Best App For Paver Patio Design

Get your perfect patio design in minutes

Technology can be very helpful when it comes to imagining exactly what a new patio layout will look like, or calculating how many paving slabs you will need. The paving team at Merchant Depot takes a look at what's out there to help cut corners and make the job even easier.

Marshalls online paving planner makes it so easy

Our paving supplier Marshalls has great online planning and design tools anyone can use for free - they're rated by Saga online magazine too! Our top tip - before you sit down to design your paving project, go out and measure your plot dimensions. Pop those into the Marshalls paving planner and within minutes you'll have layout options and the number of slabs needed for your chosen paving design.

a screenshot of Turnbulls paving planner

We asked some of the folks in the Merchant Depot office to try out the online free tool. Susie said, 'It was so easy - the planner took me through four simple steps and at the end, I had a list of slabs we needed, a great layout design for us to follow designed specifically for the space we have and a printout to keep!'

She liked the planner's ability to show layout options. 'I started to understand the potential of the different laying patterns you can use. Now I know the difference between stack bond and stretcher bond!'

cost-effective

The Marshalls Paving Planner also helps you calculate the amount of wastage from ordering packs of slabs and edging stones. Joe said, 'I could see by changing the options how cost-effective each design was going to be – I liked that. It also helped me consider the costs of a slightly different slabs too.'

Get a 3D virtual tour with Marshalls Garden Visualiser

The Marshalls Garden Visualiser is great fun and the ideal resource for a cold winter's night when you are in front of the fire and struggling to get a picture in your head of your ideal garden. There's a helpful explanatory video too. You can upload a pic of your house, choose hard surfaces and place lawn and planting areas. It can be as detailed as you want it to be.

So, if you want to try something new - install a outdoor dining spot with aMarshalls Indian Sandstone Circle, a romantic garden path made from Stonemarket Vintage Stone Manor Garden Setts , and you can see if you have space and how it will all work together. Best bit in our opinion? One click of the mouse and you can go for a 3D virtual tour of your new design.

Downloadable garden designs to inspire you

We love the Better Homes and Gardens website which offers an online garden visualiser tool and simply loads of useful free downloadable garden plans. The visualiser is a really easy drag and drop tool - you can plonk grown trees and structures like arches, garden sheds and benches and in specific locations to see if you like the look. Free garden plans include Raised Garden Bed Plans and No Fuss Garden Plans like Forest Garden Sleeper Raised Bed. It's a US site, so some of the plant names might be different but on the upside, the printable pdfs are a bargain.

Apps for garden designers

Finally, we found two handy little apps to help with garden planning. They are less about garden paving and won't give you the specifics of patio layouts or the impact of different paving options, but they are great for helping you plan new paths, arbours or raised beds.

The Iscape App was originally designed for landscaping contractors but is now available for the DIY garden designer. It's an easy way to help explain your landscaping ideas to an installer. There are some 'before' and 'after' pictures of landscape designs created by the app users – a great way to see the possibilities of its design.

The Garden Plan Pro App is really for the veg growers amongst us. Check it out on their website.

Use this app to plan the perfect and most productive vegetable, herb or fruit garden. You can plan alternative layout, move specific crops and plants around to get the best use of your veg plots. It even has a global weather/climate database which means it can help with the best planting and harvesting schedules for your location. Wow!

Had a go, but want to double-check and get an expert opinion? Give our paving team a call on 01522 214353 - we've helped thousands of customers plan their patios!