Based on 1,100 sq ft for $65,000 thus calculates to $60 per sq ft materials and labor. Make a few calls and inquire about general pricing from other contractors in order to compare aporoximate pricing.

Rates are local so answers here may not reflect yours. Alterternatively, break the project into phases. When building ours, we planned for utilities, deck, pergola and firepit at the beginning. But those were added in subsequent seasons to control the expense.

1,100 sq ft is really large - ours roughly 750. Here’s a visual for reference.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=H5t9G-Gujqw&feature=shareb

"Competitive offers" means all interested parties are bidding on the exact same thing. Trust you have a drafted design plan that outlines all the work to be done and the materials intended to be used. That is the only way you know that any estimates you receive will be addressing the same things.

As a practicing landscape designer I can assure you that any hardscaping is a labor intensive project and the costs associated are generally on the higher end. $50K for what you propose is on the shy side for my area.

50K is wildly unrealistic for the original scope of work.

That is a large patio you have planned and with multiple levels, lighting, etc., it is not a simple job. Your initial quoted price sounds about right for around here. I don't know which county you are in, but I would guess that most other estimates would be in the ballpark of the one you have (we live outside DC in Virginia-everything is expensive). I would also look into what permits you will need. If you are in Montgomery County, look for pretty stringent permitting guidelines.

@DeWayne do you mean that 50K is on the low end/unrealistic side in terms of expectations for a patio?

@cyn427 thank you - we have a single family home and are looking to entertain for large gatherings but I do think we might be able to scale back on square footage to help bring costs down.

@gardengal48 there is a drafted design plan and I believe we could get a copy of it for a fee but I’ve only requested estimates from two others - one was very low but seemed completely inexperienced and the other was more reasonable but did not include any spoftscaping or the two tier concept. It was also less square footage too…

If you haven't already, you should get multiple proposals - at least a second and I recommend three. We found that pricing for a patio ranged widely when we got estimates. We also found that there were some contractors with whom we would be more comfortable or would fit better with what we wanted than others. For instance, one contractor took a lot of time to talk through ideas with us (and we loved his ideas) and explained all of the options we would have for different paving materials, etc., while another proposed a basic square patio and steered us pretty hard toward just two paver types. Neither was right or wrong but the first was more "right" for me.

Pricing in my area (Chicago suburbs) will be different than yours and our project is much smaller and simpler (less than 200 sf, one level, no lighting, no firepit, Uniloc pavers) and our quotes last year ranged from $10-$20K.

Paver patios are quite costly so $100K for what you describe seems realistic for the DC area.