I used randomly broken pieces to lay a patio and square cut pieces to face the top of an outdoor gas firepit. 

How about the HVAC, roof, foundation, landscape, fencing, patio covers, siding, windows ?

I consider brushes and plastic ‘down cloth’ sheets to be consumables.

key=OVoxNVhwZnZRRlNyM1JJNFhIRThEWFJsMjI1eHVBI made some notes from the walk through:Curb appeal: House- yard work, shutters, repair driveway cracks, small porch for side entrance, some brick sealing / cleaning up wiring, new gutters, new flashing, 2 window (dual pain) replacement, door refinish, some trim replacement, some roof repair.Garages & Shed - Check code for add on shed (add on is nicer), foundation sunk and cracked in 2 spots, check electrical, new garage doors, new shingles on garage, some roof wood repair, Demo Shed and have firepit/patio on slab.Inside Home:Overall- Electrical (multiple types of outlets, grounded/not grounded), Plumbing (Galvanized rusting in most of house), Possible mold remediation, Roof (Seems ok, maybe new by some windows and seal some areas), How is furnace and where was air conditioning. 

@Allan SmithI know friends that keep the sliding door open to cool the patio.

In Philadelphia, in the neighbourhood we operate in, a new construction single family home (or a three-storey home with a rooftop patio) costs just over $350K to build with a resale of price of $455K, an initial invested capital of about $80K and a 10-year tax abatement. 

Thanks to everyone who came out to share their thoughts with the rest of us, have some tasty beer, and withstood the chill of the patio to chat with some good people!

My wife is of the opinion that we need to rip it out and start from scratch, either building a new one or a patio.

They may have to start keeping stuff in plastic containers & jars.You'll have to get rid of the ones already there.

One obvious solution is to tear up the patio and re do it the proper way, but that is obviously a significant expense.