We love Minnetonka patio/landscape projects! We’ve designed and installed dozens of projects in Minnetonka over the years. Minnetonka is your home, and we’re located next door in Hopkins.Hi, neighbor! We’re right here and we’d love to work with you on your landscaping project
We have built more than 1,000 patios/sidewalks/paver driveways in our history. We love them. We’ve won awards for them. We have the perfect equipment for them. For many years we’ve had the same installation crew installing them. I don’t want to say it’s “easy” for us, but it kind of is. We have a great system. With good access we can install smaller patios start to finish in one day.
Our shop is so close to Minnetonka projects. It’s always easier for us to work close to home because that’s where all our stuff is. Minnetonka is centrally located to most of the suppliers we use. We also have some specialized smaller equipment that can get into tighter places, which can be important for cozier (and fenced in) Minnetonka properties.
We want the opportunity to install your Minnetonka patio project, so please reach out and let’s talk! We can often give you an idea of cost range over the phone.
Design an attractive project that works and fits your budget.
Help you choose awesome materials that will look amazing with your home.
Build it as strong as we possibly can.
We don't like cleaning up messes so it is much easier to not make one in the first place.
Design and budget go hand in hand. We have so much experience with patios, we can likely give you an idea of cost over the phone. Size, access and material selection can change the cost a lot and depending what your priority is, we’ll tailor your patio to fit.
If you want something simple and functional, we’re happy to do that. If you want the coolest patio any of your friends have ever seen, using the most exciting new (and probably expensive!) materials, we can do that too.
No matter what, your patio will be a cool shape, look good, and fit what you want to do with it. There will be enough for your table, chairs, and grill, or whatever you’re looking to put on it. We’ll measure to ensure proper drainage slopes. When we are done, it will work.
And we will write up a detailed, line-item quote so that you can understand 100% what we’re proposing and you’ll be able to make an educated decision.
If you already know what you want, great! If not, don’t worry, we will guide you. We can build with concrete pavers, clay pavers, natural stone; whatever fits your needs and budget. It may feel like there is a galaxy of options, but once we know budget range and what style of material you want (paver vs. stone) we can narrow it down fairly quickly. And there will usually only be a few color options that will work best with your home, so that also helps cut down the options and make it easier to decide.
We can guide you where you can see materials displays at our suppliers. We also carry some popular samples with us for meetings.
We are also happy to tell you “If this was my house, this is what I would choose”. You don’t have to go with our favorite choice, and there will be other options that work too. We’ve used these materials every day for many years so we have an innate feel for what will look good. But in the end it’s your project so you get to decide!
This is where our decades of experience comes in. Our employees have been with us for up to 16 years. These guys know what they’re doing.
We start from a good design that will work, and then we bring in our guys and equipment to install it. First, we have large and small equipment that can access any space. If you’re fenced in, or have a narrow gate, we can get in there.
Second, we have a variety of plate compactors, including a massive one that is strong enough for driveways. We will use the largest one we can get into your space. Base preparation is the #1 most important part of a long lasting patio. It’s the cake under the frosting. Hire us and watch how much time we spend excavating, compacting the gravel in layers, and setting the drainage slope. Gotta get the water out of there! Can’t forget that part
When you see a patio that has settled or gotten uneven, that is all from inadequate compaction. We will compact the absolute daylights out of your base to give it the highest likelihood possible that you will never have any issues. Worst case scenario if something settles a little ten years down the road, with pavers and natural stone, it is always possible to lift a few pieces out, re-level the base, and put them back. And it’s good as new. Can’t do that with poured concrete!
Working “clean” is a top priority. We don’t like cleaning up messes so it is much easier to not make one in the first place.
We own 26 expensive composite mats that we drive our equipment on. We can often build very large back yard patios without damaging any of your lawn getting back there. That saves you a sod repair cost that can instead go into making a cooler patio.
We keep our tools and materials neat and organized, and we sweep up all the time. We will try our best to disturb as little as possible, and will tidy up as much as possible of what has to be disturbed.
We don’t drag our hose across your plants, we run it carefully through them if we need to use it. Our goal is that after we leave, you can barely tell we were there.
On a simple patio project we will be there, do an amazing job installing, and be gone without a trace before you know it. That’s best for all of us, your neighbors included! As little disturbance as possible.
For Minnetonka patios, the building and zoning departments have some rules about setbacks, easements, and hardcover limitations (which is a limit on the percentage of your property that can be covered by hard surfaces.) Generally speaking, Minnetonka has larger lot sizes than many of the nearby suburbs, so it can be much easier to fit exactly what you want.
We are comfortable with Minnetonka’s requirements and know the process to verify which guidelines apply to your property and ensure that your landscaping is allowable.
Permitting will be needed if you want a gas firepit/fireplace, pergola or similar larger structure, or in the rare case that you need a retaining wall over four feet.
We have found the city of Minnetonka to be responsive and pleasant to work with on projects where permitting is required.
Setbacks in Minnetonka are fairly consistent with what we see in other cities, although these can always change year by year.
Generally your patio needs to stay 5′ off the property line, and if you’re going to have a permanently installed wood burning firepit, it needs to be at least 25′ from any structure. There are some exceptions and we can discuss these if they may have an impact on your project. Minnetonka has reasonable setbacks and typically there is plenty of space for what you want on your property as long as we follow the rules.
In nearly all cases, when Axel Landscape begins a project, we complete it start to finish before starting the next.
The exception is when we need another contractor to do something (for example our plumber running the gas line for the gas firepit.) But even in those cases we can often stay on the jobsite and work on a different area while they do their part.
It is always better for you and us if we can stay on your job from start to finish.
We only have one extremely talented installation crew. Jesus and his brother Alex have been with us almost 15 years. Lalo was with us for 7-8 years and still works part time, and his brother Daniel has been full time for four years. Jorge has been here two years. We have others we can call on if we need extra hands. These guys have built almost every project you see on this website.
You can see the caring and craftsmanship of the guys who will install your project right now by browsing our photo galleries.
Jodi Axel and Crysten Nesseth do all our design and sales. They take measurements and elevations and, with your input, create the design. Then, and this is perhaps the most important yet often overlooked part of the process, they document it thoroughly into a contract you can sign when you’re ready. That document forms the basis of the information the crew gets for installation so everyone involved knows exactly what you’re getting.
