Ep # 178 - Benaquista Construction-Building Curb Appeal That Lasts

A century-old phone number and a crew that still shows up in person—this is the story of a family company that turned roadbuilding roots into driveway mastery and backyard artistry. We sit down with a fourth-generation pro to unpack real-world choices homeowners face: asphalt or pavers, quick fixes or lasting builds, curb appeal or short-term savings.

We start with the origin: a grandfather arriving from Italy in 1919, learning by doing, and laying the groundwork—literally—for Northern Valley streets and neighborhoods. That legacy carries forward today with a residential focus, where one-on-one service beats low-bid, high-red-tape institutional work. From driveways to patios, seating walls, outdoor kitchens, and fireplaces, the team handles design through build, calling in licensed trades only when needed and staying on-site to answer questions in real time.

Then we get practical. Asphalt remains the lower entry price, but its lifespan can be unpredictable, often requiring resurfacing inside a decade. Pavers demand more up front, yet they win on longevity, easy repairs, and design flexibility. If a section settles or a pipe needs attention, you lift, fix, and reset—no scars. We dig into polymeric sand, the must-have joint material that locks pavers, resists weeds, and separates pro installs from corner-cut jobs that fail early. We also get candid about gravel: charming for period homes, but it drifts, complicates snow removal, and needs grooming; use it as an accent, not your main surface.

Backyards are booming. What used to be a concrete square is now a full living space with lighting, bars, grills, and fire features. To reduce guesswork, the crew uses 3D renderings built from site photos and satellite views, so you can see the layout, flow, and appliance placement before any ground breaks. That preview helps balance taste, budget, and long-term maintenance, preventing costly changes mid-build.

If you care about craftsmanship, curb appeal, and honest guidance from people who still sign their name to the work, you’ll find a ton of value here. Subscribe, share with a neighbor who’s planning a project, and leave a review to tell us which surface you’d choose for your own driveway.

Benaquista Construction
Al Benaquista
170 Rockland Ave, Norwood, NJ 07648
(201) 768-2326
benaquistaconstruction@gmail.com
benaquistaconstruction.com

Transcript

Welcome And Local Legacy;

Intro/Close 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host.

Doug Drohan 0:11

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast, brought to you by the Bergen Neighbors Media Group. I am your host, Doug Drumman. Today we're joined by a uh a gentleman that pretty much anybody in the Northern Valley knows the name. Uh it's Ben Aquista, and I know I just you just told me how to pronounce it, but everybody knows it's B-E-N-A-Q-U-I-S-T-A. You've seen their signs all over the Northern Valley area. Um, welcome to the show.

Al Benaquista 0:36

Thank you for having us.

A Century Of Family Craft;

Doug Drohan 0:37

Yeah. So yeah, I mean, I I've you know, I've driven past your um your sign off of uh you know Livingston and in Norwood. You guys uh you've definitely worked on some of my neighbors' driveways over the years. So, you know, your your website's is 101 years old, but actually you're it's a family-owned business for 106 years now. So yeah, I'm gonna give us a little background. I wish I could cue up you know the music and go back in time, but you know, 106 years ago, who started the company?

Al Benaquista 1:05

That was my grandfather when he came from Italy. He came over, and um, you know, that's what he did in Italy when he was a younger kid. He was like a handyman. He only went to the third grade, but um he was very well versed in using his hands, and when he got here to America, that's what he did, odds and ends, you know, a little bit of construction and worked his way up into um you know, building houses and and roads, a lot of the roads that people drive on, and the older neighbors we built back in the 40s and 50s. So, you know, after a while, my dad, you know, got older and he became partners along with my uncle with my grandfather, and then they worked together. Oh, I guess my grandfather retired in the 60s, and it was my uncle and my dad, and then after years, it was my brother, myself, and uh my brother retired now, which is myself and my son. Oh, nice, so another generation, yes, fourth. I started pretty much when I was 14, had been doing it for like 53 years. Wow, and uh wouldn't do anything else, yeah.

Residential Focus Over Commercial;

Doug Drohan 2:24

Yeah, I mean it's it's amazing. So you you're talking 1920s when your grandfather started the business, so yeah, world world war world war one just ended. Um, did he he came over before the war?

Al Benaquista 2:37

He came over in I think it was um 19, 1919.

Doug Drohan 2:48

Okay, so right right, so during right when world war one was pretty much ending, I guess. Wow, interesting. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, you guys the the name of your company is uh you know Benequista Construction, but um primarily you guys do uh like driveways, I guess we'll call it a hardscape, right?

Driveways, Patios, And Full Builds;

Al Benaquista 3:09

Yeah, I mean for over the years it's we've always evolved, you know, and either added or took away things. We no longer build houses, but we still do a lot of asphalt and mostly residential. Um we try to leave the the bigger commercial stuff to the guys who want to knock themselves out, yeah, for and fight over the big jobs. We prefer staying residential. You know, we've worked at the high school and the grammar schools, and that's gotten tougher. Um why is that why has it gotten tougher? Because you have in those situations, you have to pay prevailing wage, and there's certain things that that go along with working for those institutions, which costs everybody more money than it needs to, you know, especially on small patching jobs or or repairs, they're paying you know way much more in labor. I just always felt that jobs of a certain size to help out, you you know, we could work substantially cheaper and leave the money for the schools, yeah. But um, that doesn't work. So we've gotten away from that a little bit. And homeowners, we're dealing with people, you know, personally one-on-one, which I like better.

Doug Drohan 4:37

Yeah. So you do, I mean, obviously, I've I've seen you guys do a lot of driveways, but you do a lot of patios, a lot of nice um, you know, with a lot of people doing their outdoor living spaces now, you know, those outdoor kitchens. So do you build the outdoor spaces or are you are you um primarily just doing say the uh the floor work for want of a better word?

Al Benaquista 4:58

No, no, we um it's funny because driveways and asphalt has um pavers have kind of like gotten a little bit closer in pricing because asphalt itself has gone up substantially. Okay. So when you do a driveway and pavers, it's almost like a patio, right? Yeah, but um most people since even before a little bit before COVID would prefer staying in their own home. So they've been putting a lot more money in the backyard, yeah. Sometimes you know, bypassing doing the asphalt driveway till they can finish their yard in the back. Right, I guess that makes sense. And we do well, any of our jobs, 90% of our outdoor spaces that we design and build um start to scratch, yeah, start to finish. Right, right. Except for you know, a plumber or an electrician, we do all our work. And myself and my son are on the job always. You know, I don't just drop off some tools and trucks and leave.

Doug Drohan 6:06

We actually do the work. So you you'll build somebody wants a fireplace or a pizza oven, you guys build that as well. Yes. Makes sense. It's built with bricks and parameter.

Al Benaquista 6:18

That's the fun part of the job because that's the you make a design, you build it, and you see your finished product.

Asphalt Versus Pavers Explained;

Doug Drohan 6:25

Yeah, yeah. Now, one of the, you know, a lot of people I have an asphalt driveway, and every few years, you know, I notice now I've got a lot of cracks in it. It's been a number of years since I had it resurfaced, you know, maintained, I guess. Um, like what I notice when people get um, whether it's Belgian blocks or whatever on their driveways, I notice those tend to shift sometimes, and you get grass growing up from the cracks. Um, like what are the pluses and minuses of doing a driveway with asphalt versus doing it with uh with blocks?

Al Benaquista 6:59

Okay, so it's a it's a question and that people ask a lot. When you say Belgium block, because some people are under the impression at the surface that you drive on our Belgian block, and that's yeah, I know that's incorrect.

Doug Drohan 7:13

Yeah, yeah. Belgium block is the curving along the sides, yes.

Al Benaquista 7:18

Right, right, right, yep. And so the paver brick, if it's done properly, you know, a lot of older driveways that were done in the in the beginning with pavers, they didn't have some of the technology we have now. Okay, so every job that we do, whether it's a patio, sidewalk, or driveway, we put a polymeric sand in between all the joints, which inhibits any kind of growth. Um, you know, you don't get the weeds because it's it's almost like a grout, you know, it goes in as a as a fine dust, okay, and then you wet it and it gets semi-hard. So that needs to be done, and a lot of people don't do it even still today because it's expensive, but it should be done, and that's um very important part of the job. Okay. So if somebody's you know it's a tough business to be in now because there's a lot of people who a lot of shortcuts, you know, right, right. Yeah, a lot of guys work for somebody for a year and say, Hey, I can do this, buy a pickup truck and go out. Yeah, you know, we do a lot of fixing, you know, for people who haven't the knowledge. Yeah, you know, we take continuing classes to to keep our you know, certification for walls, uh, certified installers, uh for you know, for Belle Guard and uh Cambridge Pavers, and there's always something to learn, and you have to do what they ask, and a lot of times warranties are void if you don't do it according to what they specify. Okay.

Doug Drohan 9:07

So so but if I'm if I'm considering one or the other, I mean, is there a um the up like is asphalt? Well, you're saying that price is coming, you know, asphalt's going up, so maybe the prices are somewhat similar. But for maintaining, like, say, you know, I got a lot of snow, my snowblower, I know I'm not gonna hit any cracks where you know, maybe the pavers have gotten uneven, you know, uh it's gonna be easier for me to shovel. Is it, you know, are there pluses and minuses to having uh pavers versus asphalt?

Cost, Lifespan, And Repairs;

Al Benaquista 9:39

Yeah, there's a lot. And one of the first questions I ask when I show up to give an estimate, and we're talking about the options, is how long you know you're gonna plan on being in the home because you know, asphalt is great, it's it's like still the least expensive thing you can have, right? Yeah. So, but the quality of material itself has changed over the years, and the the life expectancy of asphalt is you know, it's kind of iffy. A lot of times, you know, within 10 years or less, you're gonna either you know put a new new surface on top or you're gonna have to take it out and redo it. But pavers seem to be more of a one-time thing. So if you're gonna be in your house more than 10 or 15 years, you may do the driveway twice or three times, but you're gonna do the pavers once. So younger people seem to do the pavers because it's a um you know, they'll take the expense up front. Yeah. So the other thing with asphalt, if you have tree roots or if you get cracks or things move, you're stuck with putting in patches. If you have an issue, you can take a section of pavers out if they sink, or if there's an issue, you need to dig up, you know, for a pipe. You can set them back in like puzzle pieces and never know there was uh anything done. Got it, got so, and plus the looks, you know, you don't you're not gonna get the money back like you get in a house for like a kitchen or a bathroom, right? But you get something because it's the initial curb appeal. Right.

Doug Drohan 11:21

A literal curb appeal, yeah. You know, I noticed I notice on your website you also have what looks like gravel on some of these driveways. Yeah, which I always liked as an idea for you know, turning my son's uh swing set area, which is sitting on a like a mulch bed, getting rid of that and then putting down what looks like gravel. Obviously, I guess the stone isn't moving, but it how does what what's that called? What material is that, and how does that work?

Gravel Looks Great, But Moves;

Al Benaquista 11:47

That that job, I think I don't I'm not sure which one it is. We have a couple. It's a pea gravel, it's like a Delaware river rock that's been you know over millions of thousands, whatever years. They roll and they get smooth, and they're small, they make them into you know really big ones, three, four inches around. Yeah, the pea gravel for most of a lot of towns won't even allow certain driveways to have it because you they want a paved surface, okay. But that house and is a period house, and they wanted it to be like it was, you know, I think it was like 200 years ago or whatever it was. Yeah, but they're it looks great, but you can't shovel snow. Oh, okay. You know, it's hard to plow. Yeah, it looks great, and you have to groom it every so often because the the loose stone like that is almost like water, and it kinds of shifts and moves, and you have to uh you know re-rake it, pull it back in. There's some maintenance.

Doug Drohan 12:54

So, what about what about for like a patio where you're not worried about paving or shoveling?

Al Benaquista 12:59

You know, no, I wouldn't use those because they're you'll have half of them in the grass.

Doug Drohan 13:04

They just seem to so they're not so they're not kind of like uh epoxied over or anything, they're actually loose gravel.

Al Benaquista 13:10

No, they're loose. A lot of times we'll use the bigger ones as an accent along the side of a patio or okay to hide the drainage, but that would be the yeah.

Doug Drohan 13:21

I'm surprised somebody would want that on the driver because you're driving over every day. It's gonna be, yeah, okay. I thought it was something that is that you know it doesn't really move. But if I did like a small area where my um son's swing set was, that could, you know, you're not walking on it, it's just a place where you're going to have uh no you know, have a fire pit or something, but okay, could take it.

Al Benaquista 13:44

Yeah, it's not something you want to fall on, or right, you know. Yeah, the uh some people have been using that rubber, shredded rubber, yeah, yeah. But all that kind of stuff just seems to wander out, even how you have it boxed in, you're still facing it around.

Trends And Backyard Staycations;

Doug Drohan 14:03

Yeah, yeah. So what do you what uh aside from that, like what other trends are you seeing in the industry and what homeowners seem to be asking for? Yeah, it seems to be.

3D Renderings And Design Choices;

Al Benaquista 14:16

I'm a little bit older, so you we're build we I still do build things to last, you know, you do it a certain way. People want to pay for it, seems like in and out, just make it look nice, and they don't want to spend a lot of money. Okay, and it's um it's very difficult to do to make something to look good without doing all what you need to do. Yeah, you know, it's like will it last me five years, and it's just gotten to the that seems to be where a lot of people go. Um the trend is pavers are on an upswing. I mean, more and more people are doing more and more for the driveways, yeah. Well, their whole yard. I mean, it seemed like a while back that people just didn't even have any use for a backyard. I mean, I patio was you know, 20 or 30 years ago, we're not you know, it was like a little concrete thing out back, and people had tables. Now it's a whole right, you know, with the lighting and it's like going on vacation, yeah. Yeah, it's a staycation, yeah, yeah. And that's I mean, it's good for us, yeah, yeah. You know, we have a design service that I can do, um, which is another trend, the AI is I can take a picture of your yard and your house and send it to my company, well, this company that we deal with, right? And they'll do a Google earth of the house, and they'll do an a complete 3D rendering of what your actual patio would look like, and it's realistic. Wow, so I you know, you always get the question, well, how will it look, or can I see what it looks like? And every house is different. I can take you to the your friend down the street, but it's not gonna look like your house, right? These kind of services make our job a little bit easier, and that's a it's a good thing, yeah.

Doug Drohan 16:19

Yeah, I I've always had that issue as a homeowner. You know, if you can't visualize it, you kind of like just it's a wing in a prayer. You hope it comes out the way you want it, or maybe you didn't describe it well enough, and then you kind of stuck with it.

Reputation, Communication, And Quality;

Al Benaquista 16:33

So we just finished one, and the way it was drawn up in the rendering, he can actually see how it laid out that we reversed the bar in the grill to where it made it more sense for him, and he would have not seen it until we started to build it. And this service is free for us. I mean, these drawings are worth between 500 and maybe 1500 to have done. But I just think the only thing I ask my customers when I'm done, I won't give them the actual hard copy because it happened to me once I did all this. We did it to somebody, yeah. Do a cheaper job, yeah. Yeah, that's that's kind of and that's you know, I did all the I don't care if you don't use us, right? But just don't take my drawings, but don't use us, yeah. Yeah, I get it. So you can't get every job, we're not the cheapest, we're not the most we're fair. I mean, yeah, everything costs something, and we make sure that we cover what we say we're gonna do, yeah. And that's the most important thing, and that's how we got all these years in 106 years, yeah. We don't even uh you know, I don't hard advertise anywhere. You know most of our work is word of mouth and our little lawn signs, you know, refreshes people of the logo, right? And they know, and uh it's gotten to the point we don't have to go too far from our area here. This is so much work for us, yeah. And you know, it's a smaller company, we do all ourselves, and that's the way I I have I can see how things are going, and that's yeah, yeah. Communication with the homeowner is the most important thing. You know, if you're on a job and they ask questions and there's somebody there not to answer them, you know, it's just a good reputation is hard to keep. Yeah, it only takes one person to say something, and that goes a lot faster than when now with all these Facebook you know pages, yeah, it's easy for somebody to say something, and you know, yeah, it it just becomes a thing.

Doug Drohan 18:51

So yeah, and you have to, you know, you don't even know sometimes, and it may not be fair or true, and you know, it could be a competitor.

Al Benaquista 19:00

Yeah, yeah. I go to shop right, I go to church. Wherever I go, I see customers, yeah. And I don't need to be going around all the and have to walk away feeling bad. You know, it's yeah, I get it. Yeah, my son's got the the younger point of view, and I got the older, so it's it's a good matchup, yeah, yeah.

How To Reach The Team;

Doug Drohan 19:24

So um, if I don't see your loan sign, how do I how does somebody find you? How do they contact you?

Al Benaquista 19:29

Well, we have um our Facebook page, it's ben acquistaconstruction.com, and the same with our Instagram, and this this stuff is like kind of over my head, yeah, this technology. So my son does a lot more of it. Um, I don't we don't do Twitter, but I I don't understand Twitter, but um somebody was telling me that um what's the TikTok is something you know that we should look into. I don't yeah, yeah, I know.

Doug Drohan 20:02

I'm I've been told the same thing. I haven't gotten there yet. I don't know if I will, but um yeah.

Al Benaquista 20:09

You know, we're BenAquoista construction. Um it's a it's a phone number's 201 768 2326, and it's been the same phone number since the I think the 40s. I mean actually, it's no it's no joke. I'll get every so many years, I'll get a couple jobs from people who've known our number and they looked it up, and it has not changed our address, it has not changed, yeah. And our phone number, which you know, the stability is what they like. We used to be a P08 number, and people will bring that up, and that's why we called you. Okay, I guess that online is the is the best way to find us or our street sign. Right. You have BenAquoista.

Showroom, Samples, And Closing

Doug Drohan 21:00

Yeah, well, this was great. I really appreciate it. I have some more questions for you. I'll I'll ask uh after we end our recording. But uh, this is great. One more time, the phone number is 201-768-2326. You can find them on Facebook, find them on Instagram, or just find them around town if you live in the Northern Valley area.

Al Benaquista 21:18

And you'll be talking to my wife when you call, she runs the office. We have a physical location on Rockland Avenue in Norway. We we have samples, we have all our inventory. You can meet us, you can meet her. Uh, we don't just have somebody answering the phones where we're in, no day labor, any of that. Got it. And Rockland Ave is right off in Livingston. Yes, you'll see our sign, and you can go right behind us, and that's where we bring our customers to show them samples or layout different items they can see.

Doug Drohan 21:52

Nice, yeah. It's right near Verana, right past Verana.

Al Benaquista 21:55

Yes, yeah, yeah.

Doug Drohan 21:56

No well. Well, Al, thanks very much. We're just gonna have uh Chuck take us out. And you and I will be right back. Thank you very much.

Al Benaquista 22:02

It was been a pleasure. I really enjoyed it. And uh thank you.

Doug Drohan 22:06

Yeah, no, it's great. Thank you. Hang on one sec.

Intro/Close 22:09

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbergen.com. That's gnpbergen.com or call 201 298 8325.