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Unilock Construction in Burlingame, CA | Seaside Contractors
Seaside Contractors is an independent Burlingame General Contractor providing full Unilock hardscape installation, repair, and re-basing throughout the city. We set and service Unilock pavers and walls on remodel and infill lots, and the difference here is drainage: Burlingame’s fog-cooled damp and tight, built-out parcels mean a paver job lives or dies by the base beneath it. Call (833) 589-8103 for a free estimate on Unilock work in Burlingame.
Why Burlingame Residents Choose Us for Unilock Service
We’ve laid Unilock product across the Peninsula long enough to know what holds up and what doesn’t. Burlingame’s older bungalows and ranch homes aren’t tract lots, and a paver field here rarely behaves like a fresh subdivision install. The soil has been disturbed by decades of remodels, unpermitted additions, and seismic retrofits. That matters when you’re setting Brussels Block over it.
Glen Sorrento, our owner, grew up across the way in Foster City and studied building construction technology at College of San Mateo, where he first connected with crews doing Unilock repair in San Mateo. He’s the one who walks a Burlingame backyard, looks at the drainage, and tells you honestly whether your existing Unilock units can be reset or the base needs to be pulled and rebuilt. We don’t do manufacturer-authorized anything. We’re independent, and we’ll say so plainly. That’s why our recommendations come from what we’ve seen fail on Peninsula lots, not from a brand sales sheet.
- Independent Unilock service – not manufacturer-affiliated or authorized
- Burlingame-specific base and drainage planning for fog-belt moisture
- OEM-compatible base, edge restraint, and joint materials with genuine Unilock units
- Fixed written line-item quotes – no change orders mid-job
- One contractor, every trade – the same team that sets your pavers can handle the adjacent retaining wall, drainage, or concrete work
Styles & brands we work with
Common Unilock Construction Problems We Solve in Burlingame
- Efflorescence and dark algae streaking on shaded north-facing walls and drives. Burlingame’s persistent coastal damp, especially on the 94010 core’s tree-shaded lots, leaves white mineral bloom and green-black algae on Unilock surfaces that don’t get sun. We clean, re-point where needed, and adjust drainage so water isn’t feeding the wall face.
- Base settlement and joint sand loss at drive aprons and patio edges. On older bungalow lots, we routinely find the soil near the apron was disturbed by a converted garage or unpermitted addition decades ago. The base compacts unevenly, edges sink, and joints open. Re-basing, not re-paver-ing, is usually the fix.
- Spalling and edge chipping on units set too tight over shallow base. When a second-story pop-up squeezed hardscape into a narrow side yard and the original base was compacted thin and fast, Unilock edges crack under load. We pull the field, re-gravel, re-compact in lifts, and reset.
- Staining and joint migration where a paver patio meets a seismically retrofitted foundation. Burlingame’s older homes get bolted, cripple-walled, and drain-graded. The new drainage pitch often dumps sheet water onto the paver edge, washing joint sand and leaving a stain line. We regrade the hardscape to work with the new foundation drainage.
- Swampy paver areas after fog season. The damp winter air means less evaporation. If the original base has no edge drain or the grade is flat, water sits. We add perforated edge drains tied to dry wells or storm-legal discharge on Burlingame lots.
Unilock Service in Burlingame: What Local Conditions Mean for Your Equipment
Here’s the thing about Unilock work in Burlingame that no neighboring city shares to the same degree: the city’s lot-coverage and floor-area-ratio limits push almost every addition upward rather than outward. Second-story pop-ups are the norm here. That leaves the paver work we do squeezed onto small remaining footprints, often a skinny side yard or a backyard reduced by a new foundation. Drainage has to be planned before excavation, because there’s no room to expand the hardscape footprint after the walls go up. In the Burlingame Park neighborhood east of El Camino, where the 1910s and 1920s Craftsman homes sit on tight lots, we see this constantly: a family adds a second story, then wants a level patio where a sloped, heaved concrete slab used to sit. The base has to carry water away from the new foundation, not toward it. That means thicker clean gravel, a proper slope, and an edge drain on the downhill side. If a contractor prices that Burlingame job like a flat Los Gatos lot, the patio will fail within two winters.
Unilock Models & Products We Service in Burlingame
We work with the Unilock lines most common on Peninsula hardscapes: Brussels Block for patios and walkways, Beacon Hill for a more formal flagstone look, Town Hall for larger-format patterns, and Uno-Stone where a permeable surface helps with Burlingame’s damp-soil drainage. We install genuine Unilock units and pair them with compatible base rock, edge restraints, and polymeric joint sand. For a fast Burlingame turnaround, we keep common base materials and edge restraints on our trucks, and we order Unilock units directly from local Peninsula distributors, so there’s no weeks-long wait on standard pallets. If your existing Unilock units are sound, we’ll reset and re-base them. A failed paver field is almost always a base or drainage problem, not a bad brick. We won’t sell you a full replacement when the pavers themselves have life left.
See the difference
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AfterUnilock Service Pricing in Burlingame
What drives the cost of Unilock work in Burlingame is excavation depth, base rebuild, drainage, and access. A tight Burlingame side yard with a wheelbarrow-only path costs more in labor than an open backyard. Here’s what to budget:
| Unilock Service | Burlingame Price Range |
|---|---|
| Paver Patio Installation | $3,500 – $11,000 |
| Paver Driveway Installation | $7,000 – $18,000 |
| Driveway Replacement | $5,000 – $14,000 |
A free estimate gives you a written line-item quote with the base depth, drainage plan, and material list. Call (833) 589-8103 to schedule one.
Serving Burlingame, CA — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Burlingame area and know this community well, and we also handle Unilock in Hillsborough just to the south. Use the map below to see our service coverage — if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs – Unilock Construction in Burlingame
Generally, a permeable paver patio on grade doesn’t require a building permit, but a paver driveway replacement in Burlingame can trigger planning review if it changes the curb cut, lot coverage, or drainage. The city’s strict floor-area-ratio and coverage rules mean we check with the planning department before we excavate. We pull permits when needed and handle the plan-check paperwork. Call (833) 589-8103 and we’ll tell you whether your specific project needs one.
That’s efflorescence and algae. Burlingame’s fog belt keeps north-facing paver surfaces damp for months, and shaded walls rarely dry out enough for the mineral bloom or algae to die back. The fix is usually cleaning, re-pointing with polymeric sand, and re-grading or adding an edge drain so water stops feeding the area. Call us and we’ll quote the cleaning and drainage repair separately.
Usually, yes. If the Unilock units themselves aren’t cracked or spalled, we’ll pull the field, regrade, re-compact the base in lifts, and reset the same pavers. You pay for labor and base material, not a new pallet of brick. We’ll tell you honestly if replacement is the cheaper long-term move.
Burlingame’s coverage limits mean most new hardscape has to fit within a small remaining footprint, often after a second-story addition has already eaten into the yard. We plan the drainage and base before excavation, because there’s no room to expand the hardscape once it’s set. That’s the one thing a contractor who doesn’t know Burlingame will get wrong. To price your specific yard, call (833) 589-8103.
We spec a minimum 6-inch compacted base for pedestrian paver patios and 10 to 12 inches for paver driveways on Burlingame’s older disturbed soils, with a geotextile separator where the subgrade is soft. On tighter lots with poor drainage, we’ll add a perforated edge drain. The base depth matches the soil core we pull, not a default chart.
Service Areas Near Burlingame
From our Peninsula base, we also handle Unilock service in Unilock service in Millbrae to the north and Unilock service in Moss Beach over the hill, plus surrounding communities across the mid-Peninsula. If you’re near Burlingame but just outside city limits, call us, and we’ll confirm coverage.
For the full picture on our hardscape services, see our Unilock sales & service page, or check our broader Burlingame service area coverage.
Book Your Unilock Service in Burlingame Today
If your Unilock patio is holding water, your driveway is settling, or you’re planning new paver work on a Burlingame lot, call (833) 589-8103. We’ll come out, look at the base and drainage, and give you a written estimate. Let’s figure out what the job actually needs – then we’ll talk materials.
Written by Glen Sorrento, Owner at Seaside Contractors, serving Burlingame and the Peninsula.