Backyard remodeling and concrete in Kingsburg, CA

On the original grid around Draper Street the houses are old enough that the flatwork is often a second or third generation of concrete already. Driveways are narrow, walkways are lifted where a shade tree has been working on them for fifty years, and back patios are small slabs that were poured to hold two chairs. The work there is usually removal and repour at a size that matches how the yard is actually used, plus walkway replacement with a root barrier so the same lift does not come back.

The tracts out from the center are newer and simpler. Those yards typically need a patio extension, a cover to make it usable in summer, and a defined edge between hardscape and lawn or turf. Many also have a pool from the 1970s or 1980s with an original exposed aggregate deck, and that work is what most of our reviews are about. Either it gets resurfaced because the slab underneath is sound, or it gets replaced because it is not, and we will tell you which before you commit.

Out toward the river the parcels get larger and the work changes again. Those yards have room for a shop pad, RV parking, a long approach and a dog run, and they usually sit on ground that has never had anything compacted on it. They are base prep projects first and finish projects second, because a wide slab over uncompacted native soil will tell you about it inside a season. We prep and reinforce for the load that is genuinely going on top, not for a brochure figure.

Most Kingsburg lots are flat, and flat means the slope has to be designed. We shoot the grade first, set the fall away from the house and away from the pool, and form to that number so the finished surface sheds water consistently instead of trapping it against a step or a planter edge. On the older grid this often involves matching into flatwork that is already there and already out of level, which takes a bit more planning than a clean new lot but is entirely solvable.

Under the surface: compacted base, reinforcement sized to the job, and control joints cut where the slab wants to move rather than on a grid that looks tidy. Around a pool we set the expansion joint at the coping so the deck can move without loading the shell, and we place deck drains and channel drain wherever the grade cannot carry water out by itself. Getting a drain formed in at the start costs a fraction of retrofitting one into cured concrete.

We run water over the finished surface before signing a job off, and correct anything that pools before we go. On the older downtown lots that check matters more than usual, because new concrete often has to tie into a driveway or walkway that settled years ago, and the join is exactly where a puddle likes to form if nobody planned for it.

The Swedish detailing downtown gives Kingsburg a look that plenty of homeowners want echoed in the backyard, and concrete is more flexible on that front than most people expect. Stamped patterns can read as stone, brick, slate or wood plank, integral color and color hardener give you tones that sit with painted timber and brick instead of fighting them, and saw cut banding or a contrasting border turns a plain slab into something deliberate. Pavers and a concrete and paver combination work well for the same reason.

Structures finish it. A timber pergola, an arbor over a gate, or a patio cover detailed to match the house all tie the yard to the architecture rather than sitting on it. Add a barbecue island with a stone or tile face, a fire pit with a seat wall, and lighting through the planting, and a small Kingsburg lot ends up feeling considerably larger than its square footage. Artificial turf keeps the green without the summer water bill, and drought tolerant planting finishes the edges.

Ground conditions shift as you move toward the Kings River. Out on the farmland the profile is typical valley soil with hardpan below it, which bears well and drains badly, so surface slope has to do the work. Nearer the river the ground runs sandier and behaves differently under a slab, which changes how we compact and how thick we build the base. It is one of the reasons the site walk matters more than a phone quote.

The Kings River is also the Fresno and Tulare county line through this area, so ground on the far bank is a different county with a different set of rules. Consolidated Irrigation District canals and laterals, fed from the same river, cross the farmland around Kingsburg, Selma and Fowler, and on a parcel that backs onto one we plan the drainage so nothing we build sends runoff at a district easement.

For permits, anything inside the city limits goes through the City of Kingsburg, and unincorporated ground goes to the county the address actually falls in. Flat concrete generally needs no permit. Covers, enclosures and outdoor kitchens with gas and power generally do, and setbacks on the older narrow lots downtown are worth checking before a structure is designed rather than after it has been drawn. On the newer subdivision lots there can also be a homeowners association with its own view on structures and finishes. We sort all of that out first, so the design you approve is the design that gets built.

Kingsburg is a straightforward run down Highway 99 from our yard in Clovis, so we aim to be out the same day, or within 24 hours if it is not a weekend. We come out, walk the yard, and design with you standing in it. The written estimate comes back as one clear price, which in a smaller town matters more than people expect, because it lets you build the patio and cover now and add the kitchen later without a new negotiation each time.

Then there is how the money works. Square footage in the allowance that does not get used is credited back, and customers have written reviews about exactly that. Most single element pours are finished in a day, with one 380 square foot job completed in under nine hours. The site is cleared before the crew leaves, to the point that a customer once wrote nobody would have known their house had been a work site for two days. The Google rating is 5.0 from 29 reviews.