Concrete contractor in San Mateo - driveways and walks for hillside and bayside lots

Up in the hills on the west side of San Mateo, a lot of driveways run steep from the street to the garage, and the rain coming down them ends up at the garage door or against the house. On the flatter blocks toward the bay it's the other way around, because the water has nowhere to go and sits in puddles on a slab that was poured dead flat or tipped the wrong way. Either way, I check where your water runs before we set a single form, and we slope the new slab away from the house so it drains instead of pooling.

Most of the houses we see here have been standing a long time, and plenty of the old driveways and walks were poured on raked dirt, so they sank as the ground settled and cracked where tree roots pushed up. We dig down to firm subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, and pack a base on top of it, because a nice surface on a soft base will settle just like the old one did.

In San Mateo, the city's Building Inspection Division enforces the building codes, and the city requires a building permit to build, enlarge, alter, repair or demolish a structure, houses and garages included. When your job needs one, the permit usually sets the start date, so I sort that out before anything else, and we handle the paperwork and inspections with you. You can check two things about any contractor working here. The state requires a license from the Contractors State License Board when a project needs a building permit, uses any additional workers, or costs $1,000 or more in labor and materials across all its contracts, and the city requires anyone doing business in San Mateo to pay its annual business tax, which some people call a business license, before the work starts. We're fully licensed and insured, and that city certificate is separate from any permit, so having one doesn't mean a job is cleared to build.

I drive over the bridge from Hayward to look at San Mateo jobs myself, and the crew is the same one that pours for us in Hayward and Oakland. What drives the price here is mostly what's underneath: how much old concrete comes out and gets hauled off, how much digging and packing the ground needs, and whether a slope calls for taller forms or a wall. How long you're without your driveway or patio depends on the permit if there is one, a dry day to pour, and curing, the days fresh concrete needs to gain strength before it can take foot traffic and then cars. Your estimate puts a number on your job.

San Mateo has a busy downtown and plenty of apartments along the main roads, with blocks of older single-family houses spreading out from there. To the west the streets climb into the hills, and toward the bay the ground flattens out. Most of the work we see here is homeowners and landlords replacing driveways, walks and steps that have been down a long time, plus some small business owners who need a walkway or a lot redone.

A lot of it is the same kind of housing we work on in San Leandro, just with more hills behind it. On the slopes the job is holding ground and moving water off the driveway, and on the flats it's getting the water to drain at all, which is why I look at the ground before we ever talk about the finish.