Concrete patio construction in Fargo ND - a slab poured when the weather is right

Most calls start with an old patio that's cracked, sunk or holding water by the door, or a yard that's never had one. The price moves with the size and shape of the slab, how much old concrete or sod has to come out, how close the truck can get and the finish you pick. The schedule depends on the forecast more than anything, so a patio planned for late fall sometimes moves to spring. If the patio comes with steps up to the door, we check with the city what that adds before anything's booked, and your written estimate lays out the scope for your yard.

A patio is simple work, so what decides how it turns out is when it goes in and how we look after it in the first days. We break out and haul off the old slab or strip the sod, dig out the area and set the forms, then pour early in the day so we're not finishing in midday heat, which can leave a weak, dusty top later. Our crew gives it a broom finish, a light texture dragged across the surface so it isn't slick when it's wet, and cuts control joints, shallow grooves that give the slab a planned place to crack in a straight line instead of across the middle. If cold weather's close, I'll tell you plainly whether to pour now or wait, and we plan the protection before the truck is called. I'd rather move a pour than rush one, because a slab that gets hurt in its first days stays that way.

If you want more than plain gray, stamped concrete presses a stone or brick pattern into the surface while it's still soft, and it costs more than a broom finish. Most patios also need a good way to reach them, so we often pour a concrete sidewalk from the driveway or side gate at the same time, which saves setting up twice.

The City of Fargo doesn't require a permit for flat work like a concrete slab you won't build on, but it does for stairs, steps and decks. That means a plain patio, a patio with steps down from the back door and a slab meant to carry a deck later aren't the same question, and what you have planned changes the answer. On each job we check with the city what it needs, and when a permit's required we handle the application and set up the inspections with you.

Drainage is mostly yours to manage here, since the city says that in most cases the property owner sees that water off the lot doesn't damage the neighbors, and it doesn't review on-site drainage when you change an existing property. That's why we look at where the water runs before we set the forms and slope the patio away from your house and not toward the yard next door, the same check we make on jobs in West Fargo and Moorhead.