Concrete Contractors: what to ask, what it costs, and one number to call
Updated June 2026 · By the Mobile Phonebook editorial team · How we research pricing
Concrete contractors pour and repair driveways, patios, sidewalks, garage slabs, steps, and foundations for sheds and additions. Decorative work like stamped and stained finishes is its own specialty, and so is flatwork repair: mudjacking or foam lifting for sunken slabs, resurfacing for spalled ones.
Concrete is unforgiving in a specific way: everything that determines how long it lasts gets buried or locked in before the truck leaves. Base compaction, thickness, reinforcement, the mix itself. Two driveways can look identical on pour day and one will be cracking apart in five winters. That's why the contract details matter more in concrete than in almost any other trade, and why the cheapest bid is so often the most expensive driveway.
What should you have ready before you call?
- What you're pouring and rough dimensions, since square footage drives everything
- What's there now: dirt, old concrete to demo and haul, or asphalt, because removal is its own line item
- What the slab will carry. Cars, an RV, a hot tub, and foot traffic all want different thickness and reinforcement.
- Drainage reality: where water flows now and whether the new slab needs to slope away from the house
- Access for trucks, because a backyard patio a pump truck has to reach costs more than a driveway the mixer can back onto
- Whether you want broom finish, smooth, exposed aggregate, or stamped, since finish changes both price and crew skill required
- Your timeline and season, because concrete pours best in moderate temps and winter pours need cold-weather measures
What should you ask before hiring? The 9-question script
This is your script. Nobody expects you to be an expert. Sound like someone who asks the right questions, and anyone good will answer all of these without flinching.
Four inches is the residential driveway standard, five for heavy loads. Thickness is the easiest spec to shave invisibly, so get the number in the contract and feel free to check forms on pour day.
Most failed slabs fail from below. You want organic soil out, several inches of gravel in, and mechanical compaction, not a pour over whatever dirt was there.
Rebar on chairs does the most good. Mesh pulled up during the pour or rebar lying on the ground does almost nothing. Fiber-only is acceptable for some flatwork but is the cheapest route, so know what you're getting.
Exterior flatwork in freeze-thaw climates wants 4,000 PSI or so with air entrainment to survive winters and salt. The mix ticket from the plant states this, and you can ask to see it.
Joints should land roughly every 8-12 feet and go a quarter of the slab depth. Concrete will crack; a good joint plan decides where.
Curing compound or kept-wet curing for several days builds the strength you paid for. Foot traffic in 24-48 hours, vehicles in about 7 days is the standard answer. 'Drive on it this weekend' two days after a pour is a contractor who doesn't care about callbacks.
Tearing out existing concrete runs real money and disappears from lowball quotes. Make it an explicit line.
Hairline cracks within joints are normal. Cracks that offset vertically, wide structural cracks, and surface scaling in year one are not. An honest contractor will define the difference up front.
Driveways, sidewalks in the right-of-way, and structural slabs often need permits depending on your city. The contractor should know local rules cold.
How much do concrete contractors cost in 2026?
Concrete is quoted by the job, but per-square-foot math is how you compare bids. Material is only part of it; site prep and finish drive the spread. Typical 2026 national ranges:
| Typical job | National range | What moves the price |
|---|---|---|
| Ready-mix concrete (material only, delivered) | $130 – $180 per cu yd | Short-load fees make small pours cost more per yard |
| Basic slab or patio (broom finish, installed) | $6 – $12 per sq ft | Good access and simple shapes at the low end |
| Driveway (new, installed) | $8 – $16 per sq ft | A two-car driveway commonly lands $5,000-12,000 |
| Stamped or decorative finish | $12 – $25 per sq ft | Color, pattern, and sealing add labor and skill |
| Old concrete removal and haul-away | $2 – $6 per sq ft | Thicker, reinforced slabs cost more to break out |
| Sidewalk or walkway | $8 – $18 per sq ft | Small jobs carry minimums; bundling with other work helps |
| Slab lifting (mudjacking / foam) | $500 – $2,500 per job | Often a fraction of replacement for sunken but sound slabs |
| Resurfacing / overlay | $3 – $10 per sq ft | For surface damage on structurally sound concrete |
These are typical 2026 U.S. ranges for planning purposes; your market, season and job specifics can land outside them. Always get the price for your job confirmed on the call and in writing. Ranges compiled June 2026 from national cost data and industry sources (methodology).
When you don't need to call anyone
We get paid when you call, so take this section as seriously as we do. Sometimes the honest answer is that you can handle it yourself or fix it cheaper first:
- A sunken-but-sound slab section often wants lifting (foam or mudjacking) at a fraction of replacement cost. Replacement is for crumbling, badly cracked, or offset concrete.
- Hairline surface cracks and small spalls can be handled with concrete crack filler and patching compounds from the hardware store for under $50.
- A pad under 25 square feet or so, like a generator or AC pad, is a feasible DIY with bagged mix, a form of 2x4s, and a free weekend.
- Where DIY ends: anything structural, anything attached to the house, driveways, and any pour big enough to need a ready-mix truck, because finishing concrete is a race against its set time and crews win that race with bodies.
How the concrete business works
The material is sold by the cubic yard. In 2026 a yard of ready-mix delivered runs roughly $130-180, and a typical two-car driveway uses somewhere around 12-18 yards. But you won't be buying yards; the contractor quotes the whole job, usually thought of per square foot, and material is only a third or so of that number. The rest is excavation, base, forming, finishing labor, and the contractor's overhead. Small jobs carry a hidden premium too: ready-mix plants charge short-load fees for partial trucks, so a little 60 square foot pad costs far more per foot than a driveway.
Here's where the corners get cut, in order of temptation. Thickness: a driveway should be 4 inches of actual concrete, 5 if heavy vehicles will sit on it, and shaving to 3 or 3.5 inches saves the contractor real money invisibly. Base: concrete is only as good as what's under it, and proper jobs excavate to undisturbed soil and compact 4 or more inches of gravel; lazy jobs pour over loose fill and let your slab settle with it. Reinforcement: rebar on chairs (so it sits mid-slab, not on the dirt) beats wire mesh, and 'fiber in the mix' alone is the budget option. Mix strength: ask for the PSI, with 3,500-4,500 being typical exterior spec in freeze climates, along with air entrainment where winters are real.
Concrete cracks. That's a property of the material, not automatically a defect, and the honest version of the trade manages cracking rather than promising it away. Control joints cut or tooled at the right spacing (roughly every 8-12 feet for a 4-inch slab) tell the slab where to crack so it does it neatly inside a joint. Curing matters just as much: concrete reaches strength by staying damp for days after the pour, and a contractor who pours and vanishes without curing compound or a watering plan is leaving strength on the table. Hot, windy, or freezing pour days each need their own precautions.
Get the spec into the written contract: thickness, PSI, reinforcement type and placement, base depth and compaction, joint plan, and curing method. A contractor who'll write those down was probably going to do them anyway. The one who waves you off with 'we always do it right' is asking you to buy a buried product on faith.
Red flags & good signs
Red flags
- A bid far below the others with no written spec. The savings are coming out of thickness, base, or reinforcement, where you can't see them.
- No mention of base prep, or plans to pour over existing fill or grass 'to save you money'
- Wire mesh or rebar lying flat on the ground at pour time instead of supported mid-slab
- No control joint plan, or joints spaced way beyond 12 feet on a 4-inch slab
- Asking for most of the money before the pour. Material deposits are normal; 90% up front isn't.
- Promises that the slab will never crack. That's not a thing in concrete.
- No talk of curing, or telling you to park on a three-day-old driveway
Good signs
- Written spec with thickness, PSI, reinforcement, base depth, joint plan, and cure method, offered without a fight
- Talks drainage and slope before talking finish colors
- Explains what normal hairline cracking looks like versus what they'd come back for
- Schedules around weather and will postpone a pour for rain or freeze instead of racing it
- Will point you at the slab-lift or overlay option when full replacement isn't necessary
Frequently asked questions
How much does a concrete driveway cost?
How much does a concrete slab cost?
How thick should a concrete driveway be?
Why does concrete crack, and when is it a problem?
How long before you can drive on new concrete?
Is rebar necessary in a driveway?
Mudjacking vs. replacing a sunken slab: which makes sense?
What time of year is best to pour concrete?
Related services
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