Concrete cutting in Orinda CA - clean cuts that leave the rest of your slab whole

Most folks call us with one problem spot, like a plumber who needs a trench, a cracked section of driveway or a patio that needs room for a drain, and they'd rather not pay to rip out good concrete. The price moves with how thick the concrete is, whether there's steel in it, whether we're cutting a slab or a wall and whether you want the pieces hauled off, because sawing concrete and removing it are two separate jobs, and some cutters just cut the outline and leave the panels sitting there. The schedule turns on what has to happen first, like utility marking, any permit and, on a structural slab, a possible scan for what's inside, and your written estimate lays out which of those apply to you and what's included.

On the farm the rule was measure twice and cut once, and with concrete it's more like ask three times, so I ask where the cut goes, how thick the concrete is and what might be buried in it, because those answers decide which saw we bring and what has to be checked first. Then we mark the lines, confirm the utility marking, set up the saw that fits the job and cut wet, with water running on the blade, to keep the dust down. Once the cut's done we lift out the pieces if that's part of the job, clean up the slurry, the gray mud wet cutting leaves behind, and leave square edges ready for whatever comes next. Your estimate says plainly whether hauling the pieces away is included, so nobody's surprised by a pile of broken concrete by the curb.

A lot of cutting leads straight into new concrete. If the whole driveway is tired and not just a panel or two, our concrete driveway building work starts with a dug-out, packed base so the new slab doesn't settle like the old one. Out back, a trench through an old slab sometimes turns into concrete patio construction once you see what's been sitting under there.

Orinda's building permits come from the Contra Costa County Building Department, which says almost all projects need one, and its list names demolition and repairs but doesn't mention cutting by itself, so I check with the county on your job before we start instead of guessing. When your job does need a permit, we pull it as your contractor and handle the paperwork and inspection calls for our part of the work. Anything in the street or the public strip along it, a new or replaced driveway, or a debris box takes an encroachment permit from the city. Under that permit, crews use as little water as they can on saw cuts, keep the slurry contained and shovel or vacuum up the dry leftovers, and whoever holds the permit calls USA, the underground alert line, at 800-642-2444 at least two days before digging.

A lot of the cutting we're called for around here is one worn-out section of an older driveway or a trench across a patio for a new drain or sewer line, and we see the same calls on jobs in Moraga and Lafayette. We're based in Orinda and work in cities on both sides of the hills, so if yours isn't on our list, give us a call anyway.