Home / Concrete & Flatwork / Los Angeles
Who we recommend, what it should cost, and what to ask before you book.
Owner-run crew across the City of Los Angeles plus Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, Santa Monica, Long Beach and Torrance, with a written scope before forming and a warranty that names the remedy.
Visit LA Concrete Contractors CoDisclosure: the crews recommended on this page are part of Trusted Local Network — we have a commercial interest in them, and you should weigh that. Nobody pays for placement, and the pricing and hiring advice here is the same advice we would give about any crew.
Three things decide how a Los Angeles concrete job actually goes, and none of them appear in a per-yard price. First, money: California's home-improvement rules cap the down payment at $1,000 or ten percent of the contract price, whichever is less, so a crew asking for half up front has told you something before you check anything else. Pay against milestones instead - demolition done, forms and steel set, pour complete - and ask for an unconditional lien release when you settle the final invoice, because an unpaid supplier or sub can record a claim against your property even though you paid the contractor in full. Second, access: ready-mix has to physically reach the forms. On the hillside streets north of downtown, or a Westside lot with no alley, that means a pump or a conveyor line, and it belongs on the bid from the site visit rather than appearing on pour day. Third, the calendar: forming, any inspection hold, the pour and the wait before vehicles usually spans the better part of two weeks, so decide where the cars live before demolition starts.
Flatwork here is priced by the square foot, and the spread is wide because demolition, access and reinforcement move the number far more than the mix does. A plain broom-finish driveway or patio generally lands around $8 to $18 per square foot, with stamped, colored and decorative finishes roughly $15 to $28. Tearing out and hauling away an existing slab is usually quoted separately and charged by weight rather than area. Structural work - footings, a garage or ADU slab, a retaining wall - is not comparable to flatwork at all, because it carries engineering, permit and inspection costs; ask for those as their own lines instead of folded into a square-foot rate.
Under California's home-improvement rules the down payment on a residential contract cannot exceed $1,000 or ten percent of the contract price, whichever is less. After that, pay against milestones - demolition, forms and steel, pour - and get an unconditional lien release with the final payment so an unpaid sub cannot come back at your property.
Plan on roughly a day or two before foot traffic and about a week before vehicles, on top of the forming and pour schedule. In the dry Southern California heat the slab has to be kept damp or covered while it cures - concrete that dries instead of curing is weaker at the surface - so a crew that leaves after the finish trowel and never comes back has skipped part of the job.
Often not directly. Steep grades, narrow streets and no alley access are normal in the hillside neighborhoods, and the answer is usually a pump or a conveyor line. That should be priced at the site visit, not discovered on pour day, so ask any bidder how the concrete is physically getting to the forms.