Questions Olathe homeowners ask us
Insurance, permits, prices, the production driveway, foam lifting, clay, ice melt and sidewalks: the short answers. Anything we missed, call and ask.
Are you licensed and insured?
Insured, yes: general liability and workers' compensation, with the certificate available before the truck comes. Licensed is a different question here: Kansas has no statewide contractor license, and Johnson County's program issues no license class for concrete flatwork. Where a city requires its own license, as Prairie Village does for permitted work, we hold it, and right-of-way work is done under each city's permit, bond and inspection.
Do I need a permit for a driveway?
Not for the slab on your lot in most cases. Yes, from the City of Olathe, for anything in the right-of-way: the driveway approach, a curb cut or the public sidewalk. The permit is $50 per adjacent parcel, fees double if work starts without it, and the City inspects before the pour. Your HOA may also want to approve it.
How much does a driveway cost?
About $8 to $12 per square foot, reinforced and air-entrained on a compacted base, so a 24-by-40 two-car driveway is roughly $7,700 to $11,500, plus $1.50 to $2.50 a square foot to tear out the old one. The approach in the City right-of-way is priced separately.
Do you charge for estimates?
No. An estimator measures the job, probes the ground where it matters, checks the plat and the drainage, and leaves a written price good for 30 days.
Do you require a deposit?
Not until you've approved the written price and we've scheduled the work. Flatwork is paid on completion; building slabs may be staged at the inspections.
Why is my 2000s driveway scaling and cracking?
Most production driveways went in thin, often on uncompacted backfill at the garage, and not always with air-entrained concrete. Add dozens of freeze-thaw cycles a winter, road salt dripping off the cars and clay that swells and shrinks under it, and the surface flakes and the panels move. A replacement gets the base, the steel and the right mix.
Can you fix a sunken slab without replacing it?
If the concrete is sound, yes. Polyurethane foam lifting raises a sunk garage apron, walk or stoop in a morning, and you can drive on it the same day. If it's broken into pieces or scaled to the stone, replacement is better money.
What is the soil like under my yard?
Clay, mostly: it swells when it's wet and shrinks when it dries, and the Kansas Geological Survey calls expansive soil a more widespread problem in Kansas than landslides. That's why a slab needs a compacted, drained base and why water has to be kept away from its edges.
What ice melt is safe?
None in the first winter; use sand. After that, a little plain rock salt on a sealed slab, hosed off when you can. Never ammonium nitrate or ammonium sulfate, which attack concrete chemically.
Who fixes the sidewalk in front of my house?
The public sidewalk is City right-of-way, and any work on it needs the City's permit and pre-pour inspection. If the City has asked you to replace a panel, bring the letter and we'll price exactly what it asks for.
Where does the old concrete go?
To a recycler that crushes it into base wherever one will take it. That's usually cheaper than a landfill.
How soon can I use new concrete?
Walk on it the next day, drive cars on it after about seven days, and wait two to four weeks for trucks and campers. Foam-lifted slabs are usable the same day.
Do you serve Overland Park, Lenexa and Shawnee?
Yes, and Gardner, Edgerton, Spring Hill, Leawood, De Soto, Prairie Village, Mission and all of Olathe. Each city has its own right-of-way rules, and a couple have their own contractor licenses, so we check whose approval your job needs.
Do you really answer at night?
Yes, 24 hours a day, every day. An estimator calls back the next business morning.