Our own crew pours driveways, patios, walks, steps and stamped work for homes in Woodland. I've run Form & Pour out of Vacaville since 2013, and I still run each job myself.
(707) 514-3389
Most of Woodland sits on flat ground, and that's the first thing I look at on a driveway or patio here, because water won't run off a slab on its own unless we set it to. Summers are long, hot and sunny, and winters bring most of the year's rain. Both show up in the old concrete we tear out, as pooling spots, sunken corners and tops worn down to the stone.
Around the historic downtown, a lot of the houses go back to the late 1800s and early 1900s, so we often work around old steps, narrow walks and foundations built the way they did it then. In the newer neighborhoods the calls run more to wide driveways, back patios and garage floors, much like the work we do in Davis.
We reply within one business day, whether you send this form or call (707) 514-3389. I come out to your Woodland address myself to look at the ground and measure, and the estimate is free, done on site, with no pressure and no obligation. You get it in writing, with the work spelled out line by line.
(707) 514-3389Most of our Woodland calls are for driveways, patios, walks and steps, and on these flat lots each one starts with setting the slab so water runs away from the house. We also pour stamped and decorative concrete, garage floors and retaining walls. Where an older house near downtown needs footings or new foundation work for an addition or repair, we handle foundation installation with the same crew.
Permits in Woodland come from the city's Building Division, part of the Community Development Department. Driveway work is on its list of jobs that need a permit and inspections, so a new driveway's schedule includes both. When your job needs a permit, we handle the application and set up the inspections, and I check your address with the division instead of guessing. The Community Development Department also issues and renews business licenses in Woodland, so it's fair to ask any contractor you're weighing whether they hold one.
What moves the price here is mostly the part you can't see later: how much old concrete we break out and haul off, how deep we dig out and pack the subgrade, which is the ground the slab sits on, how thick the slab is and whether it gets rebar, the steel that holds it together if it cracks. The finish matters too, since a plain broom finish, the light texture that keeps a slab from getting slick, costs less than stamped work. The schedule turns on a driveway's permit, the weather and curing, the days a new slab sits before you use it so it can gain strength. We're a concrete contractor based in Vacaville, CA, and I drive over to measure your job and put your own numbers in a written estimate.
I come out to every job myself to measure and to look at where the water goes and what's under the old slab. The estimate lists the work line by line, so you can see what the base, the concrete and the finish each involve before you sign.
The base is buried on day one, which makes it the easy thing to cut when a budget gets tight. I'd rather drop a stamped border than skimp on digging out and packing the ground, because a slab poured on raked dirt settles right along with it.
Control joints are the grooves we cut so the concrete cracks along a straight line we chose, not across the middle of your patio. We cut them on time, because a late or skipped joint is how a new slab ends up cracked in places nobody picked.
We're licensed and insured, our own crew does the work, and I run each job myself instead of handing it off. Satisfaction guaranteed on every job. Call (707) 514-3389 or send the form above to set up a time for me to come look.
Flat concrete work other than driveways is on the exempt list in the city's guide to work that requires a permit. Retaining walls under three feet tall are on it too, as long as they sit at least three feet from the property line and other structures. A patio more than 30 inches above the surrounding grade does need a permit, and zoning rules such as setbacks and lot coverage can still apply when a permit doesn't. The city suggests calling Building Division staff at 530-661-5820 while you plan, and I check every address with them before we price it.
I can't give you an honest number until I've seen the driveway, because the cost comes from your lot, not a chart. Beyond the size and finish, the big swings are tear-out and base work, plus the permit and inspections a driveway needs here. Your estimate lists each of those line by line, so if a lower bid comes in you can see whether the base is what got trimmed.
Start with a walk-through, where I look at how the ground falls, what's under the old concrete and how you use the space. From there we settle the size, thickness and finish, I check whether your address needs a permit, and you get a written estimate. Once you sign, we pull any permit and set a pour date around the weather.
You can walk on a new slab well before you can drive on it, and I give you both dates on pour day, because the weather and the mix change them. Putting weight on it while it's still curing is how edges chip and surfaces crack early. On a hot Woodland week we keep the slab damp so it doesn't dry out before it's ready.
Concrete shrinks as it dries, so most slabs crack somewhere, and I'd rather tell you that now than after the pour. What we control is where and how much, with a dug-out, packed base so the slab doesn't settle, rebar where the job calls for it, and joints cut on time so the cracks follow lines we chose. The old slabs we pull out usually cracked worst where the base was only raked level or water sat against an edge.
Set the slab to fall away from the house toward somewhere the water can go, and settle that before any forms go in. Woodland is largely flat and gets about 20.7 inches of rain a year on average, about 89% of it between November and April, so a slab with no planned fall holds puddles all winter. I walk the lot to see where water runs now, and we set the grade so the new concrete never sends it toward your foundation.
Construction in Woodland is allowed from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays and holidays, with any exceptions approved by the city's Building Official. Summer temperatures here average in the mid- to upper 90s, so we use that early start to pour before the heat, because a slab finished in hot midday sun can end up with a weak, dusty top.
