Concrete driveways, patios and repair in Lincoln, Nebraska

Two to four days on site for most houses, and the days aren't always back to back. Tear-out and base prep often happen a day or two ahead of the pour. After it's poured, give it a day or two before you walk on it, about a week before you park a car, and a month before anything heavy.

Plain broom-finish flatwork runs about $8 to $14 a square foot installed. Stamped or colored runs $14 to $24. A two-car driveway usually lands between $5,000 and $10,000, and a mid-size patio between $1,900 and $4,000. Size, thickness, how much old concrete comes out and whether a truck can reach it all move the number.

Into early December most years, with an accelerator in the mix, warm water and insulated blankets. From about late December through February we'd rather book you for spring, and we'll say so. Two reasons: you can't compact a frozen base, and the base is what decides whether the slab lasts. And concrete that freezes in its first few days never gets its surface strength back.

Usually not for work on your own lot. Patios, pads, shop floors, widening inside your property lines, none of that normally needs a building permit. The apron where your driveway meets the street and the public sidewalk across your frontage are a different story, those sit in the right-of-way and get permitted and inspected. Out on a county road the approach goes through the county instead. We'll tell you which one you're in at the estimate.

Depends what's wrong. A stable crack in an otherwise sound slab is worth routing and sealing. A section that's settled but isn't broken up can often be lifted back to grade for a fraction of replacing it. But if the surface is flaking across the whole thing, or it's in pieces, a patch won't get through another winter. We'll tell you what we'd do if it were our house.

A shed pad or an AC base under about 60 square feet, sure. Go for it. Anything bigger, no, and it's not about skill so much as the clock. Once it's off the truck you've got a set window to place, screed, float and finish, and finishing at the wrong moment is what makes a surface fall apart two winters later. A driveway that goes sideways isn't a repair, it's a demolition bill.

Insured, yes, and registered with the state. Licensed is the part worth explaining: Nebraska doesn't issue a contractor's licence for concrete. There isn't one. What the state does require is registration with the Nebraska Department of Labor plus workers' comp coverage, and that registry is public and searchable. Anyone telling you they're state licensed for concrete here is either confused or hoping you don't know. We'll send our registration details and a certificate of insurance with the estimate so you can check both.

Yes. We come out, measure, look at your grade and what's under the old slab if there is one, and you get a written price. No trip fee, no pressure to sign that day.