Cracked, puddling or too small for the cars you have now? We plan a new concrete lot around your vehicles and where the water goes.
Concrete parking lot building in South Whittier starts with planning the slab around the cars and trucks that will park on it, then setting its thickness, concrete strength, joints and drainage to match that load.
At First Choice South Whittier Concrete, most parking lot calls come from people with a rental, a shop or a small building whose old lot has cracked, sunk in spots or started holding water, or who need more room to park. The price mostly comes down to the size of the lot, how thick your traffic needs the slab to be, how much digging and base work the ground calls for, and how the water will leave the lot. Breaking out old paving adds to it, and so does a porous mix or extra drainage work.
The schedule usually turns less on the pour itself than on what comes before and after it. Any permit has to be in hand before we dig, and the lot stays closed until the concrete has cured and hardened enough to carry cars. The estimate I write after seeing your lot gives you the figure for your own job and what each option means for cost and upkeep.
You deal with me from the first visit to the final walk, and with our own crew in between. Call (562) 358-3037 when you're ready to set up a visit.
We've been in business since 2013, and I still come out myself to look at the lot and walk you through your options and what each one means for cost and upkeep. Then I write up the estimate so you know what you're paying for and why.
If you hire us, our own crew builds the lot, and I check in along the way to see that the base and the pour go the way we planned. We're licensed and insured.
When the work is done, we walk it with you so you can see where the joints run and where the water goes when it rains. Your satisfaction, guaranteed.
I start by asking how many cars and trucks park there now and how many you expect later, because the whole design starts there, from how thick the slab has to be to where the joints fall. We talk about drainage early, including whether a porous mix could handle the runoff where your lot sits, because water with nowhere to go soaks the ground under the slab and pools against buildings. On a lot big enough to need engineered plans, the industry's design guide has a soil engineer recommend the thickness from how firmly the ground holds the slab up and a civil engineer set the joints and drainage layout, and we build to those plans. If the budget gets tight, I'll tell you to cut back on the finish before you cut back on the base, because nobody sees the base on day one but it's what keeps the slab from settling and cracking later.
Some lots need more than flat paving. If you're adding a low wall, light pole bases or a carport at the edge of the lot, we pour concrete footings to carry them. If the building next to the lot has settled, it's worth talking about foundation raising before we set the new grade against it, so the two meet at the right height.
Once the design is settled and any permit is in hand, the work runs in this order.
We break out the old paving and dig down past the soft dirt, because a base that's only raked level settles with the ground under it and takes the slab along. This is slow, unglamorous work, and it's the part that decides how the lot looks in ten years.
We pack the subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, and set forms so each section falls toward a drain or the street and away from the building. Where the plans call for rebar, the steel that helps the slab carry weight and holds cracks tight, it goes in now.
We pour in the cooler part of the day, since concrete placed in midday heat can end up with a weak, dusty top, then give it a broom finish so tires and shoes get grip. Control joints, shallow cuts that give the slab a chosen place to crack, go in before it has a chance to crack on its own.
Concrete keeps gaining strength for days after the pour, so we keep cars off until it's ready and tell you when the lot can open. Then we pull the forms and clean up.
Call (562) 358-3037, email sales@concretesouthwhittier.com or send the form with the site address, how many vehicles park there now and how many you expect later. We reply within one business day, and then I come out, look at the lot and write up a free estimate. There's no obligation to hire us.
(562) 358-3037An installed 4-inch concrete slab in California usually costs about $9 to $18 per square foot, labor and materials included. That's the general market range, not our price, and your lot's own figure depends on its size, the thickness your traffic calls for and the drainage it needs. The free on-site estimate gives you that number for your lot.
A concrete lot can serve well for many years with little maintenance when it's designed and built for parking from the start. What keeps upkeep low is a plan made around the lot's own traffic and conditions, which is why we settle the thickness, joints and drainage before we dig.
LA County Public Works issues permits for property in unincorporated LA County, including grading permits for work that moves soil or creates slopes. Another office may handle it if your lot falls outside the county's jurisdiction, and the county's Service Locator lists the office to call or email about what your project needs. When a job calls for a permit, we help you find which office handles your address, help with the paperwork and plan the work around the inspections.
It can, depending on local rules and your site. Pervious concrete is a porous mix, and it and its base may store enough rainwater to do away with retention ponds and swales, the shallow ditches that hold runoff. It's weaker than regular concrete because it's so porous, though strong enough for many uses, so ask the county whether a pervious lot can stand in for separate runoff containment before you choose it.
Two rules shape a lot here besides the permit. Unincorporated LA County requires each land use to provide a certain number of off-street parking spaces on the same property, so check the current count your use needs with LA County Planning before the layout is drawn. State rules also require site work like a parking lot to be usable by people with disabilities, which affects how the lot is laid out from the start.
We're based in South Whittier and work across the cities around it, including Norwalk, Whittier, Santa Fe Springs, Downey and Pico Rivera. Most of the lots we see are behind apartment buildings, small shops and rentals, where the old paving has cracked or started holding water. If you don't see your city listed, call and ask.
Call (562) 358-3037 before your layout is drawn, so the vehicle count, drainage and parking rules all go into the plan the first time instead of being fixed later.
If you're still deciding whether to patch the old lot or build a new one, call and I'll walk you through what each choice means.
Tell us about your project