We pour and finish concrete for homes and businesses across Marietta: driveways, patios, walkways, slabs, and the structural work underneath them. The median house here was built in 1986, so a good share of the original driveways and patios have been carrying cars and weather for decades. Some only need a new surface. Others have settled, cracked clean through, or lost the base beneath them, and patching that kind of damage doesn't hold for long. We look at the whole slab before telling you which one you have. Commercial work runs the same way, whether it's a lot behind a storefront or a walk near Marietta Square.
Every job starts with the ground itself. The land here is hilly, with 199 feet of local relief within a few miles, and the grade changes from block to block, so we shoot the slope and test the soil on each site before we set a form. That tells us how much base to bring in, where the water needs to go, and what reinforcement the slab calls for. With about 59 inches of rain a year, drainage is never an afterthought. Where a permit is needed, we handle the permit. Then we pour, finish, and cure the concrete the way the conditions call for, and we don't rush a slab to beat the weather. Call for a free estimate.
What sets the cost of a slab is mostly the work that happens before the pour. Cobb County is hilly, so many lots need cut, fill and compaction before forms go down, and that changes from one yard to the next. Thickness matters, and so does reinforcement: wire mesh for a light patio, rebar set on chairs for anything carrying weight. Truck access counts too. We walk the site, test the ground, and price that slab on its own terms.
A driveway takes more abuse than any other flatwork on the property. We dig out the old surface, compact a crushed stone base, set forms to a slope that sheds water away from the garage, and tie rebar through the slab. With about 59 inches of rain a year here, drainage gets as much attention as the concrete. Control joints are cut early so any cracking follows lines we chose. Broom finish is standard. Stamped and exposed aggregate are options.
Basements, garages, shops and commercial floors each get a slab built for the load it will carry. Indoors, we lay a vapor barrier over the compacted base so ground moisture stays out of whatever finish goes on top. The surface is power troweled smooth and dense, which matters if it will be sealed, stained or polished. Garage floors get a slight pitch toward the door. Curing is slow on purpose. A floor that dries too fast curls at the edges and dusts for years.
The median home in Marietta dates to 1986, and plenty of the concrete around town is that old or older. It shows: settled walkways, sections heaved by roots, surfaces spalled from water sitting on them. We find the cause first. If the base has washed out, patching the top only hides it for a season. Small cracks get routed and sealed. Sunken sections can often be lifted. Anything broken through gets cut out, the base rebuilt, and new concrete doweled into the old.
We start with the ground, not the forms. Cobb County is hilly, and the grade can change from one block to the next, so every site gets graded and tested on its own before any concrete is ordered. The soil here is mostly well-drained Gwinnett soil, but it varies across the county, and we check what is actually under your property instead of assuming. That tells us how deep to dig, how much base to lay, and what reinforcement the slab needs. A driveway poured on guesswork looks fine for a season. Then it settles.
Water is the other thing we plan around. Marietta gets about 59 inches of rain a year, and a patio or driveway that sheds it the wrong way sends it toward your foundation or leaves it standing on the surface. We set the pitch before we pour and hold it through finishing, including on stamped and decorative work. The typical house here was built around 1986, so plenty of jobs begin with breaking out an old slab. We look at why it failed first. Then we build the new one so it does not fail the same way.
Most of what we pour falls into a few families. Broom-finished concrete is the workhorse: driveways, walkways, garage slabs and the plain surfaces that need grip more than looks. Stamped concrete takes a pattern (slate, flagstone, brick, wood plank) pressed into the surface while it is still workable, then colored and sealed, and it suits patios and pool decks where people spend their time. Exposed aggregate washes back the top layer to show the stone underneath. Structural work, like footings, foundation slabs and retaining wall bases, is its own category, with the reinforcement sized to the load. Commercial slabs and sidewalks follow the same logic at a larger scale.
The right choice depends on the property more than the catalog. With the median home here built in 1986, plenty of the driveways we look at have been down a long time, and replacing one is a good moment to widen it or add a stamped border. Cobb County is hilly, so a steep driveway gets a coarser broom finish for traction instead of a smooth decorative one. About 59 inches of rain falls here a year. That means every patio and slab is pitched to carry water away from the foundation. We grade and test each site before settling on a finish, and the options narrow quickly once we know what the ground will allow.
We price every job after walking the property, because the cost depends on what we find there more than on square footage alone. Most of it sits in work nobody sees once the concrete cures. These are the things that move it, and you can check most of them yourself before anyone comes out.
| What changes the price | Which way | Why |
|---|---|---|
| An old slab, asphalt or pavers still in place | costs more | Breaking it out, loading it and hauling it away comes before any new concrete goes down. With a median build year of 1986, many properties here already have something to remove. |
| How a mixer truck reaches the pour | costs more if blocked | When a truck cannot back up to the forms, we pump the concrete or move it by buggy, which adds equipment and hours. |
| Slope across the work area | costs more on steep ground | Cobb County has about 199 ft of local relief within a few miles, and a sloped site needs more grading and forming before the slab can sit level. |
| Thickness and reinforcement | costs more for heavier loads | A driveway that carries a truck needs more depth and more steel than a garden path or patio. |
| Where water goes after it hits the surface | costs more if it pools | At about 59 inches of rain a year, the slab has to shed water away from the house, sometimes with a drain or regraded edge. |
| Roots, soft fill or buried debris in the base | costs more | We test every site before work starts, and anything unstable gets dug out and replaced with compacted base. |
| Stamped or decorative finish | costs more | Pattern, color and sealing add labor and time on the day of the pour. |
Compare competing bids line by line, not total against total. Each one should state the slab thickness, the reinforcement (rebar or wire mesh, and its spacing), and how deep the compacted base goes. Check who removes and hauls the old surface, whether the permit is included, and where the control joints will be cut. A bid that comes in lower because it leaves one of those out is not cheaper. It is a different job.
Yes. We handle the permit, book the inspections the job calls for, and build to the code that applies to the work in front of us. That covers the paperwork before any digging starts and the checks while forms and reinforcement are still exposed. You don't need to chase anyone down or learn the rules yourself. If a project needs no permit at all, we say so plainly.
Size, thickness, reinforcement, finish and site access set most of the number, and the ground under the slab can move it further. Marietta sits in hilly country, with 199 feet of local relief within a few miles, so grading changes from one lot to the next. We walk the property, test the site, measure, and look at drainage before writing anything down. The estimate lists each part of the work separately, so you can see where the money goes.
Ask for proof on paper from any contractor you are thinking of hiring. A license and a certificate of insurance should carry the company's exact name and current dates, and both are worth checking with the issuer directly rather than taking a quote's word for it. That takes a few minutes. It is the simplest protection a homeowner has before anyone backs a truck onto the property.
That depends on the wall: its height, what it holds back, and how close it sits to a structure, a slope or a property line. A short garden border and a structural wall supporting a driveway are very different projects on paper. We look at the site, work out what the wall has to do, and handle the permit that fits it. Drainage behind the wall gets planned at the same stage, because it matters as much as the wall.
No, Marietta is not the only place we work. We take residential and commercial projects across the surrounding part of metro Atlanta, including Kennesaw, and every job gets the same crew, the same materials and the same process. Driveways, patios, slabs and decorative surfaces are all on the table wherever the property is. Give us the address when you call for a free estimate.
Each of those three covers something different, so read them as three separate documents. A license speaks to who may do the work, insurance to damage and injury during it, and a bond to whether the job gets finished as agreed. Request all three in writing before any concrete is scheduled, from whoever you hire, and confirm each one independently. A single line on a quote is not enough.