Concrete parking lot building in El Monte CA - pavement built for what parks on it

Most of these calls come from small property owners whose lot is cracking, sinking or holding water, and who want pavement that handles what parks on it. At K&R El Monte Concrete Company, the price mostly moves with the size of the lot, how thick the slab has to be and how much bad ground has to come out. The schedule turns on the permit, any plans the city wants and the curing days before you can park. I'll walk the lot with you and give you a written estimate that says what the price covers and what it doesn't.

I start with one question, what's going to drive on this lot, cars and pickups or something heavier, because that sets how thick the slab has to be. Then we check the subgrade, the soil the slab sits on, so it's even before the pour. Concrete industry guidance says pavement holds up when that soil has the same makeup, moisture and firmness all the way across, so we dig out spots that don't match, fill them with material like the rest and pack it down. We check where water will run so the lot drains away from the building, set the forms and pour early in the day, because midday heat can leave a weak, dusty top. The surface gets a broom finish, a light texture that gives tires and shoes some grip.

A lot usually comes with other concrete around it. Light poles, a block wall or a carport need concrete footings of their own, and we plan them with the slab so they're not an afterthought. If the building beside the lot has settled along with the ground, it's worth looking at foundation raising first, so the new pavement meets a doorway that's staying put.

The El Monte Building Department is the main contact for plan review, permits and inspection, and its counter staff tell you which other departments your lot has to go through. Whether your lot needs a permit is theirs to say, and when it does, we pull it and line up the inspections. A lot that goes through plan check needs plans signed by a California civil engineer or licensed architect, so we work alongside yours. The city's Public Works engineers also review grading and drainage on private property and any work in the public right-of-way, the street and sidewalk side of your property line. A project that needs a building permit or an encroachment permit, the kind for work in that street area, also has to include the city's stormwater steps, which are built into the finished lot to cut down on polluted runoff.

Most lots we get called to around here sit behind shops or small apartment buildings, and the old pavement has usually settled where the ground under it was never packed evenly. We see the same thing on jobs in Rosemead and Monterey Park, and we work out to West Covina and Pomona too.