Serving Carver, MA
Patios, pool decks, driveways and stonework for Carver homes, on sandy soil among the cranberry bogs.
Carver is cranberry country. Bogs, ponds and swamps are spread across its 40 square miles, and almost half of its usable land is the coarse, fast-draining sand that soil scientists named after the town. Underneath is the Plymouth-Carver aquifer, the second largest in Massachusetts.
That combination is good for building and strict about where. Sand takes a paver base well and sheds water quickly. The town’s wetlands bylaw, though, keeps hard surface well back from every bog and wetland. CJ Pickering Enterprises builds patios, pool decks, paver driveways and natural stone work in Carver from South Easton.
Carver’s wetlands bylaw allows no structure, parking area or impervious surface within 65 feet of a wetland, a bank or a cranberry bog without a variance. That is one of the widest setbacks among the towns we serve.
Work within 100 feet of a wetland, or 200 feet of a river or stream, may also need a permit from the Conservation Commission. If a bog borders your yard, measure from its edge before you choose a spot.
Carver has no public sewer, and public water only in North Carver. About 94 percent of homes are on septic, and many have a private well as well.
The town’s pool guidance puts an in-ground pool 20 feet from the septic leaching area, 10 feet from the tank, 10 feet from the side and rear lot lines and at least 5 feet from the house foundation. The Board of Health has the septic records.
Carver’s sandy soil drains fast and has a deep seasonal water table in most places, which is why septic systems and foundations do well here. A paver base on sand stays dry, and frost has less to work with.
The caution is the aquifer below it. In the Water Resource Protection district, a use that makes more than 10,000 square feet of a lot impervious needs a special permit, and runoff from hard surfaces has to be returned to the ground on site.
Carver’s Building Department does not offer online permitting; applications are on paper. A building permit is required for a pool or hot tub, and a pool application needs a plot plan.
Pool fences are a minimum of four feet high with a self-closing, self-latching gate. Grading that leaves long slopes of 15 percent or steeper over a large area takes a Planning Board special permit, which is rare on a house lot here.
Town rules change. We last checked these against Carver’s own pages in October 2026, so confirm with the town before you build.
Buzzards Bay, MAOn this Buzzards Bay waterfront property, CJ Pickering built the paver pool deck, the outdoor kitchen under the pavilion, the poolside fire features, a waterfront fire-pit terrace, the front stone walkways, and the landscape lighting.
Pembroke, MAA Pembroke waterfront home opens onto bluestone patios, with broad stone steps, lawn paths, and planted beds connecting sheltered seating to the surrounding landscape.
Taunton, MAA Taunton waterfront hillside steps down from a paver driveway to the home through terraced retaining walls, long stair runs, and paved landings framed by lawn and stone.
Not within 65 feet of it without a variance. Carver’s wetlands bylaw treats cranberry bogs like wetlands for this purpose and bars structures and impervious surface inside that distance. Farther back, within 100 feet, the Conservation Commission may still need to review the work.
It is mostly a help. Sand drains quickly, so the base stays dry through freeze and thaw. It does need to be compacted well and held with a firm edge restraint, because loose sand will move under load if it is not confined.
No. The town’s snow plow policy bars private contractors from pushing snow from driveways or parking lots onto town streets or sidewalks, and says violators will be cited and fined. Plan a place for snow on your own lot.
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