Concrete contractor in Urbana, OH - slabs that drain and stay put

You get a Right-of-Way Permit from the City of Urbana Engineering Department, which the city requires for any work in the road right-of-way, such as a new sidewalk or a drive approach, the part of the driveway that meets the street. Each permit is $50 and should be filed in person with the department. For the rest of the driveway or a patio, we check with the city before we schedule and tell you what we find, and when a permit is needed we take care of the application or help you with the parts that need your signature.

Yes, the city requires a certificate of registration from its Director of Administration before cement, construction and building contractors do paid work in Urbana. It covers contractors, subcontractors, tradesmen and repairmen, but not the employees working for them. We're fully licensed and insured, and we're glad to go over the city's registration with you at the estimate.

Usually, yes, because the city generally requires review of any exterior change to properties along State Routes and U.S. highways and in the downtown heritage district. Along the highways that review goes to the Zoning Administrator and the Planning Commission, and downtown it goes to the Zoning Administrator and the Downtown Design Review Board. If your property sits in either area, we check with the city's zoning department before we schedule, since the review has to come ahead of the pour.

Yes, it can, and the city calls flooding the most frequent and costly natural disaster in Urbana. Flood risk changes over time and from one property to the next, and floods in the county have reached low- and moderate-risk areas before. That's why I look at where rain runs across your lot before we form a driveway or patio, and we set the slab to fall away from the house so water heads for the yard instead of your foundation.

The cost of a driveway in Urbana comes down to things I measure on site, so the honest answer comes after I walk it with you rather than over the phone. Besides size and tear-out, a thicker slab for a truck or trailer raises it, and so does a stamped or colored top instead of a plain broom finish, the lightly brushed texture that gives shoes and tires grip. Replacing the approach at the street adds the city permit mentioned above, and the base work is the one line I'd ask you not to trim, for the reasons above.

You can usually walk on new concrete well before you can park on it, and I'll tell you when your slab is ready, because curing, the slow hardening that gives concrete its strength, runs slower when the weather is cool. Driving on it too soon is one of the surest ways to crack a good slab, so please keep cars off until then. In early spring and late fall the wait runs longer than in summer, so it helps to plan around that.