We're B&C Lake Charles Concrete Company, based in Lake Charles and working over the state line in Orange, where we pour driveways, patios, walks and slabs for houses people are living in. Our own crew does the work, and I'm on site while it's going on.
(337) 549-5674
Orange is the one city we cover on the Texas side, just over the line from the parishes we work in at home, and the jobs here look a lot like the ones around Lake Charles. They're homes people already live in, with a fence to work around, a flower bed beside the forms and cars that need somewhere to go while we pour. The calls are usually driveways that have settled or cracked, patios where water sits after a rain, and walks that have shifted into a trip hazard.
We reply to calls and messages within one business day. I come out to your Orange address myself, look at the job, measure and write up what's included, and the estimate is free with no obligation. You decide after you've read it, with no pressure to book.
(337) 549-5674A lot of our Orange calls are to replace a driveway, patio or walk that has cracked, sunk or started holding water, so the work usually starts with breaking out the old slab and fixing what's under it. We also pour garage floors, steps, footings and new slabs, and when you want color or a pattern on a patio or walk, that's our decorative concrete work. Most driveways and walks get a broom finish, a light brushed texture that gives your shoes and tires grip when it's wet.
Building permits in Orange go through the city's Planning and Community Development Department instead of a parish office, and the city requires a permit for new construction and alterations before any work begins. Its permit list doesn't name driveways or patios, so I check your address and your job with that office before we set forms, and when a permit's needed we handle the paperwork or walk you through it. That review has to happen before the pour date, which is why we start on it as soon as you say yes. If your job is a new slab with plumbing under it, the plumber pulls a separate permit, and the city requires plumbers to hold a Texas state license and file proof of $300,000 in general liability insurance, so it's fair to ask whoever does that part for both.
We're based in Lake Charles and cross the line for Orange jobs, and the price here turns on the same things it does at home: the size of the slab, how much old concrete we break out and haul off, how deep the base has to go, whether it needs rebar, steel laid inside to hold the pieces together if it cracks, and whether you want a broom finish or decorative work. The schedule turns on the permit, rain on pour day and curing time, and the estimate I write after measuring lays out what's included for your job.
I come out to look at your Orange job and write the estimate myself, so the person who measured is the one answering your questions later. Our own crew does the work with me on site while it's going on, and we're licensed and fully insured.
Before we start, we settle who hauls off the old concrete, where you'll park while the slab cures and how the crew gets past your fence and flower beds. The goal is to leave your yard the way we found it, apart from the new concrete.
A packed base gets buried on day one and nobody sees it again, which is why it's the first thing a tight bid cuts. I'd rather you pick a plainer finish than a thinner base. Call (337) 549-5674 or use the form to talk through your job.
It depends mostly on the driveway's size, how much old concrete has to come out and how much base work the ground needs, which is why I measure before giving a number. A plain broom finish costs less than stamped or colored concrete, and adding rebar or fixing drainage adds to it. The written estimate shows what's included, so you're comparing real work and not just a total.
Longer than it looks, because concrete keeps curing, slowly hardening and gaining strength, for days after it feels hard to the touch. You can walk on it well before you can park on it, and I'll give you both dates on pour day. We work out where you'll park in the meantime before we start, so your car isn't stuck behind the forms.
Most of the time it's a base that was raked level instead of dug out and packed, so the dirt settles and the slab goes with it. Water running under the slab, a midday pour that leaves a weak, dusty top, and control joints, the cut grooves that give cracks a straight place to go, cut late or skipped all add to it. We dig out and pack the base, check where your water runs and cut joints on time, so cracks are far more likely to follow a line we chose.
For new construction, additions, fences, accessory buildings and pools, the city wants a site plan drawn to scale with the application, and remodel permits need a written scope of work. You can mail it, drop it off or email it, and the city's permits and applications page has the forms.
The City of Orange website lists a tool called Forerunner that shows a property's flood-related risk and the insurance requirements that may come with it. That matters for new work, because the city requires an elevation certificate for all work in a special flood hazard area, the high-risk zone on the flood maps. It's worth looking up before I come out so we can plan around it.
Yes, the city's Plans and Inspections Division inspects permitted construction against the building codes, city ordinances and the approved site plan, and the city works from the International codes, residential and building codes among them. The city charges a re-inspection fee when work doesn't pass or the contractor isn't ready, so we only call for an inspection once the work is ready to be looked at.
