Why people hire us
A good slab and a bad one look the same the day they're finished. Here's what we do differently, so you can hold any bid up against ours.
The short version
Picture two driveways. One is four inches of air-entrained concrete on six inches of packed rock, with rebar up on chairs, joints cut the same afternoon, and a proper cure. The other is three and a half inches of whatever came off the truck, poured on the dirt that was already there, with mesh lying on the ground and joints cut whenever somebody got around to it.
On pour day they look identical. Four winters later, only one of them still does.
Almost everything that matters in this trade is buried by the time you see the finished job. That's exactly why the cheap bid works so well. So instead of asking you to take our word for it, this page lays out what we do. Ask anyone else you're talking to the same questions. If they've got better answers, hire them.
Seven things that decide whether a slab lasts
- Digging deep enough. The rock base has to go somewhere, so we dig past the slab's depth instead of pouring on whatever grade happens to be there.
- Packed rock underneath. Crushed rock, packed in layers. It's what keeps clay that swells every spring from moving your concrete.
- Air in the mix, every time. In a freeze-thaw climate there's nothing to debate here. It's the difference between a surface that lasts and one that flakes.
- Steel in the middle. Rebar up on chairs, in the middle of the slab. Steel lying on the ground under the concrete doesn't do anything.
- No extra water. Watering down the mix at the truck makes it easier to work and weaker forever. We order the right mix and leave it alone.
- Joints cut on time. About a quarter of the slab's depth, spaced close enough, cut the same day. Joints don't stop cracks. They decide where the cracks go.
- Finishing at the right moment. Troweling before the water on top has come up and gone away traps it under the surface. That's the most common reason a slab flakes apart later. Waiting is the skill.
What Nebraska does to concrete
Freezing and thawing, over and over
A normal winter here puts a slab through well over a hundred freeze-thaw cycles. The ones that do the most damage aren't the January deep freezes. They're the March days that hit fifty in the afternoon and twenty overnight. Each time, water in the surface freezes and expands. Air-entrained concrete can take it. Concrete without air loses a little of its surface every time.
Salt
The metro salts heavily and so do most of us. Salt doesn't dissolve concrete, but it means a lot more melting and refreezing at the surface. On new concrete it's rough. Our rule for every customer: no de-icer at all the first winter. Use sand. More on salt and ice melt.
Three different kinds of ground
West and south of town there's a lot of clay, which swells and shrinks and will move a slab that's sitting right on it. Along the Missouri and over in Council Bluffs it's loess, which is strong dry and can collapse when it's soaked. Out along the Platte through Waterloo and Valley it's sand and gravel, which drains great and washes out if water keeps running through it. A crew that pours on all three the same way is guessing on two of them.
The frost line
Anything structural, like footings for steps, a porch or a deck, has to sit below the frost line, which is about 42 inches here. It's the corner people cut most on step rebuilds, since the footing gets buried and nobody can check it. It's also why so many rebuilt steps around town are moving again within five years.
A real pouring season
April through November is easy. We pour into early December with heated water, accelerator and blankets, and done right it's good concrete. Past that, most jobs are better off in the spring, because frozen ground can't be prepped properly and new concrete can't freeze in its first few days. More on pouring late in the year.
What you get from us
- A free estimate at your place, with no trip charge and nothing to sign.
- A written quote that spells out tear-out, digging, base, forms, steel, mix, thickness, finish, joints and cleanup.
- Both prices when there's a real choice to make, like four inches or five, mesh or rebar, plain or colored.
- Our state registration and insurance certificate, in writing, before you pay anything.
- Permits pulled and inspections scheduled when the job needs them.
- Written care instructions for the first year, salt rule included.
- The same person from the estimate to the pour.
- Addresses of jobs near you, if you'd like to go look at our work first.
And what we won't do
- Quote over the phone without seeing it, then change the number later.
- Skip the rock base to come in cheaper.
- Pour without air in the mix, or water it down at the truck.
- Put an overlay on a slab that's failing and call it fixed.
- Talk you into replacing something a repair would handle.
- Offer a discount that expires today, or ask for a big payment up front.
Questions worth asking anyone you call
What should I ask every contractor I call?
How thick are you pouring it? What's going under it, and how deep? Is there steel, and how is it held up? Is the concrete air-entrained? When and how deep do you cut the joints? And what's your state registration and who's your insurance with? Anyone who pours good concrete can answer all of that without stopping to think.
Why does air in the mix matter so much?
Water gets about nine percent bigger when it freezes. If it's soaked into concrete with nowhere to go, it pushes the surface apart from the inside. Air-entrained concrete has billions of tiny bubbles that give it room. With a hundred-plus freeze-thaw cycles a year here, it's the most important thing in the mix. Without it, a slab looks fine the first year and starts flaking after a few.
Should I get more than one bid?
Yes. Get three, and compare what's in them instead of just the totals: thickness, steel, base, and whether the mix is air-entrained. Bids that are far apart on price are usually far apart on those four things.
Do you want a deposit?
A reasonable one when we put you on the schedule, since material gets ordered and the date gets held. What isn't normal is a big payment up front, a cash-only price, or pressure to pay in full before the work's done. Every spring somebody around here loses a deposit to a crew like that.
Is the work guaranteed?
We stand behind it, and the terms are in writing with your quote. What nobody can honestly promise is that concrete won't crack. That's what joints are for. Cracks in the joints are the slab doing what it's supposed to. Settling, cracks with one side higher, or a flaking surface are something else, and that's what we stand behind.
Will new concrete match my old slab?
The finish and the joint pattern, yes. The color, not at first. New concrete is lighter and darkens over a couple of seasons. If an exact match matters, staining both slabs after the new one cures is the only sure way.