’s residential requirements sheet, revised in January 2020 and marked informational, says a stormwater exemption is required for 499 square feet or less and that all contractors must be registered with the township.
Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County	King of Prussia, and parts of Wayne and Radnor	Its permit requirements sheet, dated March 2012 and still published by the township, lists patios, decks, retaining walls, electrical work and plumbing among the work that needs a permit. Its residential permits page says a patio application needs a plot plan showing setbacks from the property lines, plus a Class A stormwater permit and an impervious surface breakdown, unless the patio is an exact replacement.
Radnor Township, Delaware County	The center of Wayne, and parts of Radnor, Villanova and Bryn Mawr	A stormwater management ordinance that took effect on October 13, 2022. Three historic districts: North Wayne, South Wayne and Louella Court. We print none of the township’s square-foot thresholds here. We review what applies to the property during planning.
Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County	Gladwyne, and parts of Villanova and Bryn Mawr	Not summarized here. We review what applies to the property during planning.

The Tredyffrin figures come from its stormwater and grading permits page and its residential requirements sheet. The Upper Merion details come from its residential permits page and its permit requirements sheet. Bryn Mawr also reaches into Haverford Township, so an address there needs the same first question as one in Wayne.

For scale, a patio 20 feet by 25 feet is 500 square feet, one square foot past Tredyffrin’s 499. That is why the size of the paving is settled early and not left to the end.

Rules that apply in every township

• 811 before digging. Homeowners and contractors must call 811 at least three business days before excavation starts. The Public Utility Commission’s PA One Call page explains it.
• Permits for gas, electric and plumbing. Pennsylvania’s Uniform Construction Code is a state code. It requires a permit to install or alter one of those systems where the code regulates it.
• Walls and height. The same code exempts retaining walls that are not over four feet, measured from the lowest grade to the top of the wall, unless the wall supports a surcharge. That is an exemption from a building permit only. A township can list walls on its own permit list, as Upper Merion does.

Historic districts can add a step. Radnor Township has three: North Wayne, South Wayne and Louella Court. Work in those districts goes through review by the township’s Historic and Architectural Review Board, known as HARB. The historic preservation page at radnorhistory.org notes that historic structures outside the three districts are not protected simply because they are historically significant.

We ask whether an address is in one of the three before the design is fixed, and whether the planned work needs that review.

What drives the cost of an outdoor living space

We do not publish a price list for outdoor living work, and a kitchen or a fire feature cannot be priced properly without seeing the yard. The only figures we publish are the budget ranges on the estimate request form on the contact page of mexlandscaping.com: $5k to $15k, $15k to $40k, $40k to $100k and $100k+, with an option for not sure yet. They are brackets you choose to tell us the scale you have in mind. They are not prices for any particular job.

What a specific project costs depends on its scope. The service pages on our main website name most of the things that move it. Township requirements are the last row, because permits and plans add steps of their own.

Cost driver	Why it moves the price
Size	More paving, longer walls and a longer kitchen run mean more excavation, more base and more material.
Appliances	A compact built-in grill station costs far less than a full kitchen with several appliances, a sink and bar seating.
Finish materials	The stone, veneer or paver finish and the counter surface you choose.
Utilities	How much gas, electric, water and drainage has to be run to reach the kitchen or the fire feature.
The existing patio and base	A sound patio can often take a new feature. One that was not built for it needs work first.
Site access	How easily equipment and materials can reach the back of the property.
Seating walls	Each seating wall adds material and labor of its own.
Township requirements	Stormwater permits, plot plans and reviews add steps before construction. What triggers them depends on the township and the size of the work.

Building in stages is a real option. Many clients start with the patio and the fire feature and add the kitchen later. If that is your plan, say so at the start, so the first stage is laid out with the second in mind and finished paving does not have to come up again.

Our estimates are itemized. You can see what each part of the space adds and decide what belongs in the first stage.

What to check before you hire, us included

These checks apply to any contractor you are considering for this work. Put every one of them to us as well.

• The Pennsylvania registration number. Contractors who perform at least $5,000 of home improvements a year must register with the Attorney General’s office. Ask for the number and look it up at hicsearch.attorneygeneral.gov, which the Attorney General’s registration page points to. That page also says registration is not an endorsement of a contractor’s competency or skill, so treat it as a minimum.
• Township registration. Tredyffrin’s residential requirements sheet says all contractors must be registered with the township. Ask whether your township has a rule like it.
• Who does the gas and the electric. Get the names in writing, along with who applies for each permit.
• Which township rules were checked. The proposal should name the township and say what it requires for your lot: a stormwater permit, a plot plan, a review in a historic district.
• Finished work of the same kind. Ask to see completed projects that include the element you are buying, whether that is a kitchen, a fireplace or a seating wall, and ask where they were built.
• What is under the paving. We excavate to the proper depth for the site and publish no single depth figure for the base, so ask us what we plan for yours. Ask what the base is made of and how water leaves the patio.
• A schedule and a warranty in writing. We publish neither typical durations nor a warranty term on this site. Ask us for both in writing, and ask every other contractor too.

We cannot print a price list, for the reason given above. What we can do is name the township rules we rely on, say where each one is published and say plainly where we print no figure.

How this page fits with our other pages

Each page on this site covers one kind of work. If what you need sits somewhere else, this table says where.

Page	Go there when
Landscape design build Wayne	You want the whole property planned, planting included, and built by the same team.
Backyard renovation Wayne	The yard as a whole needs rethinking, not one part of it.
Patio installation Wayne	You want paving with nothing built on top of it, or you want to compare paving materials.
Retaining wall contractor Wayne	A slope has to be held back, or a wall is tall enough to raise engineering and permit questions.
Outdoor living contractor Wayne (this page)	You want to cook, sit and have a fire outside, and you want those parts designed together.

Questions people ask