Concrete Contractor in Covina - Driveways and Patios Built on a Solid Base

Most of the concrete calls we get from Covina start with a driveway or patio that has cracked, sunk at one corner or started holding a puddle after the sprinklers run. On older slabs the cause is usually underneath, because the subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, was raked level rather than dug out and packed, so it settled and took the concrete with it. When we replace a slab here, we dig down to firm ground, pack a new base and set the forms so water runs away from the house and toward the street. That base work is hidden on the day we pour, and it's the first thing people are tempted to trim from a budget, but I would rather give you a plain broom finish, the light texture that gives shoes and tires grip, on a solid base than a fancy surface on ground that will move.

Covina also has condominium and townhome communities, and work on a building's exterior or common area there brings the HOA into it. When that work needs a city permit, the city asks for a letter of authorization signed by the HOA president, along with papers such as the HOA minutes, so I ask about the association at the first visit and we wait for that letter before anything goes to the city.

The first thing I settle on any Covina job is which office issues the permit, because the city's Building & Safety Division takes applications only for addresses inside the City of Covina, and an address in a county pocket goes to Los Angeles County instead. On walls and other exterior changes, the city's Planning Division has to approve the project before it reaches Building & Safety, and concrete work rarely fits the over-the-counter express permits meant for things like re-roofs, so a plan check and that order of approvals usually set the schedule more than the pour does. Anyone who pulls a Covina permit has to show a current state contractor's license from the Contractors State License Board, a current City of Covina business license and proof of workers' compensation insurance, so those are fair things to ask any contractor you're considering. We're licensed and insured, we handle the application and inspections with whichever office covers your address, and I'll tell you at the estimate if I expect a permit.

Covina sits among the 10, 210, 605 and 57 freeways, so our crew and the concrete trucks reach most streets here without trouble from Glendora, which matters when a pour has to start on schedule. We do the same work next door in West Covina and farther east in Pomona, and the price moves with the same things everywhere: the size of the slab, how much old concrete has to come out, how much base the ground needs and any approvals the address calls for. The schedule turns on those approvals and on curing, the wait new concrete needs before anyone walks or drives on it so it can reach its strength, and my written estimate spells out what's included so you can see where the money goes.

Covina is a city of established neighborhoods around a downtown that runs along Citrus Avenue near City Hall, with homes, shops and small businesses close together. Most of our work here is at single-family houses, though we also pour walks and slabs for small property and business owners, and we cover the neighboring cities as well, from Charter Oak to our home base in Glendora.

Many of the houses here have been around long enough that their driveways and patios have been patched more than once, and an old patch usually tells me the ground under it was never right. That's why our work in Covina starts below the surface.