Custom Outdoor Fire Pits & Fireplaces

One of our old taglines is “water – stone – fire – life”.  Those four elements do make for the best outdoor spaces.  We are usually about four to six weeks out on most landscaping installations.  Go ahead and give us a call today and we can work to get you on the schedule so you can start enjoying your backyard as soon as possible.

The Rolls Royce of landscape design tends to be the freestanding outdoor fireplace.  These are expensive but impressive.  They are the focal point of most entertaining spaces.  The best thing about a fire place is that it is functional and unquestionably adds value to a home.  Most people prefer wood-burning, but a fireplace with gas logs is also an option.  The reason that a fireplace is pricey is because it requires an actual stone mason and real rocks and stone.  Thankfully, most fireplaces, at least in the Greenville market, are built using a modular kit.  Don’t let the term modular make you think low class.  The most beautiful fireplaces you see today probably have a modular base underneath them.  The big advantage is that you can pick exact styles and heights with ease.  Once a base and layout has been selected, then you can pick a stone style and color you like.  We do most fireplaces for homes in the $600,000+ range.  It is not uncommon for us to do an installation in conjunction with a paver patio and pergola.  We have done some really fun jobs with spas and other water features where the fire place became a central part of the design, but it didn’t overwhelm the space thanks to other landscaping elements.

As a word of warning, a quality built fire place is going to cost $20,000+, but as mentioned previously, it is an outdoor addition that you usually get a dollar for dollar return on.

If we aren’t counting portable or movable fire pits (like you can buy at Home Depot for around $150) then the most affordable fire pit is going to be one built of pavers.  Including materials and installation, we can do some of these starting right at $2,000.  An average is probably closer to $2,500.  Some can even cost up to $4,000 if we are talking about a very large pave fire pit with a custom paver, metal ring, and grilling insert.  These are attractive and functional, but they aren’t going to work with every space.  These are usually assembled with masonry glue and just rest on top of a flat surface.  You can get plenty of use out of a paver fire pit, but it isn’t something that is necessarily going to age gracefully; and I would not recommend a paver patio if you intend on having dozens of fires each season.  These are great if you are on a budget but still want an attractive outdoor space to relax in.

Don’t forget about burning kettles.  The ones pictured below are especially popular in the Greenville area.  They are actually made in South Carolina as well.  Their biggest selling point is that they have a lifetime warranty and are customizable.  You can select text to go around the rim of the burning pit.  So you can add some ownership with your last name or support you favorite college team, etc.  These are great for people who intend to do a lot of cooking using their fire pit (think oyster roasts, rotisserie grilling, etc).  Some of our customers are happy just putting the kettle on a stand.  More often though, we build a stone masonry base for the kettle to rest in.  It is important to understand that these aren’t just thrown together.  They weigh hundreds of pounds.  The smallest and most basic model would be about $3,000 installed.  If you went all out with the largest size, customization, and a stone masonry base, the cost will certainly be into the mid-thousands.

And just a brief word of warning, these put off a lot of heat!  We recommend these for larger patios so you can have some room to move back when these really get going; and you definitely don’t want this too close to your house.

These are really fun and add some proverbial and literal flare to any backyard.  We like these because they are quick and easy (no mortar or masons required).  There are essentially two different options.  What we have pictured here are two styles of fire boulders.  The boulder on the left is more clean.  The surface has been leveled and polished.  The flame comes up evenly spread across through a field of glass pebbles.  You can also customize these with a logo, last name, team mascot, etc.  The image on the right is probably our favorite.  These are as simple as pick a boulder, drill it, and add a gas burner.  These would be the most natural looking of the three.  We have several good customers in the Greenville area who seamlessly worked these into their existing landscape.  While these are certainly decorative, they also put off some real heat.  You can use these to make an outdoor space usable during the winter.  Prices start at about $3,500 and go up from there based on size.  You can do propane or natural gas as the heat source.  Natural gas is more expensive up front, but you never have to dig a tank out like you would with propane.

We could probably list a couple dozen locations in and around Greenville where we have built these brick base and stone capped fire pits.  It is usually in old Greenville neighborhoods like North Main, Augusta Rd, Chanticleer and increasingly more in areas like Gower and the Eastside.  The design works with a one story brick ranch or a classic estate.  They are essentially all the same setup but different options:

-Pick your brick color and mortar color and style.
-Pick your cap material.  Most people do a neutral stone color.
-Pick your shape.  Circular, square or rectangular.
-Pick your heat.  Do you want wood burning or gas.

Keep a couple of things on your radar with these.  You need to build this style with interior fire brick, which is a lot more expensive that normal brick.  Drainage is a big concern, especially if you are doing a wood burning fire pit.  Be sure you have a way for water to exist the low parts of the fire pit.  These have a base built below the level of the hardscape surface.  Because of that, these aren’t simple add-ons.  They look and work best when installed with new patios.

The term fire feature is a catch-all that describes all the new age flame based landscape design elements we are seeing on the market now.  There was a time where something like the feature pictured below was just seen at high end restaurants and resort pools.  However, now that the modern aesthetic is growing increasingly popular, we are starting to install lots of these fire pits (also called fire tables).

Be sure your current natural gas unit can handle more BTUs.  Most fire features will require anywhere from 50,000 to 150,000 BTUs to run correctly.  It usually isn’t prohibitively expensive, but many of these features will require you to upgrade your natural gas setup.

Get a quote from a licensed plumber who does gas work to see what a new line will cost.  It is usually more than you would expect, but it is fortunately just a one time expense.