Concrete Contractor in Richmond, CA - Driveways and Patios That Drain Right

A lot of the driveways and walks we look at in Richmond are as old as the houses, with cracks, a sunken panel by the garage and a puddle that sits after it rains. Most of the time the base was just raked level instead of dug out and packed, so the slab settled right along with the dirt under it. We dig down to a firm subgrade, which is the ground the slab sits on, pack the base in layers and set the slope so water runs away from the house. That base is invisible on pour day and it's the first thing folks want to trim from a budget, but if something has to give, I'd rather you pick a plain finish over a good base than a fancy one over a bad base. On the farm we'd say you can't fix a leaning fence post by painting it.

Up in the hills, the questions are about steps, walls and where the water coming down the slope ends up. On the flat lots toward the bay, water has less reason to leave on its own, so we check which way it runs before we set a single form.

Richmond's Building Division issues the building permits here, and when your job needs one, nothing gets poured until it's issued. The city asks contractors to show a state contractor's license card, a workers' comp insurance certificate and a current Richmond business license when they register for a permit, so those are fair things to ask anyone you're thinking of hiring. We're licensed and fully insured, we can pull the permit as your contractor and handle the paperwork and inspection calls for our part, and we check your job with the city before we start instead of guessing. The price moves with how much old concrete comes out, how much base work the ground needs and the finish you pick, and the schedule mostly turns on the permit and the weather. Your written estimate spells out what's included, like whether hauling the old concrete away is part of it.

We're based in Orinda and come over the hills to Richmond the same way we head out to jobs in Oakland or back toward Moraga. The ready-mix trucks come in off I-80 or the Richmond Parkway, and on the tighter streets in the older neighborhoods I plan ahead where the truck can park and whether a backyard patio needs a pump or a line of wheelbarrows, because getting concrete to the forms is part of what you pay for.

Richmond runs from the hills down to a long stretch of bayfront, and most folks here know the waterfront, the Bay Trail along the national historical park and the Rosie the Riveter Memorial at Marina Park. That memorial's walkway is the length of a ship's keel and slopes toward the bay, and I like it, because a walk built to fall toward the water is how we think about every slab. Our Richmond calls feel a lot like the ones we get over in Berkeley, with older houses, older concrete and homeowners who want it done right this time.

Plenty of the houses here have been added onto and patched over the years, so the old concrete can hide a buried footing, an old pipe or a second layer poured on top of the first. We plan for that, and some of it we only learn once the old slab is out and we can see what we're building on.