The finish material is your call. What's under it isn't. Every job we build gets excavated to depth, compacted in lifts, sloped to drain at roughly a quarter inch per foot, and restrained at the edge. That's the whole difference between a patio that lasts and one you re-do.
Read the honest comparison of pavers vs. flagstone vs. concrete — cost, lifespan, repairability, and how each one behaves through a Colorado winter. Or see where we work and what the ground does in your city.