How To Choose A Concrete Driveway Contractor

10 Tips for Hiring a Driveway Contractor for Your Concrete Project

When hiring a driveway contractor or specialist of any kind, arming yourself with a list of questions and a little prior experience goes a long way.

If you are planning a concrete driveway project, prepare some questions to ask before you start calling around for quotes. It’s also a good idea to settle on standards that you think the particular contractor would fulfill in advance to better prepare you for filtering through the data or sales pitches that they give you about their services.

To direct you in planning to talk to particular contractors, check out the list of questions and criteria below.

• Be prepared and confident

The more you are assured and informed about what you are looking for, the easier it will be to ascertain the level of competence or expertise of the concrete driveway contractors to whom you talk.

• Find several options and narrow the field

When you go through your list of candidates and narrow your decisions, compare the answers you get to your questions. Speaking to many applicants would hopefully give you an even better idea of the qualifications you should be searching for, which allows for a more knowledgeable final round of phone calls with any additional questions for your top choices.

• Have several scheduling options

There could be busy schedules for concrete driveway contractors with the most experience and success. So, if they are unavailable for the dates you want, consider being flexible before crossing them off your list, and inquire about alternate deadlines. And certainly, be wary of fully open access contractors and little or no future programs.

• Factor in drying time for your deadline

Bear in mind that you will still not have access to your driveway for at least one week, regardless of the deadline you set for work to be done. To ensure the strength and longevity of the driveway, most concrete driveway contractors suggest 2-4 weeks of drying time. Planning to host your home for a significant event? Do heavy appliances require delivery? Factor the plans into the deadline for the project by adding several weeks to the completion date expected.

• Ask what permitting will be necessary

A perfect way to self-educate with the advice of experts is to inquire about permits that you will need when you plan to construct your concrete driveway. It’s also an excellent way to gauge the expertise of the contractor. It can imply inexperience or a lack of professional service if he is ignorant of the permitting process or expects you to bear the burden.

• Be prepared to turn down upsells

In your concrete driveway, incorporating finishing touches such as stamping or scoring patterns or making it painted will give concrete a decorative flair and improve your property’s curb appeal. Such upsells, however, may not be within your budget, so be prepared to ask for rates in advance and reject additional services if funds are low.

• Just get cost quotes, get technical

If you don’t already know them, a home visit from contractors while you gather quotes will give you a clearer understanding of the details. It can also help you narrow your options by gathering many perspectives about what materials and requirements you will need.

• Make sure projects come with written contracts

Be sure that a written contract for the contractor is a common practice and inquire about what usually goes into his contracts.

• Ask what is included in the contract

In order to ensure quality assurance and reasonable objectives, contracts should be precise, technical, and include cost and schedule. This guide for helping to decide between going DIY on concrete driveway projects or hiring a contractor points out that before signing a contract, you can specify what pavement thickness you want and need to be specific on the compaction of the subgrade and foundation. And this guide to the fundamentals of concrete driveway design will allow you to establish more awareness of details.

• Ask questions to test the contractor’s knowledge and skill

By determining how comfortable contractors are answering technical questions, narrow the list. An article on recruiting concrete driveway contractors from Angie’s List suggests asking a prospective contractor how they can ensure that driveway cracking is avoided.

Joints for flexing and the amount of water used in their concrete mix should be specified in their response. Before pouring the concrete, you may also ask them to describe the phase they will go through (during which they can compact the soil and apply a base material as a top layer) and how long the overall project will take.