Outdoor kitchen masonry in Clovis CA - a solid base built around your grill

Most folks who call us about this have a patio or a bare corner of the yard and a grill they'd like to stop wheeling around. We're based in Clovis and build these in the cities around it, from Madera down to Kingsburg and Reedley. The price moves with the size and shape of the kitchen, how many appliances it holds, the stone you choose and how easy your yard is to reach, since carrying block and stone through a side gate takes a lot more labor than unloading in the driveway. The schedule mostly turns on when the countertop gets made and when the gas and other lines get run, and if your job needs a permit, we take care of it with the city or county office for your address. I'll walk you through all of it at the estimate and give you your own number there.

The work starts before any block goes down. I'll ask you to pick your grill and appliances first, because we build the base around their sizes, and a base built to the wrong dimensions means tearing it out and starting over. Then our crew pours the slab, and since one estimating guide recommends sloping it away from the house and leaving drain holes in any closed-in base sections so water doesn't stand, it's fair to ask me how your plan moves water away from your home. Next we build the block base. We plan the order of the trades with you so the gas and other lines are in place before we start setting stone, then the stone veneer goes on and we prep the top for your countertop.

A kitchen usually looks best when it ties into the rest of the yard. A path from the back door to the grill is part of our walkway construction work, and if you want a seat wall or a privacy wall framing the cooking area, we handle that through our brick wall installation service.

In California, the state licensing board sets a masonry classification that covers installing concrete block and natural and manufactured stone, which is most of what goes into an outdoor kitchen's base and face. That same classification takes in fire brick and other heat-resistant linings, paving, and the clear waterproofing, cleaning and caulking that goes along with the masonry, so the hardscape around the kitchen, an oven lining and the finishing on the stone all fall under it. When you're comparing bids, it's reasonable to ask whether a contractor works under that masonry classification.

Around Clovis, most of the kitchens we build go on the back patio of a single-family house, often right up against an existing slab or lawn, so I look at how the new work will meet what's already there. We build the same way for homeowners in Old Fig Garden and Madera.