A concrete slab is the flat, reinforced pad under a garage floor, a shed, a patio or a room addition, and what it costs in Marietta is set less by the concrete than by the ground beneath it. The median home here was built in 1986. That means most slabs we pour sit beside a house that settled into its lot long ago, next to driveways, walks and older surfaces that were never graded with a new slab in mind. So we price the slab you actually need: its thickness, its reinforcement, its base and its finish. Nothing comes off a chart.
Work starts on the site itself, not on paper. Ground around Marietta can rise and fall 199 feet within a few miles, and it changes from one block to the next, so every property gets graded and tested on its own before a form goes down. The dominant soil is well drained, but the dominant soil and the soil in your yard are not always the same thing, and a test tells us what we are pouring on. From there the order is simple: excavate, compact a gravel base, set forms, place reinforcement, pour, finish and cure. We handle the permit where the project calls for one.
Most failed slabs were not poured badly on the day. They were set on soft fill, run too thin, or built with nowhere for water to go. Marietta gets about 59 inches of rain a year, and water that pools against a slab or runs under its edge will find every weak spot in the base. Doing it right costs more at the start: deeper excavation, more base material, proper slope, and reinforcement sized to the load the slab will carry. It costs far less than breaking out cracked concrete and paying for the same slab twice. Call for a free estimate.
What you pay for is mostly what sits under the surface. We strip the sod and topsoil, grade the site, and compact a crushed stone base before any forms go up. Then comes reinforcement (rebar on a grid, set on chairs so it lands in the middle of the slab, not the bottom), the pour, the finish, and control joints cut so the concrete cracks where we choose. Cobb County is hilly, so grading a sloped lot is often the biggest variable. We handle the permit.
A driveway carries more weight than a patio, so the base gets more attention. We break out the old surface, haul it off, and set forms that pitch water away from the garage and toward the street. About 59 inches of rain falls here in a year, and a driveway without proper slope sends it toward your foundation. Reinforcement goes in, then a broom finish for traction. Stamped or decorative borders are an option. Expansion joints go where the slab meets the garage and the sidewalk.
Interior slabs (basements, garages, shop floors) need a vapor barrier underneath, or moisture wicks up through the concrete and lifts whatever flooring goes on top. We lay the barrier over a compacted base, place reinforcement, and pour. The finish depends on the use: a hard steel trowel for a garage or a floor that will be polished, a flatter, smoother surface if tile or vinyl goes down later. The median home in Marietta was built in 1986, and an older floor sometimes has to come out before the new one goes in.
Before we price a repair, we find out why the slab failed. A hairline shrinkage crack is cosmetic. A slab that has sunk or tilted usually means the base washed out or was never compacted, and patching the surface without fixing that only buys time. Small cracks get routed and sealed. Settled sections can sometimes be lifted; badly broken ones get cut out and replaced, with dowels tying new concrete to old. Soil varies across the county, so we test the ground before deciding which fix fits.
Most slabs we pour in Marietta fall into three groups: plain broom-finish concrete, stamped or colored decorative work, and exposed aggregate. Broom finish is the workhorse. It gives a driveway or garage floor a light texture that holds traction in wet weather, and with about 59 inches of rain a year, that matters more than people expect. Stamped concrete presses a pattern into the surface while it is still workable, so a patio can read as slate, brick or stone. Exposed aggregate washes back the top layer to show the stone underneath. All three sit on the same prepared base.
Underneath the finish, the choice that carries the weight is reinforcement. For a walkway or a small patio, fiber mixed into the concrete or welded wire mesh is often enough. Driveways, slabs that take a vehicle, and anything supporting a structure usually get rebar set on chairs, so the steel sits inside the slab instead of lying on the dirt. Thickness follows the same logic. We look at what the slab will carry, then at the ground itself. Cobb County is hilly and changes from one lot to the next, so every site is graded and tested before we settle on a design.
Trouble usually starts when the finish gets picked before the base. A stamped patio poured over soft fill will crack along its pattern lines no matter how clean the stamping was. Decorative work also asks more of the day: color, release agent and pattern all go on in a short window, and a hot afternoon shortens it further. Sealer is part of the job on stamped and colored surfaces, and it needs renewing over the years to keep the color from going flat. Plain concrete forgives more. We say plainly which option suits the property, including when the simpler slab is the better one.
Two slabs the same size can come in far apart on price, and the difference is usually in the ground and the access, not the concrete. Cobb County is hilly, with 199 feet of local relief within a few miles, and the soil changes from one lot to the next. So we walk the property and test the site before we put a number on anything. These are the things that move it.
| What changes the price | Which way | Why |
|---|---|---|
| An old slab, patio or pavers where the new one goes | costs more | It has to be broken out, loaded and hauled off before we set a single form. With the median home here built in 1986, the old concrete is often the original pour. |
| Roots, stumps or buried debris | costs more | Organic material rots and settles, so it comes out and gets replaced with compacted base. |
| Slope across the pad | costs more | More grading, deeper forms on the low side, and sometimes a step or a short retaining edge. |
| A truck can back right up to the forms | costs less | Concrete goes straight down the chute. A narrow side yard or a fence in the way means a pump or wheelbarrows. |
| The slab will carry a vehicle, trailer or shop equipment | costs more | It calls for a thicker section and heavier reinforcement than a patio or walkway. |
| Water pools where the slab will sit | costs more | With about 59 inches of rain a year, we add base, set the grade to shed water, or put in drainage before we pour. |
| Stamped or decorative finish | costs more | Color, release agent, sealer, and more hands on the slab while it is still workable. |
Comparing bids, put them side by side on the same points: slab thickness, the type and spacing of reinforcement, base depth and compaction, who removes the old material, whether the permit is included, and how the surface is finished and sealed. A lower number often leaves one of those out. Ask every contractor to write each one down, then call us for a free estimate on the same terms.
Most of the price comes from the site, not the slab. Size and thickness set how much concrete arrives on the truck, but grading, access, and anything that has to be torn out first often move the total further. Cobb County is hilly and changes from block to block, so a flat back yard and a sloped one can price very differently for the same footprint. Walking the property and measuring it is what produces an honest figure.
Residential slabs (a shed pad, a patio base, a garage floor) all come down to the same few things: square footage, thickness, reinforcement, and prep. Rebar or wire mesh adds material and labor, but it holds a slab together as the ground shifts beneath it. The median Marietta home was built in 1986, so plenty of jobs start with breaking out and hauling off an old slab before anything new goes down. Call for a free estimate.
Height drives most of it. A short wall edging a garden bed is a modest job. A taller wall holding back a driveway cut is structural work, with a footing, drainage behind it, and often a permit, which we handle. With about 59 inches of rain a year, drainage is not optional: water trapped behind a wall is what pushes it over. Length, finish, and how easily equipment can reach the spot account for the rest.
Plain broom-finished concrete is the most economical pool deck, while stamped or decorative work adds labor, sealer, and time. Every pool deck needs a slip-resistant surface, a slope that carries water away from the pool, and control joints placed so any cracking lands where it should. Pouring around an existing pool, with coping and plumbing in the way, takes more care than pouring beside a new one. The layout decides a lot.
Curbing is measured by the linear foot rather than the square foot, so the length of your beds and walkways sets most of the cost. Profile and color come next: a simple extruded edge goes in faster than a stamped or tinted one. Tight curves take more hand work than long straight runs. It is one of the smaller jobs we do, and it often goes in alongside a new driveway or patio so the whole property finishes together.
The number firms up once the ground has been looked at. We grade and test each site before work starts, because soil across Cobb County is mostly well drained but not uniform, and a soft spot found early costs far less than a cracked slab later. Know roughly how big the slab is and what it will carry, and that is enough to start. Call Marietta Professional Concrete for a free estimate on your project.