Concrete contractor in Orange, CA - driveways and patios for lived-in homes

The City of Orange's Building Division takes every permit application in the city, and the city's building and safety staff review project plans and inspect job sites. Whether your driveway, patio or wall needs a permit is a question for the Building Division, and the city keeps a residential permit exemptions document on its forms page. When a job needs a permit, we handle the application with the city and book the inspections, and if we're unsure what the city wants, we ask the Building Division before we start.

Yes, the City of Orange requires a business license for every business working in the city, including contractors who come in from another city, and an Orange license covers work in Orange only. The city also says a business may need a state license from the Department of Consumer Affairs for its type of work, and it requires that number on the city application. We're licensed and fully insured, and it's fair to ask any contractor you're considering about both before you book.

Your house is in the historic town site if it sits within the original square mile of Orange around the Plaza in Old Towne, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. That listing covers the town site, not the whole city, and many of the homes inside it date from Orange's early days. If you're in or near it and we're unsure what the city wants for your concrete job, we ask the Building Division before we start.

The cost of a new driveway in Orange comes down to its size, how much old concrete we break out and haul away, how much work the base needs and the finish you pick. A broom finish, a lightly brushed texture that gives tires and shoes some grip, costs less than stamped or colored concrete, and a wider or thicker slab takes more material. For your own figure, I come out, look at the driveway and price it at your property.

You can usually walk on a new driveway well before you can park on it, because the slab keeps gaining strength while it cures, the waiting period after the pour while the concrete hardens. Driving on it too early is how a good slab gets cracked. How long you're without the driveway also turns on its size, tearing out the old one and any inspections a permit calls for, and we go over the walking and driving dates with you before the pour.

Most cracks we see in older Orange driveways and patios come from a base that was raked level instead of dug out and packed, water running toward the house, or control joints cut late or skipped. Control joints are the straight grooves we cut into a slab, so when the concrete shrinks and cracks, as all concrete does, the crack runs along the groove instead of across the middle. No slab is crack-free, but we dig out and pack the base, check where the water will run before we pour and cut the joints on time, which gives a new slab a much better start than the old one had.