A Loudon Heights homeowner asked me last fall to look over a contract before she signed it, and the concrete work itself wasn’t the problem — the questions nobody had asked were. She’d gotten a price and a start date, and nothing else, no mention of soil conditions on a hillside lot where soil conditions decide most of what happens after the pour. Here’s the list I’d actually want answered before hiring anyone to pour flatwork, whether that’s me or someone else.
Where Does the Water Go
Ask where water on the lot ends up once the new slab is in place — which direction it drains, at what slope, and where it discharges. A driveway or patio poured without a clear answer to that question is a drainage problem waiting on the next hard rain, and on a Kanawha Valley hillside lot that answer matters more than the finish on the surface. If the answer involves a neighbor’s yard or a shared drainage swale, get that detail in writing before the pour, not after a complaint arrives.
How the Base Gets Handled
Ask what happens if the excavation turns up soft or unsuitable soil instead of the base material assumed in the bid. A contractor with a real answer — over-dig and replace with stone, add geotextile fabric, bring in additional compaction — has run into this before. A contractor who says it won’t happen hasn’t looked at enough ground yet. Ask, too, how that scenario would be priced if it happens, since an unplanned over-dig on an old filled lot is one of the more common reasons a job runs past its original number.
Mix, Reinforcement, and Joints
Ask what compressive strength and air content the concrete will be, and how the cubic yardage was calculated, since a slab priced by guesswork on volume tends to run short exactly when it’s least convenient to order a partial load. Ask when joints get cut after the pour and how far apart they’ll be spaced, since timing on saw-cutting affects whether the slab cracks along the joint or somewhere else entirely. Ask how curing is handled and for how many days, because a slab that dries too fast loses strength it never gets back.
Ask to See Old Work
Ask to see work that’s at least five years old, not last month’s photos. A driveway looks acceptable on day one regardless of who poured it; five winters of freeze-thaw and road salt is what actually shows whether the base was compacted and the mix had the right air content. If possible, ask for an address rather than a photo and go look at the joints and the edges yourself — a photo can hide a lot that a walk-by won’t.
Red Flags and What to Check
Three things I’d walk away from every time: pressure to sign a contract today to lock in a price, a request for payment in cash only with no invoice, and a flat statement that “nothing here needs a permit” without naming which jurisdiction was checked. Ask to see proof of general liability coverage and workers’ compensation, and ask whether the business is registered as a contractor with the state — OSHA publishes general information on jobsite safety responsibilities worth knowing before hiring anyone doing excavation or concrete work on your property, since a lot of the questions above trace back to the same underlying concern: does this crew do the boring parts correctly when nobody’s watching. Cross-reference whatever number you get against what a concrete quote should itemize so the answers to these questions show up in writing, not just in conversation.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the biggest red flag when hiring a concrete contractor? Pressure to sign immediately, cash-only payment with no invoice, and a claim that no permit is needed anywhere are the three most common warning signs.
Why does it matter how old the sample work is? Fresh concrete looks acceptable regardless of how it was built; several winters of freeze-thaw and de-icing salt reveal whether the base and mix were done correctly.
What insurance should a concrete contractor carry? General liability coverage and workers’ compensation are the two to ask about directly, along with whether the business is registered as a contractor with the state.