Concrete Contractors in Madison, WI

Elite Concrete Contractors Madison builds, replaces and repairs residential concrete in Madison, Wisconsin, from the bungalow blocks near the isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona out to the newer subdivisions on the far west and east sides. As concrete contractors in Madison, we plan every job around one fact: this is a hard place for outdoor concrete. Wikipedia's climate table for the city, based on Dane County Regional Airport normals from 1991 to 2020, puts the January average high at 27 degrees and the low at 11.8, with 51.8 inches of snow in an average year. A driveway or walk that survives decades here is one that was built for it.

What wears concrete out around Madison

Ice inside the surface. Concrete soaks up water. When that water freezes it expands, and after enough freeze-and-thaw cycles the top layer starts to flake off. That flaking is called scaling, and it is the most common complaint we hear in spring.

De-icers. Salt keeps the surface wet with brine and adds extra melt-and-refreeze cycles. Some de-icers made with ammonium compounds also attack the cement paste directly. Salt is a problem off the slab too: the City of Madison reports that chloride in Lake Wingra topped 100 mg/L in 2016, about ten times its early-1960s level, and that salt has reached 3 of the city's 22 drinking water wells.

Ground that moves. Soil that stays wet under a slab freezes and lifts in winter, then softens in spring. Panels drop, tip toward the house or crack into pieces.

Our standard response to all three:

• Air-entrained concrete on every exterior pour, so ice has room to expand
• A compacted stone base that lets water drain out from under the slab
• Thickness matched to the load, about 4 inches for walks and patios and more where trucks park
• Joints laid out on purpose, so shrinkage cracks follow straight lines
• No salt on new concrete during its first winter

Old blocks, postwar ranches and new subdivisions

Point2Homes, summarizing Census survey data, gives 1980 as the median year built for Madison's 133,530 housing units. The spread around that number is wide. About 13 percent of homes were built in 1939 or earlier, roughly a third went up between 1950 and 1979, and about 27 percent date from 2000 through 2019. Wikipedia lists the Marquette Bungalows and Orton Park historic districts on the east side, and the city counts more than 120 neighborhood associations.

Each era brings different concrete. On prewar blocks, front stoops, walks and narrow drives often predate modern air-entrained mixes and have settled or pulled away from the house. Postwar ranches tend to have original driveways and patios that have been patched more than once. In 2000s subdivisions, first-generation driveways are now 20 years or more into Wisconsin winters, the age when aprons crack and panels near the garage start to sink.

The parts of your frontage the city controls

In Madison, the concrete in front of a house is split between owner and city. The Engineering Division runs an Annual Sidewalk Repair and Rehabilitation Program. Inspectors mark public sidewalk that is broken, offset, settled or ponding with a white paint "X." Slabs with a pink mark and a white "c" can be sawcut to taper a small offset at no cost to the owner, and owners may not grind them down themselves.

The city's program brochure gives owners two choices. Under Option One you hire your own contractor licensed by the Board of Public Works, get a Street Terrace Permit, call the Sidewalk Office at 266-4537 within 20 days of the notice, and pay that contractor directly. Under Option Two the city's contractor does the work and you pay one-half of the repair cost through a special assessment, with driveway restoration billed at full cost. The bill can be paid without interest by October 31 or spread over the city's five-year installment plan.

Driveway approaches are a separate permit. The city's driveway standards treat a home with four or fewer parking stalls and a raised curb as a Class I approach, permitted by the City Engineer, with an entrance no wider than 20 feet and a curb cut no wider than 30 feet. Moving or widening an entrance takes written permission. When a project touches the public side, our quote marks where your slab ends so you know what needs a permit before work is scheduled.

Get a Free Estimate

What we pour and fix

• Driveways: tear-out and replacement, widening, new aprons and parking pads.
• Patios: broom-finished, colored or exposed-aggregate slabs, with steps and paths to the yard.
• Stamped concrete: stone, slate and brick patterns for patios, walks and driveway borders.
• Sidewalks and steps: front walks, side paths, stoops and poured steps with landings.
• Leveling and lifting: mudjacking or foam to raise sunken panels on sound slabs.
• Repair and resurfacing: crack sealing, overlays on flaking surfaces and spot replacement of failed panels.

How a project runs

Measuring visit. We walk the area, measure, and note what affects price: how much has to come out, slope and drainage, tree roots and how close the ready-mix truck can get.

Written quote. Itemized, and with a repair option priced alongside replacement where one exists.

Prep. Removal, digging out soft soil, compacting a stone base and setting forms to the right grade.

Pour. Reinforcement where the slab needs it, then placing, finishing and jointing.

Handoff. Written dates for foot traffic, cars and sealing. HomeGuide's driveway guide says to wait at least 7 days before driving on new concrete and the full 30 days for heavy vehicles.

Planning around the season

Most exterior concrete in Dane County is poured between the spring thaw and the first hard freeze. Concrete that freezes before it gains strength can be ruined, so a late-fall pour needs nights above freezing in the forecast and sometimes insulated blankets. A slab poured late in the year also faces its first winter almost immediately. The city's own advice for new sidewalk is to avoid salt that first winter; Madison also notes that salt does not work well below 15 degrees and offers free sand at several city locations. If you call in October or November, we will tell you honestly whether to pour now or book for spring. Call (608) 597-6094 to set up a visit.

Most of our work is in Madison itself: the isthmus and near east side, the west side out past the Beltline, and the north and far east neighborhoods. We also work in the larger towns around the city, including Sun Prairie, Fitchburg, Middleton, Verona, Monona, Waunakee, McFarland, DeForest, Oregon and Stoughton. Each has its own permit office and its own rules for driveways and public walks, so the town pages note what we found for that community. If you live in a village that Madison surrounds, such as Monona, Maple Bluff or Shorewood Hills, your permits come from that municipality, not the city, and we check with the right office before scheduling.