What we do
Driveways, patios, steps, floors, pads and repair. Everything here is work our own crew does, priced after we've seen it and written down before anything gets torn up.
Driveways
New driveways, full tear-out and replace, and widening for a third car or a work truck. A driveway takes more abuse than anything else we pour: car weight every day, a hundred-some freeze-thaw cycles a year, and whatever salt rides in on your tires.
We dig below the clay, bring in crushed rock and pack it, and pour four inches for cars or five if you park a full-size pickup or a trailer. Steel goes on chairs, joints get cut the same day. On a widening we drill dowels into the old slab so the two pieces stay level.
Usually $8–$14 a square foot. Tear out and replace a two-car driveway: $5,000–$10,000.
Patios & walkways
Back patios, extensions off an old slab, walks around the side of the house, fire pit and seating areas. In the newer subdivisions in Papillion, Gretna, Elkhorn and Bennington, this is most of what we pour once the weather warms up.
Two things decide whether a patio still looks good in fifteen years: what's under it and which way it slopes. Near the house that usually means dealing with the loose fill from when the basement was dug. And it has to fall away from the foundation, about an eighth to a quarter inch per foot. We broom-finish anything you walk on. A smooth finish looks nice in pictures and is slick as ice in January.
A 12×16 broom-finish patio usually runs $1,900–$3,400.
Steps & stoops
Front steps are one of our most common calls in the older parts of town, and they nearly always fail for the same reason: the footing isn't deep enough. The frost line here is about 42 inches. Steps on shallow footings get lifted a little every winter and set back down a little differently every spring, until no two steps are the same height.
On newer houses it's usually a stoop that sank because it's sitting on loose backfill, and now it tips toward the house and sends rain at the foundation. We rebuild steps on footings below the frost line, with even risers, a slight pitch on each tread and a textured finish. If the concrete's fine and it just sank, lifting it is often the cheaper fix.
Rebuilt steps and stoop: $1,800–$5,000. Lifting a sunken stoop: $600–$2,500.
Garage & shop floors
Garage floors deal with something outdoor slabs don't: salty slush melting off your car all winter. Shop floors may have to carry a lift, a loaded trailer or a tractor. Both need a vapor barrier underneath. Skipping it is why so many old garage floors sweat every spring and won't hold a coating.
For a working shop floor we go six inches over packed rock with #4 rebar on a grid, a vapor barrier, and joints laid out to keep the panels roughly square. Lift posts get thickened footings poured with the floor. In-floor heat gets tied down and pressure tested before any concrete touches it. Tell us what the building's for and we'll size it.
Garage floors $8–$15 a square foot. Shop floors $9–$16.
Aprons & city sidewalks
The strip between your driveway and the street, the curb cut, and the sidewalk out front all sit in the city's right-of-way. That means a permit, an inspection, and pouring to the city's spec for thickness and slope. It's also the first part of a driveway to break, since every car turning in puts weight on it.
In most of the metro, keeping up the public sidewalk out front is on the homeowner. If you got a letter about a sidewalk, bring it when we come out. It's usually a couple of panels, not the whole run. We pull the permit and set up the inspection.
Aprons $1,200–$3,000. Sidewalk panels $9–$16 a square foot.
RV, shed & hot tub pads
Camper and boat parking, shed and outbuilding slabs, hot tub pads, generator pads and the little slab under a new AC unit. Pads look simple, and they're the job people most often hand to whoever's cheapest.
What matters: thick enough for the weight (five inches at least for an RV, six for a big fifth wheel), sloped so you're not parking in a puddle, tied into the driveway with dowels, and steel in it, because jacks and stabilizers put a lot of weight in one spot. Hot tubs weigh a lot more full than people think, so tell us which one you're getting.
RV or boat pads $3,000–$7,500. Shed, AC or hot tub pads $500–$1,800.
Stamped & decorative
Stamped patterns, colored concrete, borders and exposed aggregate. It looks great and we're glad to pour it. Just know going in that it needs more upkeep than plain gray, especially here.
Stamped texture holds water, and water freezes. Color wears unevenly. Every decorative slab needs to be resealed every two to four years or the color goes chalky. What we suggest a lot: a stamped or colored border around a plain broom-finish field. It looks intentional, costs less, and holds up better through a Nebraska winter.
$14–$24 a square foot depending on the pattern, colors and borders.
Repair, leveling & tear-out
Not everything needs replacing. A crack in an otherwise solid slab can be routed and sealed. A single bad panel can be cut out and repoured. A slab that sank but is still in one piece can usually be lifted. A surface that's flaking but flat can often take an overlay.
What we won't do is put a repair on something that's going to fail anyway. An overlay on a driveway that's sunk and cracked through will show every one of those cracks within a year. When that's the case we'll say so. We also tear out concrete and haul it away if you're turning a patio back into lawn.
Crack repair $300–$1,000. Panel replacement $450–$1,400. Lifting $600–$2,500. Overlays $4–$8 a square foot.
Questions about the work
Which jobs need a permit?
Anything in the city's right-of-way: aprons, curb cuts and public sidewalks. Footings for steps, a porch, a deck or a garage get permitted as structures. Concrete on your own lot usually doesn't need one. We'll tell you what applies and pull it.
Can I combine a few things into one job?
Yes, and it's usually the cheapest way to buy concrete. A lot of what any job costs is just getting the crew, forms and truck to your house. Doing the driveway, the walk and the steps on one trip costs less than three trips, and it all matches because it was one pour.
Rebar or wire mesh?
For a driveway, we use #4 rebar on a two-foot grid, up on chairs. Mesh is fine on small pads if it actually stays in the middle of the slab, but on most jobs it gets stepped down into the dirt and ends up doing nothing. Fiber in the mix helps with surface cracks while it cures, but it's not a substitute for steel.
How thick should my concrete be?
Four inches for a car driveway or a patio. Five if you park a full-size truck or anything with a trailer. Six with rebar for a shop floor, an RV pad, or anywhere a tractor or skid steer will be. Going from four to five on a driveway doesn't add much to the price, and it about doubles what the slab can carry.
Do you do commercial work?
Small commercial, yes: dumpster pads, aprons, sidewalks, ADA ramps, equipment pads and repairs. Big structural pours are a different trade. Call and describe it and we'll tell you if it's a fit.
Where we pour
All of it, anywhere in the metro. Here's what's different about a few of the towns around Omaha: