Concrete Contractor in Longview, TX - Driveways and Slabs Built to Drain

Building permits in Longview go through the city's Development Services department, which is also the place to ask whether your job needs one. When you hire us, we handle the application and the inspections for our work. If you'd rather pull a homestead exempt permit yourself as the homeowner, you contact the department in person or by phone, and we'll tell you what we need from it. Either way, the city takes payment before a permit goes in for review.

Contractors that the city's code lists or the State of Texas regulates have to register with Development Services before they apply for a permit or start work, and they renew every year. We register with the cities that ask contractors to, and we're fully licensed and insured. Plumbing in a new slab is a separate trade, and Longview registers a master plumber only with a current Texas license and the state's required insurance.

Longview builds to the International Codes the city has adopted, and it lists the International Residential Code, the one that covers house slabs and foundations, under proposed amendments. Since amendments can change the details, the city's Building Inspection staff will go over code requirements with homeowners and builders before a permit is issued. We build to what their inspector checks.

Check the city's interactive FEMA flood plain map, which shows Longview's floodplain and floodway areas and marks properties that already had flood mitigation determinations. You'll find it through the city's Floodplain Administrator, who reviews and inspects all construction in or next to a floodplain. If your lot is in one, tell us early, because that review becomes part of the job.

Your price comes from the size of the driveway, how much old concrete and dirt we haul off, how much base work it needs and the finish you choose, so we price it after I've seen it. A broom finish, the light brushed texture that gives shoes and tires some grip, costs less than stamping or color, and rebar, the steel that holds the slab together if it cracks, adds some too. If the budget's tight, cut the fancy finish before the base, because nobody sees the base on day one and everybody sees it sink later.

Usually the ground under them moved, or the cracks had no planned place to go. Sinking mostly starts with the loose, unpacked base we mentioned above, and water running under the slab finishes the job. Cracks land in random spots when control joints are cut late or skipped, and a slab poured in midday heat can end up with a weak, dusty top. All concrete cracks a little, so our job is to give it a straight line to do it in.