What to Expect: The Concrete Work Process

The sequence of the work

Before the truck arrives, we set concrete forms and stakes to lock in the dimensions. Then we place and align reinforcing steel, or whatever reinforcement the job specifies, on the prepared base. Next the concrete goes in near its final position, and we consolidate it around the forms and the steel so air pockets don't end up as weak spots in the slab. Last, we screed it with a straightedge to cut off the excess and bring the slab to grade. Finishing starts from there.

Next read: concrete repair and restoration. Hiring for a concrete contractor in Lakeland? Start with our home page.

How we calculate the cost

We price by the square foot and apply the rate for the finish you want. Polished concrete floors run $1.80 to $14.50 per square foot, a wide spread because the condition of the existing slab changes the work. Exposed aggregate runs $7 to $11 per square foot. Tell us the finish and the approximate square footage, and we'll quote a typical range during the call. Once we've walked the site, we set the final figure, and the layout and the base underneath decide where in that range it lands.

How long the work takes

Lakeland has a pronounced summer wet season, and heavy rain can hold up earthwork and subgrade preparation. We wait for the ground to firm up rather than build a slab on a soft base. A full driveway runs in stages: forms, steel, pour, screed, finish. We schedule the mix delivery so the concrete isn't sitting in the truck while the forms are still being adjusted.

Scope of the service and permits

This work needs forms and stakes, reinforcement placed where it belongs, and a crew that can consolidate and screed a pour before it sets. That is the equipment and labor we bring, for flatwork from patios and driveways to garage floors. Driveways are on the city's list of work that requires a permit in Lakeland, and the city works under the Florida Building Code, Eighth Edition (2023). We build to that code and plan the permit into the schedule. The median home here went up in 1981, so many slabs have decades of settling and wear on them. Before we recommend a patch or a replacement, we check the base and look at where the water drains.

Heat, seasons, and the ground underneath

Lakeland's January average low is 52.8 °F and its July average high is 91.0 °F, a swing of about 38 °F. That range affects how fast concrete sets and when we choose to pour. The local soils formed in altered marine deposits, and that geology is what moves under area foundations. It is the reason we put reinforcement in the slab and don't pour plain concrete on a prepared base and hope.