Concrete driveway building in Delray Beach FL - a slab built on a well-packed base

A plain broom-finished concrete driveway in Florida usually costs about $7 to $10 per square foot installed, and that's the going rate in the market, not our price. Where yours lands comes down to the choices above, like tear-out, base work, thickness, steel and finish. I'll look at it in person and give you the estimate in writing.

It should match the heaviest thing that will sit on it, and going from 4 inches to 5 buys a lot of strength for a little more concrete. Industry guidance puts that extra inch at about 20% more concrete cost for nearly 50% more load-carrying capacity. We'll talk through thickness and steel with you based on what's going to park and drive on it.

Plan on at least a week before anyone drives on it, because the concrete needs that long to cure, the stretch where it hardens and gains strength. You can usually walk on it sooner, and I'll tell you when on pour day. Line up somewhere else to park for that week.

The Delray Beach Building Division handles permits and inspections for construction work in the city, and it keeps a driveway checklist for permit submittals. A contractor has to be registered with the city and keep a current license on file before submitting a permit, and Palm Beach County requires its contractors to be certified and insured, so it's fair to ask anyone you're weighing about both. We're licensed and insured, and when your job needs a permit we handle the filing and the inspections and tell you at the estimate if we need a survey or your parcel number.

Most cracks come from a base that settles unevenly, joints cut late or skipped, or a top that dried too fast during a hot pour. Control joints, the grooves cut into the slab, give the concrete a straight line to crack along, and the random cracks you get without them are usually a looks problem rather than a structural one. On a hot day, it's worth asking any crew how they keep the surface from drying faster than water rises to it, us included.

You'll want steel if the driveway carries heavy traffic, because rebar, the steel bars set inside the slab, adds strength where the load is. It won't stop cracks, but it helps hold them together so they don't open up. We settle how much it needs when we talk about thickness.