Questions Palm Bay homeowners ask about concrete
Licensing, permits, prices, thickness, steel, swales, GO Roads, weather, cure times, cracks, HOAs and financing — the answers we give on the phone every day.
Are you licensed and insured?
Yes. Our crews carry general liability and workers' compensation, the certificate of insurance is available before you sign, and we're registered with Palm Bay Public Works and the Building Division for the permits the work needs. Ask any concrete contractor for a certificate naming both coverages before a truck backs up your driveway.
Do I need a permit for concrete work in Palm Bay?
It depends on what and where. Anything in the road right-of-way or an easement — a driveway apron, a culvert, a public sidewalk panel, the swale itself — needs the Public Works Driveway and Lot Drainage permit under Code § 176.020, with a pre-pour (7000) and a final (7010) inspection. Anything structural — a shed, an addition slab, a screen room, a pool deck tied to a pool permit — goes through the Building Division under the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition. An at-grade patio or walk on your own lot is generally neither. We confirm with the city before every job and pull the permit when one applies.
How much does a concrete driveway cost?
For a typical two-car driveway of 500–650 square feet in 2026: $4,800–$8,200 new, $6,200–$10,500 as a tear-out and replacement, plus $2,400–$5,200 for an apron across the swale with a culvert pipe and mitered ends. Stamped or colored work, a boat-side extension and a long run on a Compound lot add to it. Written, itemized, good for 30 days.
Do you charge for estimates?
No. The on-site measurement, the look at the drainage and the written price are free. If an engineer's drawing is needed for a structural slab, that's a real cost and it's itemized.
Do you require a deposit?
Not until you've approved the written price and we've scheduled the work. A deposit covers materials when the truck is ordered; the balance is due when you've walked the finished slab with us.
How thick should a driveway be?
Four inches of 3,000 psi concrete with fiber and welded wire on compacted sand for the driveway; five to six inches with rebar at the apron and under boat, RV and generator pads. What's under the slab — a compacted base above the wet-season grade — matters more than an extra inch on top.
Wire mesh, rebar or fiber?
Fiber in the mix plus welded wire on chairs for four-inch slabs; rebar on a grid for anything five inches and up, the apron, and pads that carry point loads. Fiber alone at four inches on Palm Bay sand is not enough.
Why do slabs sink at the street in Palm Bay?
The swale. Palm Bay's GDC grid drains every street through a roadside swale to the canals, and your apron crosses it on a culvert. When the pipe ends silt up or the swale erodes, water runs under the apron and washes the sand out. A sunken apron is a drainage repair and a concrete repair together, and it's in the right-of-way, so it's permitted through Public Works.
My street was rebuilt under GO Roads. Why doesn't my driveway meet it?
Because the road grade and the swale profile changed. The city rebuilt the road and the swale; the apron that has to meet the new grade is usually the homeowner's, and it needs the Public Works permit. We pour aprons to the new grade every week. See the GO Roads guide.
Can you pour in the rain or the summer heat?
We pour at first light in summer to beat the heat and the afternoon storm, use a retarder when the day is going to be hot, and don't pour into standing water or an active downpour. A pour gets moved a day rather than poured badly.
How long before I can use it?
Foot traffic after 24–48 hours, cars after seven days, the boat or RV after fourteen, furniture on a patio after a week. Sealing happens after about 28 days of cure and we come back to do it.
Will it crack?
All concrete cracks; the job is to control where. Control joints on a grid no wider than ten feet, a compacted base, steel in the middle of the slab and edges that don't get washed out keep cracks in the joints where you can't see them. A crack across a field is a base problem, and we don't build those.
Do you work with HOAs?
Yes. Bayside Lakes, the SW communities, West Melbourne's subdivisions, Viera, Suntree and the beachside associations all have architectural review, and we prepare the submittal — drawing, finish samples, color — before we schedule. We also bid association work as line-item proposals.
Do you offer financing?
Yes — 12-month same-as-cash and longer fixed-rate plans through a third-party lender, subject to credit approval. Ask when you get your estimate. See the financing page.