We're a concrete contractor based in Lake Charles, LA, pouring driveways, patios, walks and slabs for Prien homes that families are already living in. We work around your fence, your flower beds and your daily routine, and we aim to leave the yard the way we found it apart from the new concrete.
(337) 549-5674
Prien runs from the southeast shore of Prien Lake south toward West Gauthier Road, and most of our calls there come from people with an older slab that's letting them down. We see driveways that have dropped at the edges, patios that hold water after every rain, and walks lifted or tipped where the yard has shifted underneath.
The ground is usually the reason. South Louisiana soil settles, and low ground near the lake stays wet, so a slab here does well or poorly depending on what's under it. When a budget gets tight, the base is the first thing people want to trim because nobody sees it once the concrete is down. I'd rather cut back on the finish. We dig out the soft dirt, pack the subgrade, which is the ground the slab sits on, and check where the water will run before we set a single form.
We reply to every call and message within one business day. I come out to your place in Prien myself, measure, and write up exactly what's included, and there's no obligation to book. If you'd rather talk it through first, call (337) 549-5674.
(337) 549-5674Most of what we pour in Prien is flatwork, the flat concrete in driveways, sidewalks, garage floors and patios, and a lot of it replaces slabs that settled or cracked. If your backyard slab is the problem, our concrete patio construction work is built around the same packed base and drainage check. We also build steps, pool decks, retaining walls, footings and slab foundations, and we cut out a damaged section when only part of a slab needs to go.
Outside Lake Charles city limits, your permit comes from the Calcasieu Parish Division of Planning and Development, and inside them it comes from the city's Permit Center. We check with the office that covers your address before work starts, and when a permit's needed we handle the paperwork or walk you through it. The state treats starting work before a permit is issued as a violation, so the permit sets the first date on the calendar, and then rain and curing, the wait while new concrete hardens before you use it, set the rest. Before you hire anyone, ask to see their state contractor certification and their parish occupational license, which the parish requires of anyone working outside a city. Your price moves with the size of the slab, how much old concrete we break out and haul off, and how much soft dirt has to come out before the base is packed, and I write all of that into your estimate.
A lot of Prien driveways are the only way on and off the lot, so before the truck comes we work out where it can reach the forms and where you'll park while the new slab cures. We do the same work up in Moss Bluff and over in Sulphur, and the questions are much the same there, with soft ground, standing water and a family still using the house.
I come out to Prien myself to look at the job, measure and write up what's included. Our own crew does the pour, and I'm on site while it's going on, so the person who priced your job is the one answering your questions.
Before we set a form, we agree on who hauls the old concrete, where you'll park while the slab cures and how the truck gets past your fence and beds. We've worked on lived-in homes since 2021, and a clean site matters to us as much as the finish.
We're licensed and fully insured, which is worth asking any contractor about before a crew and a concrete truck show up at your house. Your satisfaction, guaranteed. When you're ready, call (337) 549-5674 or send the form above to set up a visit.
I price each Prien job after I've measured it, because the ground under the slab moves the cost as much as the size does. Thickness, rebar, the steel we set inside the slab to hold it together if it cracks, and the finish all change the number. A broom finish, the light texture that gives shoes and tires grip, costs less than stamped or decorative work.
You're off it from tear-out until the new concrete has cured enough to carry a car, and you can walk on it well before you can drive on it. The permit, the weather and the size of the job set the timing, so I go over it for your slab before we start, and we settle where you'll park in the meantime.
Usually it's the base, because a slab poured on dirt that was only raked level settles right along with that dirt. Concrete also shrinks as it cures, so we cut control joints, shallow grooves that give a crack a straight place to form, on the day of the pour. For slab foundations, the parish strongly recommends a geotechnical engineer test the soil and a structural engineer or architect design the foundation, because South Louisiana soils are prone to settling.
Yes, for new construction the parish sets the lowest floor one foot above the highest of four flood measurements, such as the FEMA base flood elevation. That rule applies in zones A, AE, AO, VE and both kinds of X, and 46 percent of the parish sits in high-risk flood ground. Before repairs or rebuilding on any lot, the parish asks owners to check with its building official and floodplain administrator, and we form the slab to the elevation on your approved plans.
The state contractor board says home improvement work over $7,500 and up to $50,000 must be bid or done by a home improvement registrant or a licensed contractor, and work of $50,000 or more needs a licensed Residential Building Contractor. The board's brochure puts any project with structural work under that same licensed-contractor rule, and registrants can't take on structural work at all. If you're not sure where your project falls, call (337) 549-5674 or send the form and we'll talk it through.
