We're Port Hueneme Concrete, and we build driveways, patios, walkways and foundations for El Rio homeowners, from the dig-out to the final finish. I come out to look at the job myself, and our own crew does the pour.
(805) 269-8744
El Rio is a short drive from our base in Port Hueneme. Most calls we get here come from homeowners with older driveways and patios that have done their time. We see slabs cracked across the middle, sunk at the garage or tipped so rain runs back toward the house. We also find garage floors and walkways that never had much base under them.
Much of El Rio is unincorporated county ground rather than a city, and that changes how permits work, which we cover below. Everything else is the same careful job we do as a concrete contractor anywhere around Port Hueneme, and it starts with the ground under the slab.
Send us your El Rio address and what you have in mind, and we'll reply within one business day to set a time. I'll come out, look at the ground and where the water runs, and write up a free on-site estimate that shows what's included. There's no obligation and no pressure to book.
(805) 269-8744In El Rio we mostly pour flatwork, the slabs you walk and drive on, like driveways, patios, walkways and steps. Much of it replaces older concrete that has cracked or sunk. We also pour garage floor concrete for garages with pitted, uneven floors, plus footings, slab foundations and retaining walls when a house gets an addition or a yard gets reworked.
For addresses in unincorporated El Rio, building permits come from Ventura County Building and Safety, which says most construction work needs a permit so it can be reviewed, inspected and documented. Some of the older community has been made part of Oxnard over the years, so the first thing I check at the estimate is whether your address is still in the county. If your job needs a permit, I'll tell you then, and we'll take care of the application and the inspections. That puts the county's review on the schedule alongside the weather and our crew's calendar. Ask any contractor to show you their California contractor license before you sign. The price moves with the size of the slab, how much old concrete has to come out and how much base work your ground needs, and the written estimate breaks those out for your job.
Septic tanks were banned here in the 1990s because of groundwater pollution near the Santa Clara River, and the county switched the area to sewer, so most lots now have a sewer line running out from the house. Before we break out an old driveway or dig for a new walkway, we find where that line runs. That way we don't dig into it, and a future repair to the line won't mean cutting up new concrete. We start the same careful way next door in Oxnard and on jobs out in Thousand Oaks.
I come out to your property, look at the ground, the drainage and where the water runs, and write the estimate myself. Then our own crew does the forming, pouring and finishing, so you won't meet a stranger on pour day.
The subgrade, the packed ground a slab sits on, is the first thing people want to cut from a budget because nobody sees it on day one. We dig out the soft dirt and pack the base, since a slab on loose dirt sinks with the dirt.
Control joints are the grooves we cut so the slab cracks along a straight line we chose, not across the middle, and we cut them on time. Then we let it cure, the slow hardening that builds its strength, before anyone uses it.
We're licensed and fully insured, we've been in business since 2017, and every job carries the same promise. Your satisfaction, guaranteed. Call (805) 269-8744 or use the form above, and tell us your address and what you'd like poured.
The price comes down to the size of the slab, whether old concrete has to be broken out and hauled off first, and how much base work your ground needs. Thickness and rebar move it too. Rebar is the steel grid that holds a slab together if it cracks. So does the finish, and a plain broom finish, the light brushed texture that keeps the surface from getting slick, costs less than stamped concrete. I write each of those out at the estimate so you can see what you're paying for.
You'll be walking on it well before you're driving on it, because concrete keeps curing and gaining strength for days after the pour, and a car weighs a lot more than a person. When we pour, I'll tell you the day you can walk on it and the day you can park on it, based on your slab and the weather.
Most cracks come from a soft base that settles, joints that were cut late or skipped, or a slab that dried too fast in the heat. Concrete can still crack a little, so I won't promise yours never will. A packed base and joints cut on time mean any crack usually follows the line we planned, not a path across the middle.
Late spring through early fall is usually easiest. The weather station at the Oxnard airport, just outside El Rio, records just under 13 inches of rain in an average year, with nearly two-thirds of it from December through February and almost none in summer. Summer has its own catch, because concrete poured in midday heat can end up with a weak, dusty top, so on hot days we start early in the morning. Winter pours still happen, but we plan them around the forecast.
Under state rules, a contractor needs a license from the Contractors State License Board when a job needs a building permit, uses additional workers, or totals $1,000 or more in labor and materials. That total counts every contract on the job, and a bigger project can't be split into smaller pieces to get under it. The rule applies to whoever you hire, us included.
It can, because the county lists retaining walls among the projects a single building permit covers. The county code also exempts some smaller work from a permit, though exempt work still has to be built safely and meet the standards that apply to it. I'll tell you at the estimate whether your wall needs one.
Yes, for unincorporated addresses the county takes permit applications online through its VC Citizen Access permit portal. Most of our customers never need to log in, because when a job of ours needs a permit, we handle the application and the inspections. If you'd like to know what was permitted on your house before, the county will search its archived records for that history on request.
