Planning a new home or addition? We build the slab on clean, packed fill, reinforced so the floors above it start on solid ground.
Slab foundation building in Riverview, FL means setting the footings, reinforcing steel and concrete for a new home over clean, packed fill, with a vapor barrier and a soil termite treatment underneath, so the house sits on one solid base.
Most calls start with a lot and a set of plans. Those plans show the same pieces Hillsborough County asks for on the foundation plan of a new single-family home, and our job is to build each one so it matches. The vapor barrier, a plastic sheet laid over the fill, keeps ground moisture from wicking into your floors, and the termite treatment is soil treated around and under the slab.
The price moves with the size and shape of the footprint, how much fill the lot needs to come up to grade, how the slab is reinforced and how easily the trucks can reach the pour. The schedule mostly turns on the permit and the weather, since a soaked base has to dry before we pour. After I look at the lot, you get a written estimate that shows what's included, and when the job needs a permit, we pull it.
Most of how a slab behaves over the years is settled before or during the pour, while there's still time to get it right. These are the three things I watch closest.
The most common way a slab goes wrong is dirt that was raked level and never packed, so the slab settles as the ground does. We dig out soft spots, bring in clean fill and pack it in layers before a form goes up, because that work can't be redone once the concrete is down.
Before we set forms, I check where rain runs across the lot, because a slab that sits low or sheds water toward the house invites trouble at every door. The finished grade around the slab should carry water off and away from the edges, so I set the height with that in mind.
Concrete placed in the heat of a Florida afternoon can dry too fast on top and turn weak and dusty later, so we plan pours for the cooler part of the day when we can. Curing, the stretch while concrete gains strength, goes better when the slab is kept damp and left alone.
Here's how a slab job runs with us, from the first call to the walk-through after the pour, so you know who's doing what at each step.
Call (813) 471-5890 or send the form and tell us a little about the lot and what you're building. We'll get back to you and set a time for me to come out and see it.
I come out, measure, look over the site and how the trucks will get in, and ask what the slab will need to carry. Then you get a written estimate that lays out what's included.
Once you say go, we sort out the permit for your address, then dig out and pack the base, build the forms, set the steel, pour and finish the slab.
Before we pack up, we walk you through curing and what the slab needs before framing starts, so the next crew on your lot doesn't load it too soon.
I'll talk you through how your slab gets reinforced before anything is ordered, because the steel decides how the slab handles cracking and what that means for the tile, wood or carpet above it. Rebar, steel bars tied into a grid inside the concrete, or wire mesh holds a slab together if it cracks, and post-tensioned cables, steel strands pulled tight after the pour, squeeze it together.
When a budget gets tight, the first thing people want to cut is the base, because nobody sees it on day one. I'd rather trim somewhere else than skimp on the fill and packing, since everything above depends on it. After the pour, I'll point out the termite treatment around the edge so it stays in place when the landscaping goes in.
Not every job ends up a slab on the ground. If your plans call for a crawl space or a raised floor, that's our foundation installation work, and if you need a big slab for cars and delivery trucks, it belongs with concrete parking lot building, where the base and drainage get planned for traffic instead of a house.
The edge footings and the slab go in as one pour, so there's no seam between them. It's usually the quicker route and common for single-story homes on flat lots.
The footings get poured and set before the slab goes on top. It takes an extra pour, but it can suit sloped lots or heavier plans, and we'll talk through which fits yours.
Send your address, the home's planned size and any soils report you have, and we'll reply within one business day to set a time for me to come out. The estimate is free, done at your property and written out so you can see what's included, and there's no obligation to go ahead.
(813) 471-5890In Hillsborough County, Hillsborough County Building Services issues the approval and permits most construction needs. Before we start, we check whether your address falls under the county or a city, since that decides which office issues your permit, and it's worth confirming for your own lot too. When your job needs a permit, we pull it and handle the paperwork.
Where the county knows the land has muck, highly organic soil, erosion or settling, it may ask for more, such as a soils and foundation report from a Florida Registered Engineer recommending the design. If you have one, we build to it, because it tells us more about the ground than I can see from the surface. We do the same slab work in Gibsonton and Apollo Beach.
I come out myself to look over the lot and measure, and our own crew does the work with me running it, so the person who priced the base is the one watching it get packed. I learned concrete as a helper on a small crew, setting forms and pulling screed, and I started this business in Riverview in 2013.
We're fully licensed and insured. Hillsborough County suggests checking that any contractor you hire holds a valid license and is insured to work in the county, and in Florida a certified license covers the whole state while a registered one covers only the cities or counties where the contractor holds a certificate of competency. To get started, call (813) 471-5890 or send us the form.
For an addition or home that sits up off the ground, we build the footings and walls the plans call for, checking every line before the pour.
When a church, shop or rental property needs room for cars and delivery trucks, the slab has to be planned around traffic, heavier loads and where the rain goes.
We're based in Riverview and work across Hillsborough County and the cities around it, including the ones listed here and others nearby, so if yours isn't shown, call and ask.
Building a slab foundation in Tampa usually costs about $6.50 to $14 per square foot installed, and that's the usual market range, not a quote for your lot. Where yours lands depends on how much fill the lot needs, the footprint and the reinforcement, which is what the on-site estimate sorts out.
A hired contractor pulls all the permits, and if you build it yourself, you pull your own. Florida law lets you be your own contractor for a one-family or two-family home you'll use, supervising onsite all work not done by licensed contractors. A sale or lease within a year of finishing is presumed to mean it was built for sale, so this route suits owners who stay.
It can be, especially on sandy ground. The Post-Tensioning Institute, a national trade group, says post-tensioning reduces cracking and keeps cracks tight, which matters because water through cracks can damage flooring and cause mold. On less expansive soils it uses one even thickness, so no rib trenches get dug, and it can often go in faster than a rebar or mesh slab.
It can, since Hillsborough County calls flooding its most costly and repetitive natural disaster, mostly inland near lakes and low-lying areas. Under the county's flood rules, where your permit uses an Elevation Certificate, a second one marked "Building Under Construction" or a sealed Foundation Tie-In Survey is due once the foundation is in, and work waits until levels match the approved plans.
Repair cracks and leave the termite treatment around the foundation alone. Florida's agriculture department notes termites can get in through a crack as thin as a credit card, and advises keeping that treated soil in place so the slab keeps its protection over the years. Keep that in mind when you add beds, pavers or a patio along the house later.
Have your address, the home's planned size and any plans or soils report you already have. The address tells us which office issues your permit, and a soils report tells me what the ground needs before I price the fill and steel.
We answer at (813) 471-5890 seven days a week from 6 AM to 11 PM, and changing the fill or the steel is a lot easier on paper than after the pour.
