Old patio cracked, sinking or chipping? We build a new slab on a packed base, with a mix made for freezing and ice melt.
Concrete patio construction in South Lake Tahoe means we dig out the spot, pack a firm base, then form, pour and finish a new slab that sheds water away from your house and is mixed to stand up to freezing and ice melt.
Most people call because the old patio has cracked through, sunk at one corner or holds a puddle every time it rains, or because there's bare dirt where they want a place to sit. A patio is flatwork, the flat concrete jobs like patios, walks and driveways, and when one fails it's usually from what's underneath, so that's where we put our effort.
The price moves with the patio's size, how much digging and base work the ground needs, whether an old slab has to be broken out and hauled off, how far the crew and the concrete truck have to reach, and the finish you pick. The schedule turns mostly on the weather, because cold nights decide the pour date. Your written estimate spells out your number and what it covers.
The things that decide whether a new patio cracks like the old one are mostly hidden by pour day, so here's what we look at before any concrete shows up.
The subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, has to be dug out to firm soil and packed, not just raked level. A slab on loose fill settles with the dirt and cracks where it sags. We dig out, bring in base material and pack it in layers, because that's the part you can't fix later without breaking out the concrete.
A patio should fall slightly away from your house so rain and snowmelt run off instead of pooling at the wall. I check where water goes now, from the downspouts and the slope of the yard, before we set forms. A slab that tips toward the house sends water against the foundation and soaks the ground the patio sits on.
Control joints are the straight grooves cut into a slab so that when concrete shrinks and cracks, it cracks there, in a line you can live with. Cut them late or skip them, and the cracks pick their own path across your patio. We lay them out to fit the shape and cut them as soon as the slab can take it.
Here's how a patio job goes with us, from your first call to the walk-through, and who you'll be dealing with at each step.
You call or fill out the form, and you'll get me, since I still answer the phone myself. Tell me where the patio goes and roughly how big, and we'll set a time for me to come look.
I come out, walk the spot, ask what the patio has to carry and check what's around it. Then you get a written estimate that shows what's included and what isn't, so you can compare it fairly.
Once you say go, we sort out any City permit the job needs, working out which office handles it and helping you file. Then we dig out, pack the base, set forms and pour on a date the weather allows.
When the slab is finished, I walk the patio with you and leave plain care instructions, including how long to stay off it while it cures, which is the wait while the concrete gains strength.
We order a mix meant to stand up to freezing and ice melt. Air-entrained concrete has tiny air bubbles worked through it, which helps a soaked slab survive freezing and thawing and keeps ice melt from scaling the top, so it doesn't flake off in thin chips. When you compare bids, ask each contractor what mix they're ordering.
We pick the pour date by how cold the nights get, not just the afternoons, because cold slows the set and can freeze fresh concrete before it gains any strength. If the timing looks tight, I'd rather tell you to wait for a better week than pour into bad conditions and have you pay for it later.
If the budget gets tight, the base is the last thing I'd cut. Nobody sees it on day one, so it's tempting, but a fancy surface on a poor base cracks just the same. Once the base is right, stamped concrete can give the top a pattern, and a concrete sidewalk can tie the patio to the driveway or the back door.
A broom finish is the light texture left by dragging a broom across the wet surface, and it gives your feet grip when the patio is wet or frosty. It's the plainest finish and usually the least costly.
Stamping or color makes the patio look like stone or tile, and it adds labor and cost. It still sits on the same base, so it holds up only as well as what's underneath it.
Send the form with the patio's rough size and the season you have in mind, and I'll get back to you within one business day to set a time to come out. The estimate is free, done at your property, and carries no obligation.
(530) 307-5972An older Lake Tahoe Basin manual says muddy runoff from job sites carries nutrients into the lake that feed algae, so while we dig out for the base, the soil and concrete washout stay on your lot until they're hauled off. The same manual advises calling 811 before any digging to get gas and electric lines located for free, and we have that done before we break ground.
We're based in South Lake Tahoe and work in the cities around it too. Patios here get snow shoveled onto them, ice melt tracked across them and cold nights at both ends of the season, which is why the mix and the pour date matter so much. Our South Lake Tahoe concrete page covers the other work we do in the city.
I'm the one who comes out to look at your patio and write the estimate, and I'm on site for the pour. The work itself is done by a small crew of experienced form setters and finishers. I came to concrete after years in other work and learned it on a finishing crew, and we've been in business since 2021, five years now.
We're licensed and insured. Every patio we pour is backed by our satisfaction guarantee. You'll get straight answers on cost and timing, even when the honest answer is to wait a week. To set up a look at your yard, call (530) 307-5972 or use our estimate form.
If you'd like the patio to look like stone, slate or brick instead of plain gray, stamped concrete presses a pattern and color into the surface.
A new patio often needs a solid path to the driveway, front door or side gate, and a poured walkway keeps you off wet grass and mud.
South Lake Tahoe is home base, and we build patios in the cities around it as well. If you're nearby and not sure we cover your street, call and ask.
A standard 4-inch concrete slab in California usually costs about $9 to $18 per square foot, installed with materials, labor and a basic broom finish. That's the statewide going rate, not our price. Where your patio lands depends on the digging, the base and the finish, and your written estimate spells it out.
A Michigan concrete group's guide treats it as cold weather once the air falls, or is expected to fall, to 40°F or below while fresh concrete still needs protecting, and early-fall and late-spring nights can count. The guide says to pour only on unfrozen ground and to keep new concrete at 50°F or above for at least 3 days with blankets, straw or a heated enclosure.
Keep deicers off a new patio its first winter and use sand for traction, the Michigan guide says. After that, it says to keep magnesium or calcium chloride, fertilizer and water-softener salt off the concrete, and it recommends a penetrating sealer 30 or more days after the pour, once any surface compound has worn off. Plan your snow and ice routine before the first storm.
Any contractor holding the concrete license from California's contractors board can, since it covers forming, pouring, placing and finishing flat concrete work. The board also lets a landscaping contractor pour concrete that's part of a bigger yard project, and lets a general building contractor take a concrete-only job if it holds that license or hands the work to a licensed specialty contractor.
The patio's rough size and the season you'd like it poured are enough to start. It also helps to know what the patio has to carry, like a hot tub or a heavy grill, and where water runs now when it rains. Send the form, and I'll look at the rest when I come out.
Calling (530) 307-5972 before the season you want leaves time to look, write the estimate and pick a pour date the weather allows, instead of squeezing it in.
