Concrete Contractor in Palm Springs, FL - Slabs Built for Summer Rain

Ask the Village of Palm Springs Planning, Zoning & Building Department before work starts, because it's the office that issues permits here and its forms include an application for fence and driveway approval. A driveway that meets the street can also need a right-of-way permit, which the same department issues. When a job needs a permit, we handle the filing and the inspections, and since the Village has both the owner and the contractor notarize every building permit application, I'll let you know when you need to sign.

Yes, for structural repairs to a damaged home, the Village's hurricane guidance says to apply for the permit before the repair starts, and the department can help you with it. If you're adding on or building new, such as a slab foundation for an addition, the Village also requires an elevation certificate with photographs. I'll tell you at the estimate if we need anything from you for that, like a survey or your parcel number.

Yes, the Village requires contractors in trades the state regulates, or who hold a local or county license, to register before they start work or pull permits. Any business working in the Village also needs a Village business tax receipt, even when its office is outside the limits, and Palm Beach County requires its own. A certified state license is good anywhere in Florida, while a registered one only covers the places where the holder has a certificate of competency, so it's fair to ask anyone you're comparing, us included, which one they hold.

The price of a driveway here comes down to its size, how much old concrete we break out and haul away, and how much base we have to dig out and rebuild underneath. Thickness, rebar, the steel that holds the slab together if it does crack, and the finish move it too, and a broom finish, the light brushed texture that gives grip when it's wet, costs less than stamped or decorative work. I come out to look at the job myself and give you the price in writing.

You'll be back on it on foot well before you can drive on it, and I'll give you the days for your slab at the estimate, since they turn on the thickness, the mix and the weather that week. Curing is the wait while the concrete hardens all the way through, and a car on it too soon leaves cracks and marks that don't come out. In the rainy months we'll move a pour rather than finish it in a downpour, so leave a little room in your plans.

Usually the slab doesn't have enough fall, the slight slope that moves water off, or part of it has settled into a dip. Rain here tests that hard, since nearby West Palm Beach averages close to 62 inches a year, with June, August and September the wettest months. On a new slab we set the fall away from the house and toward the yard or street, and on an old one I'll tell you whether the dip can be fixed or that section has to come out.