Heartland Boston Concrete Company is based in Boston and pours steps, driveways, patios and walks for homeowners and small property owners in Chelsea. Call (857) 770-0722 and we'll come take a look at yours.
(857) 770-0722
Chelsea is a tight city, with two-families and triple-deckers set close together, small back yards and front steps that land right on the sidewalk. Most of the calls we get here are about steps that have cracked or pulled away from the house, a driveway between two buildings that has sunk and holds water, or a back patio that tips toward the foundation.
A lot of the owners we meet here live on one floor and rent out the others, the same mix we see next door in Everett. That changes how we plan, because tenants still need a way in and out while the old concrete is gone and the new slab is curing.
Send us a few lines about your Chelsea project, and we'll reply within one business day to set up a time. I'll come out, look at the job and give you the estimate myself, free and with no obligation to book.
(857) 770-0722Most of our Chelsea work is the concrete a busy house leans on every day. We rebuild concrete steps at the front and back that have cracked or pulled away from the house, replace driveways squeezed between buildings, and pour small patios and walks that pitch water away from the foundation. We also redo garage floors, build retaining walls where a yard changes grade, and cut out old slabs in tight spots where a big machine won't fit.
Building permits in Chelsea come from the Inspectional Services Department, which the city calls ISD, and when your job needs one we don't start until it's issued, so the permit can set your start date. Before you hire anyone, you can check whether they're registered with the state as a Home Improvement Contractor if your house falls under that rule, which we cover in the questions below, and whether they've filed a business certificate with the city clerk's office, which an older city help article says is where those filings go. We're licensed and insured, and before work starts we check with the city about the permits your job may need and help you get the paperwork in order. Past the permit, the price moves with how much old concrete and soft fill has to come out, how deep we build the base back, how far material travels from the street and the finish you pick. The schedule turns on the permit, the weather on pour day and curing, the wait while new concrete hardens enough to use. I'll give you the figure for your job when I come out to see it.
Most Chelsea streets are narrow and lined with parked cars, and a lot of houses sit close to the sidewalk, so the first thing we plan is where the concrete truck parks and how we get the pour from the truck to your forms. The city's online permit site takes Public Works applications such as street occupancy and street opening permits, so if the truck, a dumpster or the work itself needs the street, we look at that with the city before pour day. We take the same approach on the crowded streets of Winthrop and the other cities around Boston.
I come out to your Chelsea house, look at the old concrete, the ground under it and how water runs off, and give you the estimate myself. Our own crew does the work with me running it, so the person who priced it is the one on site.
If a budget has to give, I'd rather trim the finish than the base, because nobody sees the base on day one but it decides whether the slab settles. We dig out soft dirt and pack the subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, before we pour.
I'd rather explain something twice than leave you wondering, so I walk you through what comes out, what goes back in and why. We've worked this way since 2017, satisfaction guaranteed. Call (857) 770-0722 or use the form to set up a visit.
You might, because Chelsea requires a building permit before work that will build, rebuild, alter, repair or demolish a structure, and the State Building Code requires that permit before the work starts. You can read the city's guidance on when a building permit is required. Whether your steps, patio or driveway counts is something we check with the city before we start, and if it needs one we help you get the paperwork together.
If your home is an existing, owner-occupied house with one to four units, the state says your contractor must be registered as a Home Improvement Contractor. New construction, buildings with more than four units, and investment, vacation or secondary properties fall outside that law. The state's list of work that doesn't need HIC registration includes driveways and ground-level patios, and that list covers HIC registration only. For most existing one- to four-family owner-occupied homes, the state also wants a licensed construction supervisor or a registered design professional overseeing the construction.
The tenth edition of the State Building Code is the only one in effect now. It has a Residential volume for one- and two-family homes and townhouses of three stories or less, along with the smaller buildings that go with them, and a Base volume for everything else. So a single-family or two-family house falls under the Residential volume, while larger multi-family buildings fall under the Base volume.
I can't give you a fair number until I've seen the job, because the biggest costs are how much old concrete has to come out, how much soft ground goes with it and how deep the new base has to be. Beyond that, the thickness, the rebar, which is steel set inside the slab to hold any cracks tight, and the finish all move it. A plain broom finish, the light texture that gives you grip when it's wet, costs less than stamped work. I'll price yours on site and walk you through each part.
You're off it from the day we break out the old slab until the new one has cured, and you'll be able to walk on it well before you can park on it. I'll tell you what to expect for your pour once I've seen the job, since the weather that week and any permit wait move the dates. When tenants share the driveway, we plan the tear-out and pour so everyone knows ahead of time where to park.
Most of the failed concrete we tear out comes down to a base that was raked level instead of dug out and packed, water running under the slab or toward the house, a pour in midday heat that left a weak, dusty top, or joints cut late or skipped. Concrete can still crack, so we cut control joints, shallow grooves that give it a straight line to crack along, while the slab is fresh. We also set the slope so water runs away from your house, and we plan the pour for the cooler part of the day when we can.
