By Tim Carter
From Tribune Content Agency
Recently, I had the enormous pleasure to help my son achieve one of his goals. He bought a new home last year and quickly discovered how much he missed the stunning red-brick patio he grew up with at our last home.
One day last fall, his mother and I were visiting and he said: “Dad, I’m finding it’s very hard to get bids for a patio and the prices I’m receiving are in the stratosphere. Do you think you and I could build a patio like we had at home?”
In an instant I knew how much work it would be, but I didn’t hesitate to say yes. I told him, “The first step is to discover exactly what you want.”…