Concrete Contractor in Glendale, CA - Driveways and Steps Built on a Solid Base
Optimum Alhambra Concrete pours driveways, patios, steps, garage floors and foundation work for homes and properties in Glendale, CA, with the base dug out and packed, the joints planned and the water sent away from your house.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free on-site estimates.
- We respond within 1 business day.
Glendale homes, from Period Revival streets to newer builds
Most of our Glendale calls are flatwork, the driveways, walks, patios and garage floors that lie on the ground, with footings, foundations and small lots for property owners mixed in. The city has whole neighborhoods of Period Revival homes in Spanish Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival and French-inspired styles, alongside newer houses, apartment buildings and busy commercial streets. It's the same kind of work we do in Pasadena, with different houses on top of it.
Those older houses shape the job. Driveways tend to be narrow and run close to the house, new walks have to meet steps and porches that are already there, and a new slab usually needs a finish that suits the house instead of plain gray.
Concrete services we offer Glendale homes and businesses
Concrete driveway building
Older Glendale driveways are often thin and settled. We take out the slab, dig to firm ground and pour a new one that sheds water to the street.
Concrete patio construction
A backyard patio on a Glendale lot has to drain away from the house, so we set its slope before we form and pour.
Stamped concrete services
Stamped concrete can echo the tile, stone and brick on older Glendale houses, giving you that look on a driveway or patio as one solid slab.
Concrete sidewalk building
Front walks on older homes lift and chip where tree roots or settling push them. We replace the bad sections and tie the new walk into your steps.
Garage floor concrete
Garage floors in older Glendale homes are often cracked, oil-stained or sloped wrong. We pour a new slab pitched toward the door so water runs out.
Decorative concrete
Colored, scored or exposed-aggregate finishes suit Glendale's Spanish and Tudor style homes when plain gray would look out of place on the front walk.
Concrete retaining walls
On sloped lots toward the foothills, a concrete retaining wall holds back the hillside so you get a flat yard, patio or parking spot.
Concrete floor installation
For workshops, additions and commercial spaces in Glendale, we pour interior concrete floors flat and level, with the base packed so the floor stays put.
Concrete pool decks
A Glendale pool deck has to drain away from the water and the house and stay comfortable underfoot, so we slope it and give it a grippy finish.
Concrete steps construction
Glendale's sloped lots and raised older porches mean plenty of front steps. We rebuild worn or uneven ones so every step is the same height.
Slab foundation building
For additions, backyard units and new homes in Glendale, we lay out and pour slab foundations checked against the plans before the truck backs in.
Foundation installation
When a Glendale project needs more than a slab, we form and pour the foundation to the plans, with the layout checked before any concrete goes in.
Concrete parking lot building
Small lots behind Glendale shops and apartment buildings take heavy turning traffic, so we pour them thick enough for the load and sloped to drain.
Concrete footings
Block walls, patio covers and additions on Glendale lots sit on footings, the buried concrete that carries the weight, so we dig and pour them to plan.
Foundation raising
When part of an older Glendale house or slab has sunk, we find out why it settled and raise it back toward level.
Concrete cutting
Adding a drain line, widening a driveway or removing a cracked panel on a Glendale property starts with clean saw cuts that don't crack the slab left behind.
Get a written concrete estimate for your Glendale property
We reply within one business day to set a time, and I come out myself to measure. The estimate is free, done on site and obligation-free, and it lists each part of the job in writing.
(626) 597-0288- Based in
- Alhambra, CA 91801
- Hours
- Mon–Fri: 8 AM–10 PM, Sat–Sun: 7 AM–9 PM
Working in Glendale: permits, licenses and what sets the price
If your concrete job needs a permit, it goes through the city's Development Services division, which handles permits, planning, zoning and building, with applications filed through the city's online portal. The city's list of quick online permits names things like re-roofs and water heaters, not driveways or patios, so I find out what your job needs before we set a pour date, and when there is a permit, it's usually what the schedule waits on. Before you hire anyone, check two things. A contractor needs a state license, and the city wants a Business Registration Certificate from a business located in Glendale or the city's Contractor's License from one based elsewhere, the way we're based in Alhambra.
We're licensed and fully insured, and if a permit's needed we handle the application and let you know where it stands with the city. The price moves with the size and thickness of the slab, how much old concrete and dirt has to come out, the slope of the lot, how easily a truck can reach the pour on a street lined with parked cars, and the finish you pick. The schedule turns on the permit and the weather, because on a hot day we pour early so the top doesn't dry too fast and end up weak and dusty, the same as we do in San Gabriel.
Older driveways and sloped lots around Glendale
A lot of driveways and walks on older Glendale houses were poured thin on dirt that was raked level instead of dug out and packed, so the subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, has settled and taken the concrete down with it. You see it as sinking panels, cracks, chipped edges and water pooling against the house, and some slabs were even poured falling toward the foundation. We dig down to firm ground, pack the base in layers and check where the water runs before we set a single form.
The north end of the city climbs into the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, so plenty of lots slope. Water crosses driveways and patios on its way downhill there, and a usable yard often needs steps or a retaining wall, so we set each slab's fall to carry water to the street or a drain.
How a Glendale concrete job runs once you call us
Here's what happens from your first call to the final walk-through, and who you'll be dealing with at each step.
Call or send the form
Call (626) 597-0288 or send the form, and we set a time for me to come out. It helps if you're home so you can show me where water collects after a rain.
I measure and ask questions
I measure, look at the ground and ask what the concrete has to carry and what's going on top of it. You get a written estimate that lists each part of the job, so you can compare it line by line with other bids.
We handle permits and pour
If a permit's involved, we take care of it and set the pour date once the city is ready. On pour day I'm on site while our crew forms, pours and finishes, checking the work as it goes.
Walk the finished job together
When we finish, I walk the job with you before we call it done. You'll know then when the slab is ready for feet and when it's ready for cars.
Questions about concrete work in Glendale
When does a concrete contractor in California need a state license?
A contractor needs a license from the Contractors State License Board whenever the job needs a building permit, uses any workers, or totals $1,000 or more in labor and materials. A bigger job can't be split into pieces under $1,000 to get around that, and most driveways and patios clear that line easily.
Which building code applies to a concrete project in Glendale?
A project sent to the city now has to meet the current California building code plus Glendale's own local changes to it, which together make up the city's building and safety code. If your job needs a permit, that's the code we build it to.
How much does a new concrete driveway cost in Glendale?
Your price comes from the measured job, and the written estimate lists each part so you can compare bids line by line. When a budget gets tight, people usually want to cut the base first because it's buried by the end of day one, but that's the part that decides whether the slab settles with the dirt under it. I'd rather drop a stamped pattern to a broom finish, the light brushed texture that gives shoes and tires grip, than skimp on digging out and packing the base.
What causes a new concrete driveway to crack, and will mine crack like the old one?
Concrete shrinks as it dries, so small cracks are normal, and what we control is where they land and whether the slab sinks. We cut control joints, straight grooves that give the slab a planned line to crack along, before it has a chance to crack on its own, set rebar, steel bars that hold the pieces together, and pack the base so the slab doesn't drop. I won't tell you a slab can't crack, but a hairline crack sitting in a joint is a very different thing from the broken, sunken panels most people are replacing.
How long does new concrete need to cure before I can drive on it?
It takes days, not hours, before a slab is ready for a car, because concrete keeps gaining strength while it cures, the stretch where it's kept from drying out too fast. You can walk on it well before you can drive on it, and the thickness and the weather change the timing, so I give you the day for each at the walk-through.
Can a new concrete driveway match an older Spanish-style house in Glendale?
Usually, yes, with stamped or colored concrete that picks up the tones and patterns already on the house, like tile, stone or old brick. We go over color and pattern with you at the estimate, and the decorative finish sits on the same packed base as a plain slab.
Alhambra, CA
Get your Glendale concrete job measured
A layout mistake is cheap to fix on paper and expensive once the concrete sets, so call (626) 597-0288 or send the form and I'll come take a look.