Tired gray slab or a patio you'd like to dress up? We'll help you pick color and texture you'll be happy keeping up.
Decorative concrete in Riverview is concrete finished for looks as well as wear. It can use color mixed into the concrete, a stain on the surface, a stamped or textured top, exposed stone, polishing or a sealer, and plenty of jobs combine two or three of those on one slab.
Most of our decorative calls start with a plain gray patio, walk or pool deck that's gotten tired, or with a new slab where you want more than gray. Some people want a fresh pour with the look built in. Others want to dress up the slab they already have. Which one you are shapes the whole job, because a new slab starts in the dirt and an old one has to earn a topping.
The price moves with the size of the area, how much work the ground needs and how busy the design gets, since one pattern in one color costs less than borders, several colors and inlays. The schedule turns on the ground prep, the weather and curing, the wait while fresh concrete hardens before you can use it. Your written estimate spells out what's included for your slab.
The finish is what you'll notice, but a few choices made before and during the pour decide whether it still looks right later. Here's what I go over with you before we start.
A single pattern in a single color costs less and is easier to look after, though it may not stand out as much. A mid-range design adds more color or texture. The high end, with borders, several colors and custom inlays, can lift curb appeal and resale value, but it costs more and needs care more often.
Every slab sits on its subgrade, the soil and packed base under it. If that base is only raked flat instead of dug out and packed down, the slab settles with the dirt and the pattern cracks right along with it. We also check where the water runs, so the finished slab falls away from your house instead of toward it.
Concrete shrinks as it dries, so we cut control joints, shallow grooves that give the slab a planned place to crack. If they're cut late or skipped, cracks wander across the pattern wherever they like. On stamped work we try to run the joints along pattern lines so they read as part of the design.
From the first call to the last walk-through, here's how a decorative job runs with us and who you'll be dealing with at each step.
Reach us at (813) 471-5890 or through the form and tell us what you have in mind, whether it's a new stamped patio or color over an old walk.
I come out myself, measure, look over the site and how we'll get equipment in, and ask what the concrete needs to carry. Then you get a written estimate that shows what's included.
Once you say go, we sort out the permit side for your address, dig out and build the base, set the forms, then pour and lay in the color and texture you picked.
Before we pack up, I walk you through curing, how long to stay off the new surface and what to watch for, so the finish doesn't get marked or weakened early on.
I help you pick a look you'll be happy keeping up, because every extra color and pattern adds to the upkeep later. I'll show you where a plainer design gets you most of the look for less work down the road, and where a border or a second color is worth it. If you love the busy design, that's fine, as long as you know what it asks of you.
Here's the trade-off I'll name on your estimate. The base is hidden on day one and the finish is all you see, so the base is the first thing people want to trim. I won't trim it. A good-looking pattern on a poorly packed base cracks and sinks, and no color fixes that, so if the budget's tight, we simplify the finish instead.
If you'd rather keep your old slab and put a decorative topping over it, we check that the slab is sound before we go any further. A topping bonds to the slab under it, so it can only be as solid as that slab. If yours isn't up to it, I'll tell you plainly rather than sell you a topping that fails.
Decorative finishes reach past patios too. The same color and texture can carry onto concrete retaining walls that hold back a slope beside the patio. Polishing suits inside slabs, so it pairs well with concrete floor installation when you want a finished floor in a garage or shop rather than one you'll cover up.
We dig out, build the base and pour with the color and texture built in from the start. It costs more up front, but you get a fresh base and a finish laid on new concrete.
A thin decorative layer bonded over the slab you have skips the tear-out and the new base, so it suits a slab that's in good shape but plain or worn. It only goes ahead after we've checked the slab.
Send the form and we'll get back to you within one business day to set a time. I'll come out to your property for a free estimate, measure and look over the slab, then hand you a written estimate with no obligation to go ahead.
(813) 471-5890Riverview is a community inside Hillsborough County rather than a city of its own, so county offices usually matter more here than a city hall. In the county, construction work the state regulates needs a contractor license from the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation or from Hillsborough County. We check whether your address falls under the county or a city, and when your job needs a permit, we pull it.
Weather sets the pace on decorative work here. Afternoon storms can stop a pour partway, and summer heat makes concrete set faster, which leaves less time to stamp or texture it and can make the color less even across the slab. So we plan pours around the forecast and the time of day, and I'll tell you up front that a storm can push a pour back.
On sandy lots, we may spend extra time firming up the soil and regrading so water drains off the slab, which can add time and cost. We're based in Riverview and work across Hillsborough County and the cities around it, including Brandon and Apollo Beach. A lot of what we see is plain flatwork, the patios, walks and pool decks around a house, that owners want to dress up.
I come out myself to look over the job and measure, and our own crew does the work with me running it, so the person who planned your base is the one watching it get packed. I learned concrete as a helper, setting forms and pulling screed, the straight board that levels fresh concrete, and I've run this business in Riverview since 2013.
We're fully licensed and insured. What we're known for is careful prep and straight, clean edges, the parts that decide how a decorative slab holds up once the color is the only thing anyone notices. Your satisfaction, guaranteed. To get started, call (813) 471-5890 or send us the form.
If your patio sits against a slope or a raised bed, a retaining wall holds the soil back and can carry the same finish as the slab.
A polished or stained look inside a garage, shop or addition starts with a new floor slab poured flat enough to take that finish well.
We're based in Riverview and do decorative work across Hillsborough County. The cities below have their own pages, and we work in other nearby cities too, so ask if yours isn't listed.
Stamped concrete in the Tampa area usually costs about $10 to $18 per square foot. That's the going range in the market, not our quote. Where your job lands depends on the design, the size and how much ground prep the site needs, and the written estimate from my visit gives you your own number.
One cost guide says stamped concrete should be resealed every two to three years. Plan on it as a regular job that keeps going after the install, the way you'd plan on repainting, and weigh it when you're choosing between a simple design and a busy one.
It can if the slab is structurally sound and the topping can bond to it. A patio that's heaving, settling or cracked through needs to come out, and then you're looking at a new slab. If yours passes, ask whether the crew will carry the existing control joints and any cracks that still move up through the topping, since otherwise those cracks tear it.
It depends on the cure and the weather that week, so I give you the wait for your slab when we finish rather than a guess up front. Walking on it comes well before furniture or anything heavy, and staying off early keeps the finish from getting marked or weakened.
Clear furniture, planters and grills out of the work area, and tell us about sprinkler lines or anything else buried near the slab. Plan to keep kids, pets and cars clear while we work and through the cure, so nothing lands in fresh concrete.
Call (813) 471-5890 or use the form with a few photos, the rough size and the look you want, so I come out already knowing what to check.
