Backyard remodeling and concrete in Clovis, CA

A new Harlan Ranch or Loma Vista lot usually arrives with a small builder slab at the back door and nothing else behind it. The yard is flat, the soil has been scraped and compacted by the grading contractor, and the fence line is close enough that every foot of concrete has to earn its place. We start by asking how you actually use the space: where the table goes, whether the barbecue is a weekend thing or a nightly thing, how much lawn the kids really need. Then we lay it out in paint on the dirt before anyone quotes a price.

The older side of Clovis is a different job. A 1970s house near Tarpey Village or off Sunnyside often has original flatwork cracked along the tree line, a pool deck with the aggregate worn smooth, and a side yard that has been a mud run every winter since it was built. Most of that is removal, root treatment and a fresh pour rather than a patch. We take the old concrete out, deal with whatever lifted it, and put back a surface that sits level with the door threshold and carries water away from the house.

Drainage is decided before the first truck arrives, not afterwards. We shoot the grade, set the fall away from the house and away from the pool, and form to that number so the finished surface sheds water where you want it to go. Clovis lots are flat, so the fall is often a quarter inch per foot and it has to be held the whole way across, not just at the edges. Where the grade cannot carry water out on its own, we set deck drains and channel drain along the low line and tie them into a run that daylights past the patio.

Control joints go in where the slab wants to move, not on a convenient grid: at re-entrant corners, at column pads, and at the spacing the slab thickness calls for. Base compaction and reinforcement come first, because no joint pattern saves a slab sitting on soft fill.

We walk the finished surface with a hose before we call the job done, and anywhere it puddles gets fixed before we leave. That is standard here, not a favor we do when asked nicely.

Concrete is the floor of the yard. What makes a Clovis backyard usable in July is what goes on top of it. Shade comes first: an Alumawood or solid patio cover over the back door changes the temperature of the whole slab, and it can be wired for fans, lighting and heaters while the structure is still going up. From there it is a built-in barbecue island with a bar top, a fire pit or an outdoor fireplace with a seat wall wrapped around it, and pergolas wherever you want filtered light rather than a solid roof.

Artificial turf earns its keep here. Clovis summers run past 105 degrees and water rules make a green lawn expensive, so pet rated and kid rated turf over a properly drained base stays green through August with no sprinkler clock at all. Retaining and seat walls terrace the grade change on the newer lots out east, planters give a flat yard some height, and landscape design ties planting and lighting into the hardscape instead of bolting it on a year later. One company, one schedule, one crew.

Two things under a Clovis yard decide how we prep it. The first is hardpan, the cemented layer a foot or two down across much of this side of the valley. It is a good bearing surface and a poor drainage layer, because water that reaches it stops and spreads sideways instead of soaking away. The second is trees. Mature mulberries, ash and valley oaks along the older Clovis streets run roots straight under flatwork, and that is what lifted most of the sidewalk sections and patio slabs we are called out to replace.

Heat changes the schedule, not the quality. When the forecast is over 100 we start early, keep the mix and the finishing window under control, and we will move a pour rather than fight a slab setting faster than it can be finished properly. Finish and color matter too. A light broom finish or a lighter integral color stays noticeably cooler underfoot than dark stamped work, which is worth knowing before you choose a color for a pool deck that kids cross barefoot in August.

Clovis runs its own planning and building counter, so a permit for a patio cover, an outdoor kitchen with gas and power, or any structure attached to the house goes through the City of Clovis rather than Fresno County or the City of Fresno. Flat concrete usually needs no permit, structures usually do, and the answer shifts with setbacks and lot coverage. We prepare the drawings and make the counter trip, so you are not working out which jurisdiction your address falls in.

We run the estimates on site. Send the form and in most cases we are walking your yard the same day, or within 24 hours if it lands on a weekend, because from our yard on North Megan Avenue nothing in Clovis is more than about fifteen minutes out. We design with you standing in the space rather than handing you a catalogue, and the estimate comes back as one clear written price, so you know exactly what the whole yard costs before anything is scheduled.

The billing works the same way. If the finished job uses less square footage than the allowance you were quoted, the difference is credited back, and customers have written reviews specifically about that. Most single element pours finish in a day, and one 380 square foot job was done in under nine hours. The site is cleared of debris before the crew leaves, which is the line that turns up in review after review. Salas Concrete carries 5.0 from 29 Google reviews, and the family has poured valley concrete since April 1980.