We have had two different paver projects done at our vacation house in FL in past two weeks--by the same contractor's crew...
they laid 4 x 8 pavers (Flagstone brand made in Tampa area) in 90 degree herringbone pattern on our lanai patio which had a bad acrylic topping over the original concrete patio but with no problem with cracking/buckling...they mortared the exterior soldier course for two exterior doors to screen cage/yard to a footing they poured and mortared the other exterior pavers down so they are bounded by either the house on two sides, the new pool coping, or those mortared pavers...

and the driveway had the old concrete removed, additional base added and tamped, and we chose pavers for it in different style/pattern...two sizes laid in a T-pattern with the larger blocks used as the soldier course...and mortared to a footing they poured...
It looked like the laying out of the pattern, the levelness and slope was all good...they sanded, power washed, waited 2 days then came to seal pavers...
We didn't walk on them == much less drive--from the time they were laid until after the sealer dried...

The driveway looks very nice--quality work--but we are disappointed in the inconsistent sanding between the joins/rows on the lanai...
there are some areas where it seems there is much less sand between the pavers and some areas (quite a bit fewer in number) where the sand is level with the bevel/chamfer of the paver...so the seam appears fully filled and it looks like grout between tile or travertine...

The Flagstone paver brand have a blind spacer so there is more room for sand at the top of the seam than with most other paver brands...one reason we paid extra to have it installed...

the same crew did both jobs...they worked hard, took almost no breaks, and the flared edge of the driveway meeting the curb is very well done with precise cuts...it is not sloppy work...
the owner/contractor has good reputation, has certification from the paver institute which is supposed to mean he knows how to install pavers correctly, and he is licensed and insured...but he never came to see either job...just let the crew do their thing so he hasn't seen any of the work to date--period...

so we are kind of undecided as to whether this is a "good" install or a sloppy job on the lanai anyway...

since those pavers are on a solid surface and have mortared exterior course on a footing, we don't think the sand between pavers is as critical as it would be in other types of installations----but aesthetically it is not pleasing to see such a varied application/appearance...and we are not sure about how lack of sand might encourage more surface weeds, drainage problems in some areas, and dirt to accumulate in the open seams...

I know that some people have different tolerance levels for things like seams in granite counters--one person might accept a 3/8 in seam as "ok" or claim that something that wide was a "good" seam...
but we had granite added to house we remodeled and the seams in ours were more like 1/4 -- very small anyway--
smaller than my friend's granite work--which I thought was very sloppy...

I have looked on YouTube and Googled but it is difficult to see pavers up close in most photos...and the bad jobs are so egregiously bad that our lanai looks good in comparison...

One site--Pavestone--said that sand should come to 1/8 inch of the bevel top of the pavers---to keep it from being tracked in on people's feet...
but it should have been an "even" application--meaning all pavers looked the same...

we have had no paver patio before--don't have friends with one--so not lot of personal experience...but it just seems that if they can make some areas look one way and not others that is lack of attention to detail and sloppy work...

appreciate any insight into make an accurate judgement...

 

OK, your thousand words is up Can we have a picture? Or two? No closeups, please. You know we can't even start to give advice blindly.

 

Some companies have employees that know a lot more than the boss man so the boss not showing up in itself doesn't necessarily mean anything......... http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html

 

found this site last night around midnight
have no idea how to post photos on it and I don't have a site I upload to so if I need to do that to post itn't won't happen

 

Look in Mark's post and he has a link how to include pictures. Here another one---> http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html
Or you can use photobucket.com which is free

 

This is a paver that was either cut too short or chosen incorrectly--and there is no sand between its edge and paver next to it
there are couple of other examples like this but not that many

 

to me it looks like there is no sanding between those pavers except what you can see on the base level...

guy who is working on my SIL's tile roof next door who was builder in AZ before coming to FL looked at driveway and lanai and said the lanai could use more sand...
He said the reason to have even sanding is that water gets under the pavers if there are gaps and then will wash base sand and make some pavers start to tilt up...
If the pavers have an equal level of sand then the water is evenly distributed and more likely washes toward the slope and drains off...