About a month ago our contractor finally finished the sewer line connection to the street (you know... change order #3). Anyway he had to demo across our driveway to get that pipe in there. So he asked if we wanted a new driveway and sent us a text message that it would cost $15,600. Well I don't approve change orders for anything, let alone fifteen grand, via text message with ZERO detail of what's provided! What color, what finish, how thick, what rebar, what layout, how long, when??? Hello, you're dealing with architects who do this for a living man! So we told him that we wanted more than a just a new driveway, and we would provide a plan for him to prepare a proposal for.

Above is basically the plan we gave him for bidding. A new driveway, a few steps to the sidewalk, ramp up to the front door, some curbs around the front planters, a walkway around to the back patio, and a pad for a new shed in the back corner. The original plan was about 1,350 square feet of new concrete (just the driveway alone was about 850 sf). A couple days later he mentioned to me in passing that he was getting "multiple bids for this site concrete" because he wanted to give us a good number - great! Then he sent the proposal... I guess he really did not wanted to do the site concrete because he provided a proposal for $41,000. He must have been smoking crack if he legitimately thought we were going to pay him almost 3 times his original bid for the driveway for about 1.5x the concrete! I think my friend Christine said it best when I told her this ludicrous bid amount... "for $41,000 there better be a new car sitting on that driveway!" Exactly!

So we did what any architects would do... got other bids from other contractors we know and work with. One came in around $18k, and the other was $15,500 ($100 less than the original bid for just the driveway). So of course we hired the low bidder because he came highly recommended from a great GC that I work with all the time (shout out to Bycor!). Not only did he do the concrete work, but he also added PVC pipes below the concrete for future irrigation (for free), and he cleared and removed all our remaining plants in the back and front yard for only an extra $500 (because he already had the skip loader there for the concrete anyway). He was amazing! He told us his plan was to start on Monday, pour on Saturday, and be done in a week or less.

Day 1-2: Monday 6/7 - Tuesday 6/8

They dropped off the skip loader on Monday and proceeded to clear all the plants from the back yard and graded the remaining soil in prep for the concrete, and started to form up some areas. He said things were going so well they were going to move up the pour by a day to Friday! A day early!! Sorry folks I was so impressed I forgot to take photos.

Day 3-4: Wednesday 6/9 - Thursday 6/10

We stopped back by on Thursday evening (just before our softball game) to check out the formwork and verify concrete was going in all the right places.

New driveway above with rebar - we had no comments! (Amazing right?)

New staggering steps up to the driveway from the sidewalk

Above here you can see the new landscape curbs around the front planters and the ramp up to our front porch. You can also see where they doweled and epoxied the rebar into our garage slab so the driveway will never again sag below the driveway threshold and create a step we have to drive over!

Day 5: Friday 6/11 = Pour Day

We stopped by the site to meet with a custom closet designer, but were delighted to see we finished our meeting right when the concrete started pumping!

Shed slab first in the back corner. Then the back path was next. (RIP back yard landscaping).

Here's a video of the driveway getting pumped from the truck and the large crew of concrete experts doing their thing playing in the "mud".

It was pretty cool to see how fast they pulled the forms off the curbs so they could trowel it all smooth. We were so impressed by their speed and skill we went and bought them a case of cold beer... I mean it was 5pm on Friday anyway. After we returned with the beer I asked the head guy when would a good time for me to write my name in the concrete... he replied "Now!"... OK!

The contractor returned on Saturday to saw cut the cross hatch pattern that I had designed, so we stopped by later to check it out.

It looks great! The contractor mentioned we could do integral color for not much more money... but call me a purist... I like natural grey!

We have steps!! And a driveway too, that probably wont ever crack like it did before because the new driveway is twice as thick and has steel reinforcement. Next step is irrigation and landscape. We are going to do draught tolerant landscaping with rocks and pebbles out front and just a small grass area in the back. But first things first... the concrete looks awesome! It's probably a lot nicer than what I would have got for $41k, and it only cost me $16k!

The best part... now we have something for the movers to roll up on when we move in on the 28th!