Concrete Contractor in Long Beach - Slabs That Shed Rain Away From the House

You may, and the city's Development Permit Center is the office that issues building permits for work on private property here. The city says most construction on a home needs permits and inspections, including replacements and repairs, though the building official can decide some minor work is exempt. Homes in historic districts and coastal zones can face extra requirements under the city's zoning rules, so tell me if yours is in one.

You apply to the Development Permit Center as the owner, which the city allows for construction, alteration or repair on your own house and accessory buildings when you live there or will. Another city page limits these owner permits to certain kinds of dwellings, so ask the permit center whether yours qualifies. When we do the work, the city issues the permit to a licensed contractor, and where a step falls to you as the owner, I walk you through it.

The state's Contractors State License Board requires a license when a project needs a building permit, uses any other workers, or when one or more contracts on it add up to $1,000 or more in labor and materials. Long Beach also requires anyone doing business in the city to hold a city business license, and it issues permits only to contractors with both the state license and an active Long Beach business license. We're fully licensed and insured, and it's fair to ask every contractor you're comparing to show you theirs.

A Long Beach driveway's price mostly follows its size and thickness and how much digging and base work it needs, and you get the figure for yours in a written estimate after I've seen it. The finish matters too, since a plain brushed surface costs less than stamped or colored concrete. If the bin for the old concrete has to sit in the street or on the sidewalk, the city requires a Public Works permit for it, while a bin on your own property doesn't need one.

Most of it starts underneath, when a slab goes down on raked dirt instead of soil that was dug out and packed, so the ground settles and the concrete follows. Joints cut late or skipped, pours done in midday heat that leave a weak, dusty top, and slabs that fall toward the house add their share. If a budget has to give, I'd rather you trim the finish than the base, because the base is hidden on day one but it decides whether you're calling someone about cracks a few years from now.

Not always, since the city exempts a retaining wall or planter box no more than 4 feet tall, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, from a building permit. That exemption doesn't cover a wall holding back sloping ground or extra load on the soil behind it, a wall holding flammable liquids, or a wall of any height on ground steeper than one foot of rise for every five feet across. I measure the height and the slope with you at the estimate so you know which side of that line your wall falls on.