Most of our calls from Hermosa Beach are for homes: driveways, front walks and steps, small backyard patios, garage floors and pool decks. We're based in Palos Verdes Estates and work in the cities around it, so Hermosa Beach is on the same run as Manhattan Beach to the north and Redondo Beach to the south. Houses here sit close together, and a lot of the slabs we look at are older ones that have cracked or settled and need to come out before anything new goes in.
The ground under those houses matters as much as the houses do. The city notes that in some areas the groundwater sits six to 15 feet down, with several underground streams running toward the ocean, so I check where water runs on your lot before we set a form, and we slope the slab away from your house.
Getting concrete onto a tight lot
A lot of Hermosa Beach houses sit close to the neighbors, with narrow side yards and garages off the street or the alley, so the first thing I look at is how concrete gets from the truck to your forms. Sometimes the truck backs right up, and sometimes we wheel it in or bring a pump, and that choice moves the price. We also plan where the old slab comes out and where the base rock gets dropped, and we cover the neighbor's walk and plants, because on a tight lot the staging is half the job.
Permits and paperwork with the city
Building permits here come from the city's Building and Safety Division, which checks the plans before it issues one and handles demolition permits too. Whether your driveway or patio needs a permit is worth asking that office, and when a job does need one, we take care of it and set up the inspections. The division also lists a geotechnical report, a report on the soil, among the city's own requirements and asks applicants for it before construction starts, which can add time. Business licenses come through the city's Revenue Services Division and are good for one year, so a current one is fair to ask about.
What moves the price and the schedule
Price mostly comes down to how big and thick the slab is, how much old concrete comes out, how much digging the base needs, how easy the site is to reach and the finish, since a broom finish, the light texture that gives shoes and tires grip, runs less than stamped or colored work. If the budget gets tight, I'd have you pick a plainer finish before thinning the base, because the base keeps a slab from sinking and you can't fix it later without tearing it out. The schedule turns on permit review, if your job needs one, and on curing, the wait while concrete hardens enough for feet and then cars. For your own numbers, I come out and write the estimate myself.