Concrete Contractor in Fairhope, AL - Driveways and Patios Built Right Underneath

Check with the city before any pour, because Fairhope's Building and Permitting office issues building permits for generally any work valued over $100. Its list of residential project types doesn't name driveways or patios, so call the office at 251-990-0153 to confirm what your job needs. When a job needs a permit, we help with the paperwork and work with the office for you.

Yes, if you're the legal owner of record, the city says Alabama lets you get permits for your own property, though a tenant can't. You'll state in writing that you're doing the work yourself, and anyone you bring in to help still needs every required state and city license.

Look for a Fairhope business license plus any state license the job calls for. The city requires that license of anyone doing business inside its limits or police jurisdiction, and its revenue office checks for required state licenses before issuing one. The state's licensing rules show, by example, that a contractor hired directly by a homeowner needs a residential home builder's license once the cost goes over $10,000. We're fully licensed and insured, and you can ask any bidder to show you theirs.

The price comes down to the size, the work under the slab and the finish on top, so we price it after seeing your lot. Tearing out an old slab, cutting roots, hauling in fill and packing the base all add cost, and so do extra thickness and rebar, the steel bars inside that hold the slab together if it cracks. A plain broom finish, the light texture that gives tires and shoes grip, costs less than stamped or colored work. If the budget's tight, cut the fancy finish, not the base, because the base keeps the slab from settling and you only get one shot at it. Your written estimate prices out the main parts so you can see where the money goes.

You'll walk on it well before you can drive on it, because concrete keeps getting stronger as it cures, the slow hardening after the pour that decides how tough it ends up. We tell you when it's safe for each before we leave, since that turns on the mix and the weather that week. What moves the overall schedule is mostly the tear-out and base work, rain on pour day and any permit time.

Most of the time it's the ground under the slab, not the concrete itself. A base that was raked level instead of dug out and packed settles as the dirt does, roots lift the edges, and water running under a slab that falls the wrong way washes the fill out. We dig down to firm subgrade, the soil the slab rests on, pack the base and cut joints on time, which won't stop every hairline crack but keeps them in the lines we chose.