Concrete Contractor in Hawaiian Paradise Park - Slabs That Start With the Base

If your lot is inside the county's Special Management Area, SMA approval comes first, and no agency can approve development there until you have it. The county's planning commissions handle SMA permits and the shoreline setback rules. The County of Hawaiʻi Planning Department's East Hawaiʻi Office at 808-961-8288 can tell you what to file, and the state's page on SMA permits explains how the permit works. We look into permits while we plan your job, and when one is needed, we take care of the paperwork with the county and tell you what it involves.

Look the contractor up with the state Contractors License Board, because state rules require a license to work as a contractor or even to advertise as one. Every state contractor license has to be renewed by September 30 of each even-numbered year, and a license that wasn't renewed on time is unlicensed and can't be used to work. Contractors in Hawaii also register for a general excise tax license with the state Department of Taxation. We're licensed and insured, and I'm the one who comes out to look at your job.

Yes. If you own or lease the property and you're building for your own use, state rules exempt you from the contractor license law. The structure can't be for use or occupancy by the public, it can't be offered for sale or lease within one year after it's finished, and you have to register for the exemption. The exemption covers contractor licensing only, so it doesn't take the place of anything else your job needs.

It comes down to your lot, because on an acre the length of the driveway and the ground under it move the number more than anything else. Thickness, how much rock or soft dirt we dig out, how much base we bring in, how close the truck can get and the finish you pick all change it, and a broom finish costs less than stamped or colored concrete. I'll come out, measure and write it up so you can see what's included and what isn't.

You can usually walk on a new slab within the first few days, but a car has to wait longer, and I'll tell you when it's ready for your pour. Curing is the wait while concrete hardens and gains strength, and weight on it too soon can crack or mark a slab that would otherwise have been fine. Plan to park on another part of the lot until then.

Most cracks come from a base that settles, from water getting under the slab, or from concrete shrinking as it dries with no joint to crack along. We dig out and pack the base and slope the slab away from the house. We also cut control joints on time. They're shallow grooves that give the slab a straight place to crack. Concrete still cracks some as it cures, but done this way the cracks usually stay thin and inside the joints, not across the middle of your driveway.