Concrete Contractors in Tucson, AZ

Elite Concrete Contractors Tucson builds and repairs driveways, patios, stamped and stained surfaces, pool decks and slabs for homeowners in Tucson, Arizona. Tucson sits at about 2,400 feet in the Sonoran Desert, and the weather shapes almost every decision on a pour. Wikipedia's climate table gives Tucson an average of 158 days a year at 90 degrees or hotter, and the National Weather Service's 1991 to 2020 normals count 68 days at 100 or above. Good concrete contractors in Tucson plan around that heat, and around the summer storms that follow it.

What heat and storms do to concrete

Heat during the pour. Concrete hardens through a chemical reaction with water. On a hot, dry afternoon the mix stiffens faster, the surface loses water to the air, and the crew has less time to finish it. Rushed finishing and fast drying lead to a weak, dusty top layer and early cracking.

Curing in dry air. A slab keeps gaining strength for weeks, but only while it holds moisture. In low desert humidity it needs help: a curing compound, wet curing or both, starting right after finishing.

Monsoon water. The National Weather Service lists normal Tucson rainfall at 10.61 inches a year, and July, August and September together account for about 5.5 inches of that. When a storm drops much of it in an hour, any slab that tilts toward the house, or any edge where water can get under the concrete, becomes a problem.

How we handle it:

• Pours start early in the morning during the hot months, with the base dampened beforehand so dry ground does not pull water out of the mix
• Curing begins as soon as finishing ends
• Every slab gets a planned slope that carries runoff toward the yard or the street
• Control joints are cut on a layout so shrinkage cracks follow straight lines
• If a storm is forecast on pour day, we reschedule

The ground under Tucson

Desert soils across the Southwest often hold caliche, a layer of calcium carbonate that cements sand and gravel together. Wikipedia describes caliche layers that run from a few inches to several feet thick, with more than one layer possible in the same spot. Caliche is hard to dig, and because water cannot soak through it, it can hold rain right under a slab. When we excavate, we dig out loose and soft material, break through caliche where the depth calls for it, and compact a base that gives the concrete even support.

A city of mid-century ranch houses

Point2Homes, summarizing Census survey data, puts the median build year of Tucson housing at 1979. About six in ten homes went up between 1950 and 1989, and the 1970s alone account for 20.2 percent. Wikipedia notes that the city grew from 45,454 people in 1950 to 212,892 in 1960, and that the east side was built mostly from the 1950s through the 1970s.

For concrete, that means a lot of driveways, carport slabs, walks and back patios that are 40 to 70 years old. Common requests on homes that age are widening a single-car drive, replacing a cracked carport slab, adding a patio where there is only dirt or gravel, and fixing sections that have settled away from the house. In the older central neighborhoods, some homes sit in a Historic Preservation Zone, where the City of Tucson says any development needs a permit and a historic design review.

Driveways and the street

The City of Tucson's right-of-way brochure, published by the city's transportation department, lists driveway and sidewalk installs among the work that needs a right-of-way permit, and it quotes City Code Chapter 25: no public sidewalk may be repaired or installed without a written permit from the city. The same brochure says the property owner next to the sidewalk is responsible for maintaining it. A site plan goes with every application, reviews typically take about five working days, and Arizona811 has to be called before any digging. When a driveway job reaches the sidewalk, the apron or the curb, we build the permit into the schedule.

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Six kinds of work

• Concrete driveways: replacements, widening, aprons and side pads for trailers or extra cars.
• Concrete patios: new slabs, extensions and paths, sized for a ramada, grill or shade structure.
• Stamped and decorative concrete: patterned, colored and stained surfaces for patios, entries and borders.
• Pool decks: new decks and resurfacing with textured finishes that grip when wet.
• Concrete slabs: pads for sheds, RVs, equipment and detached garages.
• Repair and resurfacing: crack repair, slab lifting, overlays and color for worn concrete.

How a job runs

Measuring visit. We look at the area with you, measure it, note the slope and drainage, and check how close a ready-mix truck can get.

Written quote. Each part of the work is priced separately, and repair options are shown next to replacement when they make sense.

Prep. Old concrete and soft soil come out, the base goes in and gets compacted, and forms are set to grade.

Pour. Steel where the slab needs it, then placing, finishing, joints and curing, timed for the coolest part of the day.

Handoff. You get written dates for foot traffic, cars and sealing. HomeGuide's driveway guide advises at least 7 days before driving on new concrete and about 30 days before heavy vehicles.

When to plan a pour

There is no frozen season in Tucson. Wikipedia's climate table gives a January average low of 40.8 degrees, and snow averages a tenth of an inch a year. That makes fall, winter and spring the easiest seasons for concrete, with mild afternoons and less rush to finish. Summer work is very doable with early starts and careful curing, but the monsoon, which officially starts June 15 and usually brings its first storms in early July, adds weather risk through August and often into September. Call (520) 619-2611 and we will tell you plainly when your project is best poured.

Most of our work is in Tucson itself, from the central neighborhoods near downtown and the university to the east side subdivisions that went up between the 1950s and the 1970s. We also cover the communities around the city: Oro Valley and Marana to the northwest, Casas Adobes and the Catalina Foothills to the north, South Tucson in the middle of the city, Tanque Verde and Vail to the east, and Sahuarita and Green Valley to the south. Each town page covers what we found about local housing, ground and permit rules. Inside Tucson city limits, driveway and sidewalk work at the street needs a right-of-way permit from the city; the towns and unincorporated Pima County set their own rules, so we check them for your address before the job is scheduled.