Concrete contractor in Oakland, CA - new slabs for older homes and steep lots

Most of what we're called out for in Oakland is flatwork, the driveways, walks and patios that sit right on the ground, and on older houses it's usually cracked, sunken or tipped back toward the foundation. When we break it out, we often find it was poured on dirt that was raked flat instead of dug out and packed, so the subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, settled and took the concrete with it. We dig down to firm ground, pack a new base, slope the slab so water runs away from the house and cut the joints on time. If the budget gets tight, I'd rather you skip a fancy finish than skimp on the base, because the base is hidden on day one and it's the part that decides whether your slab stays put.

Up in the hills the lots are steep, so driveways climb hard from the street, steps run long and the yard is often held up by an old wall. We pour those drives and steps with rebar and a broom finish, and we look hard at where the water goes, because on a slope it always finds the low corner of a slab.

When your job needs a building permit, it goes through the city's Planning & Building department, and its Bureau of Building oversees the construction side, so that's the office we work with on Oakland jobs. Before the city issues a permit, it wants an approved recycling plan and recycling summary report, so we put that together at the start instead of letting it hold up the pour. Ask any contractor about their state license, and know that anyone doing business in Oakland owes the city's annual business tax, companies based outside the city included, so the city's business tax and license page is where to look for current terms. Price mostly moves with the size of the job, how much old concrete comes out and how much base work the ground needs, and the schedule turns on permits and on the days the new slab needs to cure and harden before you use it. I give you your own numbers at the estimate.

Narrow streets and steep drives change how a pour day goes here, because a concrete truck needs room to park and reach the forms. On tight or hilly lots we plan the truck's spot ahead of time, and sometimes we pump the concrete or wheel it up. From Hayward it's a straight run up I-880, and we do the same work in San Leandro on the way and down in Fremont to the south.

Oakland is a big, older city, and we meet a bit of everything on jobs here, from flat blocks of bungalows and two-story houses down toward the bay to winding streets in the hills where driveways climb straight up from the curb. A lot of these houses have been rentals for years, so landlords call us about as often as owners do, usually for steps, walks and driveways that have been patched more than once.

The flatter neighborhoods remind us of jobs closer to home, while the hill lots are closer to what we pour up in Castro Valley. On the flats the work is mostly old bases and tree roots, and up the hill it starts with the grade, the walls and the water before any finish goes on.