Concrete Contractor in Rancho Palos Verdes - Slabs Built for Hillside Lots

Ask the city's Building & Safety Division, because it issues permits for structures that are altered, repaired, enlarged or remodeled, and its list of work that needs no permit covers small sheds and fences, not concrete. Grading such as retaining walls and slope excavation needs Planning Division approval before Building & Safety will issue a permit, and work done without one gets a Stop Work Notice and penalty fees. We go over which of this touches your job during the estimate and walk you through any step that falls to you.

Any retaining wall taller than 4 feet, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, needs a building permit and engineering calculations. A shorter wall needs both too if it holds back ground steeper than one foot of rise in six feet, carries the load of a nearby footing, or supports a driveway, pool, street or other structure. On hillside lots that covers a lot of walls, so we sort it out before we draw up the job.

No, the city permanently prohibits new residential construction in the landslide area, including home additions, though you can still replace, restore and repair what's there within its existing footprint. The rule covers every parcel in the Greater Portuguese Bend Landslide Complex, and only the part inside the boundary when the line crosses a lot. Find out whether your lot is inside before you plan anything, and I'll ask you about it at the estimate.

Your contractor needs a license from the California Contractors State License Board whenever the project needs a building permit, uses employee labor, or has contracts totaling $1,000 or more in labor and materials. Contractors working in the city also need its RPV Business License, which carries an annual tax of $396.00 for general contractors and $196.00 for subcontractors, who have to show a copy of their state license. We're fully licensed and insured, and it's fair to ask anyone you're talking to about both.

The price comes down to the size of the job, how steep the lot is and how much digging and prep the ground needs, and I put your number in writing after I've seen it. Tearing out old concrete, carrying water away from a slope, a retaining wall or engineering for a permit all add cost, while a broom finish, a light texture that gives shoes and tires grip, costs less than stamped or colored work. If you need to save, cut the finish and keep the base, because the base is buried on day one and you can't fix it later without starting over. The schedule mostly turns on permit and Planning approval when your job needs them, then the cure.

Most of the time it's the ground under the slab, either dirt that was raked level instead of dug out and packed, or water running downhill and washing out the subgrade. Control joints cut late or skipped put cracks in places nobody chose, and a slab poured in midday heat can end up with a weak, dusty top. We dig out and pack the base, plan where the water goes before we set forms and cut joints soon after the pour, so the new slab doesn't fail the way the old one did.