Form & Finish Torrance Concrete Company is a concrete contractor based in Torrance, CA. In Redondo Beach we break out and replace driveways, patios, walks and steps, including the awkward, tight-access jobs we've become known for.
(424) 318-3115
Houses in Redondo Beach tend to sit close together, so the first thing I look at is how we'll get in. A lot of driveways run down a narrow side yard to a garage at the back, and plenty of backyards are reached only through a gate, so new concrete gets wheeled or pumped in and the old slab goes out the same way.
We also see older homes with their original driveways and walks next to newer houses rebuilt on the same lots. The cracks, sinking and pooling water usually show up on those older slabs, and once we break one out, what's underneath tends to tell us why. We're based next door in Torrance, so Redondo Beach is close to home for our crew.
Send the form or call (424) 318-3115, and we'll reply within one business day to set a time. I come out to your Redondo Beach property myself, look at the slab and what's around it, and write up the estimate. There's no obligation, so you can take it and think it over.
(424) 318-3115Most Redondo Beach calls are about driveways and walks that have cracked, sunk or started holding water, and we break those out and pour them new. In the backyard we handle concrete patio construction sized to the space you actually have, along with steps at the back door and pool decks. Where a yard drops off or a wall has to sit right on the property line, we build retaining walls. When you need a trench, a doorway or one section of old slab gone, we saw-cut it out cleanly so we don't break more than we have to.
For work on your own property, Redondo Beach permits go through the city's Building Division, which reviews plans and does the inspections, and you can reach it at (310) 318-0636. If the job runs out to the sidewalk or curb in front of the house, that part is usually the public way, and the Engineering Division permits it. When a permit is needed, plan review comes before we pour, so it often sets the start date more than our calendar does. Before we schedule anything, I check with the city on what your job needs, and if a permit is called for, we handle the paperwork with you. Check two things on any contractor you're weighing, us included: a California contractor license, which is a state rule, and a Redondo Beach business license, which is the city's. The questions below cover when each one applies.
The price here turns mostly on things you can't see from the street. That means how much old concrete comes out and gets hauled off, how far we have to wheel or pump new concrete when the only way in is a side gate, how deep we dig and pack the base, whether the slab needs rebar, the steel that holds it together if it cracks, and the finish you pick. The schedule turns on permit review, the city's construction hours and curing, the wait while fresh concrete gains strength before anyone walks or drives on it. The estimate I write puts all of that into numbers for your job before we start. We work across the cities around Torrance, from Carson to Lomita, and every job gets the same planning.
I come out to look at the job and write the estimate, and I'm on site with our crew when we form and pour it. So the person who told you how the slab would slope and where the joints would go is the one making sure it gets built that way.
The base, the packed layer the slab sits on, is buried on day one, so it's the first thing people want to cut. I'd rather trim the finish than the base, because a nice surface over raked dirt still settles with the dirt and cracks.
We've become known for the awkward jobs, like side yards too narrow for a truck, cuts through old slabs and walls right on a property line. We're licensed and fully insured. Satisfaction guaranteed. Call (424) 318-3115 to talk yours through.
A Redondo Beach driveway is priced on its size, the tear-out and how hard it is to get concrete to the spot, so your figure comes from the estimate for your property. Thickness, rebar and the finish move it too, since a plain broom finish, the light brushed texture that gives shoes and tires grip, costs less than stamped or colored concrete. The one place I won't help you save is the base, for the reason above.
You stay off it for the whole curing wait, and a driveway is out longer than a patio you only walk on, because a car puts far more weight on fresh concrete than feet do. The city wants inspections requested as work goes along and done before anything is covered, so on a permitted job the base or steel may need an inspection before concrete goes over it. Work also has to fit the city's hours, Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with none on Sundays or on the days Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day are observed.
Not if the project is valued over $50,000 or involves two or more units, because the city's rules don't let homeowners pull those permits. Below that, the state only lets you do the work without a licensed contractor on your own home when every owner-builder condition is met: it's your principal residence, you lived there for the 12 months before the work is finished, the work is done before you sell, and you haven't used the exemption on more than two structures in any three years.
Yes, the city requires every business working in Redondo Beach to hold a city business license, and every contractor and subcontractor on your job needs a valid one before a permit can be issued. Contractors based in other cities apply for the city's out-of-city contractor license, so ask whoever you hire to show you theirs.
A contractor needs a license from the Contractors State License Board when the job needs a building permit, uses employees, or costs $1,000 or more in labor and materials across all its contracts. A bigger job can't be split into pieces under $1,000 to get around that, so a driveway billed in several small amounts still counts as one job. Ask for the license number and check it with the board before you sign.
Most cracks in a new slab come from a base that was raked level instead of dug out and packed, joints cut late or skipped, water running toward the slab, or a midday pour in the heat that leaves a weak, dusty top. Control joints are the straight grooves we cut so the slab cracks along a line we chose instead of across the middle, and before we pour we check where the water runs and slope the slab away from the house. Concrete can still crack, but planned this way it usually cracks where it's meant to.
