Concrete contractor in Chelsea, MA - slabs built on a packed, drained base

Chelsea's Inspectional Services Department issues a building permit for work that builds, rebuilds, alters, repairs or tears down a structure, and the state building code says you need it before that work starts. A new foundation or footings for an addition fit that plainly, and when a driveway or patio isn't as clear, we check with the department instead of guessing. The city's online permit site also lists Public Works permits for digging on private property and for working in the street, and when a job needs a permit, we help line it up before work starts.

If you live in a house with one to four units, the state says a contractor working on it must be registered as a Home Improvement Contractor. That law doesn't reach new construction, buildings with more than four units, or rentals and second homes you don't live in, and the state lists driveways and ground-level patios among the jobs that need no registration, though that covers registration only, not permits. Separately, most construction on an existing owner-occupied one- to four-family home has to be overseen by a licensed construction supervisor or a registered design professional, so ask whoever you hire which applies to your job.

The tenth edition of the Massachusetts building code is now the only one in effect, so that's what a permitted job gets checked against. It comes in two volumes, and the residential one covers one- and two-family houses and townhouses of three stories or less, plus the garages and sheds that go with them. A three-family house falls under the base volume, which covers everything the residential one doesn't.

A Chelsea driveway's price comes down to its size, how much old concrete we break out and haul away, how deep the new base goes and how hard it is to get a truck to it. The finish matters too, since a plain broom finish, the light texture brushed in for grip, costs less than stamped or colored work. Rebar, the steel set inside the slab to hold it together, adds some cost where the load calls for it, and your own price comes from the estimate.

Most cracked and sinking concrete I see comes down to the subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, being raked flat instead of dug out and packed, so the slab settles as the dirt does. Water is next, from a slab pitched toward the house or downspouts emptying beside it, and then control joints, the grooves that make the slab crack along a line we chose, cut late or skipped. Concrete can still crack, so on a new pour we pack the base, check where water runs and cut joints on time to decide where it happens.

Most of the time you're without your driveway is the cure, not the work, because new concrete needs time to harden before it can carry a car. You can walk on it well before you can drive on it. The schedule before that turns on whether a permit is needed, how much old concrete comes out and dry weather for the pour, and I'll tell you at the estimate about how long to plan on parking on the street.