I would only do concrete based on an engineers design. The retaining wall at the bottom of the slope will need to be enginered properly or it will begin to fail a few years down the road, especially since it sounds like you are working with deep fill, which is not as stable as undisturbed earth. If you do some type of paver or dry laid stone, I believe something more in line with the landscapers idea would be okay. Dig a footing trench, and put in a level base of compacted stone, then build a wall using one of the manufactured modular block wall systems, being sure to provide for water drainage along the inside of the wall. Fill inside the footprint in stages, compacting each level to help minimize settling of the finished surface. Stop the fill low enough to lay the manufacturers recommended depth of compacted stone for the patio surface chosen, so that it ends up even with the top of the retaining wall.. Then lay the surface material. Compacting each level of fill is critical, do not cut labor on this or the patio will quickly settle. Wood or composite would be easier, but not as nice looking, and much more maintenance involved. Read around on various forums about composites, there are many problems with these products, especially Trex.

Hi thanks everyone for the comments. No I dont see the need for the stairs either. I love the idea of an enclosed deck since I have a toddler. The design with the stairs was just recommended by our deck guy in one his quotes. Thanks kiko for the links, it does give me a better idea. @arcy_gw...yes I do like the idea of an enclosed deck with entry from inside only. @4Heideisgn...I agree the stairs takes up too much space if I go with a patio and then the usable space is used up by the stairs and the AC unit if I cant get it moved. But if I can get it moved then I get more space since I can go all the way upto the property line with a fence and/or patio. So the options I am considering are: 1) Enclosed deck with no stairs 2) Fence with enclosed patio with stairs coming down from the doors. I will get back to you guys on this, once the HOA approval or non-approval comes through, thanks, Cooks.

A few other comments- we do have a nice wrap around porch in the front of our house. There is a couch in front of that door that could be used for a deck and we have a huge entertainment unit that can really only go on the wall across from that door which limits the seating to in front of the door. So we are somewhat limited on that. Having access to a deck from kitchen would make more sense but not sure what kind of expense it would be to change bay window to French door? I understand the possible annoyance of having to walk down the side steps to patio but those are right off the kitchen. If we do a concrete patio now with mindset of possibility of us adding deck in future or next homeowner doing it what are thoughts about that?

On the patio, the 2 x 4s would be laying flat on the concrete patio, with spacers every 12” or so. the alternative is to put the 2 x 4’s on edge, making the deck surface 2” higher. I’ve read of other people doing it with 2 x 4s laying flat. I can’t see any reason why laying them flat would be a problem, because the 2 x 4’s are never spanning more than 12” between supports (less, actually, since the spacers would be 12” OC). The problem is the part of the deck that would extend beyond the patio. The ground surface is currently just a bit below the patio surface, sloping away from the patio. At the point that would be the edge of the deck, the ground surface is about 4” below the patio surface. The only way I can think of continuing the deck beyond the patio at the same level is to use most buried concrete blocks, which would also have to be very close so that the 2 x 4’s are not spanning much between blocks. But that’s a lot of blocks! I’m thinking I might just have to give up on a deck…