Describe the concrete project you are planning

Four things to include

1. Where the home is. A steep lot on Monte Sano, a young subdivision in Madison or Athens and a river-town house in Decatur each come with their own soil, grade and access, so the street address alone answers several early questions.
2. The project and its rough size. A new drive, extra parking width, a back patio, a set of steps, a pad for a shed or shop, or a slab that has broken or dropped and needs to come out. Paced-off measurements are plenty at this stage.
3. The weight it will carry. Passenger cars, or something heavier such as a work truck, a camper, a boat on a trailer, a spa or a workshop full of tools. Bigger loads call for more base, more depth and more steel.
4. The current surface. Grass, gravel, an old slab or blacktop. Anything that must be broken up and trucked away gets added to the job.

Pictures that help

Start with a broad view that takes in the full work area and the ground around it, shot from the road or from your back steps. Add close views of cracks, dropped sections and chipped edges. If a storm rolls through before the visit, a quick picture of where the runoff travels and where puddles form is especially useful, since water behavior decides so much about how long new concrete holds up.

After you reach out

The contractor sets up a time to walk the site. Standing on the ground shows the soil, the fall of the lot and the route a mixer truck could take, none of which a photo fully captures, and only then can a firm scope and price be written. Request that written scope with the stone base, slab depth, steel or fiber, joint plan and surface finish spelled out, which makes it simple to hold one bid against another.

Request an estimate visit

Send the address and what you have in mind, and a contractor will follow up.