Adding a room, a wall or a patio cover and need footings first? We dig, form and pour them to match your permit.
Concrete footings are the buried strips and pads of concrete that carry the weight of a wall, a room addition or a patio cover post. In South Whittier, we dig, form, reinforce and pour them so whatever you build on top has solid support under it.
Most people call us because a plan, a permit or an inspector says the new work needs footings first, and that's usually where the questions start. Nobody sees a footing once the job's done, so it's fair to ask what you're paying for, and I'd rather explain that up front than have you guess.
The price mostly comes down to concrete, labor and digging, so the size of footing your plans call for and the ground it sits on set most of the budget. A big footing on weak ground can cost several times what a small one costs. The schedule usually turns on the permit and the inspection visits, because we build to what the permit shows. The estimate I write after seeing your site puts a figure on your own job.
I started this business in 2013 after years of patching walks, steps and slabs for a property management company, where I saw what a rushed job costs an owner later. We're licensed and insured. Here's how a footing job goes with us, from the first visit to the last.
I come out to see where the footings go, look over your plans and walk you through your options and what each one means for cost and upkeep. Then I write up an estimate so you know what you'd be paying for and why.
If you hire us, the people in your yard are our crew, not a company we handed the job to. I check in along the way, especially before the inspection and on pour day, when most of what matters gets decided.
Once the forms are off and the site's cleaned up, we walk it with you so you can see what was built and ask anything you like. Your satisfaction, guaranteed.
Before any digging, I go over the plans with you and what drives the cost, so the number makes sense before we start. Then our crew marks the footings out where the plans put them, digs, and gets the subgrade, which is the ground the concrete sits on, firm and clean. We build the forms, set the rebar, the steel bars that give concrete the strength it doesn't have on its own, and leave it all open until the inspector has seen it. After that we pour, work the air out, finish the top, let it cure and clean up. If the budget gets tight, the digging and the ground under the footing are the last place I'd cut, because nobody ever sees the top of a footing, but everything you build later rides on what's below it.
Some footing jobs touch other work. If we have to get through an existing slab, patio or driveway to reach the ground, we do the concrete cutting ourselves so the cut stays clean and no bigger than it needs to be. If what you've got is an older house or slab that has already settled, that's a different job, and our foundation raising page explains it.
Most trouble with a footing starts underneath it or in the days right after the pour, so that's where our crew puts its care.
We measure the footings from the approved plans, not by eye, because the inspector checks the work against the permit. A footing in the wrong spot can mean digging it again.
A common shortcut is raking loose dirt back into a trench and calling it level, and that loose dirt settles later and takes the footing down with it. We dig it out, firm up the bottom and keep crumbs and water out before the forms go in.
We hold the rebar up off the dirt on supports so it ends up inside the concrete, where it does its job, instead of lying in the mud. Then the trench, forms and steel stay open and ready until the inspection's done.
We plan the pour around the heat when we can, because concrete that dries too fast at midday ends up with a weak, dusty top. Curing is the wait while the concrete holds its moisture and gains strength, and we don't rush building on it, since that strength is the whole point.
Send the form or call (562) 358-3037, and we'll get back to you within one business day. I'll come out, look at the site and your plans, go over your options and write up a free estimate, with no obligation to hire us.
(562) 358-3037Installed concrete footings usually cost about $5 to $20 per linear foot across the US, and that covers the concrete, labor, digging and forms. Those are national market estimates for 2026, which put a typical footing project at around $750, so treat them as a starting point that a local quote sharpens. The size of footing your plans call for and the ground under it move your number most, and my estimate after the site visit gives you the figure for your job.
If your property is in unincorporated LA County, LA County Public Works issues the permit, and you contact your local office by the phone or email listed in its Service Locator to ask what your project requires. If your address falls outside the county's jurisdiction, another office may handle it, and the Service Locator is where you find yours. When a job calls for a permit, we help you find the right office, help with the paperwork and plan the work around the inspections.
In California, anyone who contracts for work that needs a building permit, uses employees, or comes to $1,000 or more in labor and materials combined must hold a current, valid license from the Contractors State License Board. The board's license classes include C-8 Concrete. On a home improvement contract, you can also ask for the name, contact information, license number and classification of any subcontractor who'll work on it.
It can, if your property sits inside a zone the state has mapped. The state maps areas where liquefaction, ground that loses its strength in a strong earthquake, may happen, and owners developing property inside a mapped seismic hazard zone may be required to investigate the hazard and reduce its threat during local permitting. If that applies to your lot, it's handled through the permit, and we build the footings to what the approved plans call for.
In LA County, a plan check is when experts review your project plans to make sure they meet safety, building and environmental standards, so ask your local office whether your project needs one before you set a start date. Once work begins, inspections check that what's being built matches the permit. Plan those visits into your schedule, which is why we leave the work open for the inspector, as described above.
We're based in South Whittier and work across the cities around it, including Norwalk, Whittier, Downey and Santa Fe Springs. The footings we're asked for here are usually for room additions, block walls and patio covers on older houses, and the ground under them gets the same care wherever the job is. If you don't see your city listed, call and ask.
Have your address, what you're building and a rough footing length in linear feet handy when you call (562) 358-3037, so the first call gets straight to the questions that matter for your job.
If you've got plans in hand and questions about the footings, send them over and I'll walk you through what the job involves.
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