Foundation installation in Concord CA - a base built for your lot and your soil
Planning a new home, ADU or addition? We build the foundation to your engineer's plans and soils report so it stays put.
- Licensed and insured.
- Free in-person estimates.
- Expect a reply within 1 business day.
What goes into putting in a foundation for a new home or addition?
Foundation installation in Concord means building the slab or raised foundation that a new home, ADU or addition sits on. The ground is dug out and packed, then the foundation is formed, reinforced with steel and poured to your engineer's plans and soils report.
Most people who call me have plans for a new house, an ADU or an addition, and they want to know what the foundation will take before they commit to anything. The price moves with the size and shape of the footprint, whether you go with a slab or a raised foundation, how deep and how much steel the soils report and engineer call for, how much digging and grading the lot needs, and how easy it is to get a truck and crew to the spot. The schedule mostly turns on getting the engineer's plans, the reports and the city's permit in place before we dig, and after that on the weather for the pour. We check with the city or county that covers your address to see what your job calls for, and we handle the permit paperwork when one is needed. If you're only after a plain slab, our page on slab foundation building covers that job, and for anything bigger I'll give you your own figure in a written estimate once I've seen the lot.
How do you know it's time to plan a new foundation?
Plans for an ADU or addition
You've got drawings for a new room, an ADU or a garage, and the first thing built is what it all sits on. The foundation type sets the floor height, the plumbing route and a big piece of the budget, so leaving the decision until the framer is waiting usually means redrawn plans and a later start.
An old foundation past saving
Wide cracks, crumbling concrete or floors that have dropped in more than one spot can mean the old foundation isn't worth patching. Sometimes raising it works and sometimes a new one is the honest answer, and every rainy season you wait gives water more time to work into those cracks.
Puddles where the house will go
Water that sits on the building spot after a rain shows you where the ground drains and where it doesn't. A foundation poured without a plan for that water can end up sitting in it, and fixing drainage once the walls are up costs far more than grading for it first.
How we handle foundation installation, from plans to pour
We build to the engineer's plans and the reports your project calls for, so the first thing I do is read those with you and lay the foundation out on the ground. We dig down to the subgrade, the packed soil the foundation rests on, and compact it, because a base that's only raked level settles with the dirt under it and takes the concrete along. Then we set the forms and the rebar, the steel bars that hold the concrete together when the ground pushes or pulls on it, check where the water will run so it heads away from the house, and pour early in the day so midday heat doesn't leave a weak, dusty top. After that comes curing, which means keeping the concrete damp and leaving it alone while it gains strength before any weight goes on it. When a budget gets tight, the base is the first thing people want to cut because nobody sees it once the concrete is down, and it's the one place I won't, because a nice surface on a poor base is still a poor foundation.
A raised foundation stands on concrete footings, the wide strips of concrete buried in the ground that spread the building's weight, and we also pour those as their own job for decks, porches and small additions. Small property owners putting up a new building sometimes need concrete parking lot building next to it, and planning both together lets the grading work for each.
Slab-on-grade
The concrete sits right on the prepared ground, which suits a home or addition where you want the floor close to the yard and the budget is leading the decision. One engineering firm notes that post-tensioned or PT slabs, which have steel cables pulled tight inside them after the pour, generally take less labor and formwork than deep raised foundations, so the up-front cost comes in lower.
Raised foundation with a crawlspace
Footings and short walls hold the floor up off the ground and leave a crawlspace underneath. The same firm points out that the crawlspace keeps plumbing, mechanical and electrical lines fully reachable, which suits you if you expect to remodel or want future repairs to be easier.
Get a written foundation estimate for your lot
We reply within one business day. I'll come out, look at the lot and your plans with you, and put a free estimate in writing, with no obligation to go ahead.
(925) 536-0945- Based in
- Concord, CA 94519
- Hours
- Mon–Fri: 6 AM–11 PM, Sat–Sun: 8 AM–9 PM
What happens when you call us about a foundation in Concord?
Here's how a foundation job runs from your side, from the first call to the day we walk the finished work together.
Call or send the form
Call (925) 536-0945 or use the form with your address and what you're building, and we'll set a time for me to come out. If you already have plans or a soils report, send those along too.
I walk the lot with you
I look at the site and your plans with you, explain the choices and what each one costs you, then put the estimate in writing. You get what the job includes and what it costs, so you know what you're paying for before you decide.
Permits, the pour, the walk-through
Once you're set, we sort out the city or county side, then build the foundation with me on site. When it's done, we walk the finished work together so you see what's under your house before anything covers it.
Why Concord homeowners call King Concord Concrete Works for foundations
The owner estimates it and builds it
I come out to look at the job and write the estimate, and then I'm on site with our small crew of form setters and finishers. The person who answered your questions is the one checking the forms before the pour.
Licensed and insured on your job
We're licensed and insured. That matters on a foundation, where a crew, forms, steel and a concrete truck are all working on your property at once.
Explaining the options since 2020
We've been at this since 2020, and I'd rather you check things yourself than just take my word for them. Concord's Project Pal tool shows your zoning, the permits a project needs and an estimate of the permit fees, so you can look up your address before I come out.
If you've got plans or a soils report in hand, send us the details and I'll set a time to come look at the lot.
Foundations, soils reports and permits in Concord
The city requires a geotechnical or soil report, an engineer's study of the ground under the house, for every new home, every hillside project and any foundation that differs from the one already there, so if that's your job, put the report in your plan and your budget from the start. New homes also need a Site Development Permit from the city's Engineering Division, and so do ADUs, additions and garages of 750 square feet or more. A lot in a flood zone other than Zone X adds an elevation certificate and a foundation designed to the code the city names for flood areas. State hazard maps also put parts of Concord inside earthquake hazard zones, and inside those zones the city has to require a study of your specific site before new homes are built. The city's submittal requirements for new buildings and additions lay this out, and since each rule can change how the foundation is designed, your address is the first thing I ask for.
We're based in Concord and work in the cities around it, so if yours isn't listed, call and ask. Much of our foundation work is for ADUs and additions behind existing houses, where forms, steel and concrete have to come through a side yard, so I plan access on the first visit, the same as on jobs in Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill.
Questions about foundation installation in Concord
How much does foundation installation cost per square foot near Concord?
A concrete foundation in the San Francisco market usually costs about $7 to $18 per square foot, and that's a modeled estimate for that market, not our price. Where your job lands depends on the foundation type, what the report and engineer call for, and the lot itself. I'll put your own figure in writing after I've seen the site.
What is the best way to choose between a slab and a raised foundation?
Wait until you have the soils report, because one engineering firm says the choice depends heavily on your budget, your design goals and the expansion index in that report, which measures how much the soil swells when it gets wet. The cost and crawlspace points in the options above cover two of those, and the report settles the third. Once we can read it together, I'll go through what you gain and give up with each.
Why does clay soil matter for a house foundation in California?
Clay soaks up water and swells, and an engineering firm explains that when winter rains hit California, that swelling pushes upward with great pressure. A foundation has to be designed to handle that push, which is why the soils report and the engineer's plans usually set how deep it goes and how much steel it carries. We build to those plans, not to a rule of thumb.
What other city permits might a new foundation in Concord need?
If the job moves soil or touches the public right-of-way, like the sidewalk or street in front of your house, the city's Engineering Division issues separate grading and encroachment permits. Those come on top of the Site Development Permit described above for new homes and larger additions. Sorting out which ones apply to your job is part of the city side we take care of.
Will a new concrete foundation crack like my old one did?
Most concrete gets some fine cracks as it dries and shrinks, but the wide, uneven ones people worry about usually trace back to the base, the drainage and the pour timing covered above. Where a slab is involved, we steer the rest with control joints, grooves cut in on purpose so the concrete cracks along a straight line we chose instead of wherever it likes.
How do I get ready for a foundation estimate?
Have the property address, what you're building and any soils report or engineer's plans you already have. With those, I can see on the first visit which reports and permits are likely in play and give you a written figure that matches the real job. Call (925) 536-0945 or use the form on this page to set a time.
Related concrete work for a new building
Concrete footings
When a deck, porch or small addition needs solid support at a few points rather than a full foundation, footings carry the weight down into firm ground.
Concrete parking lot building
A new rental or small commercial building usually needs parking, and pouring the lot with the right slope keeps rainwater off the pavement and away from the walls.
Cities where we install foundations
King Concord Concrete Works is based in Concord, California, and we install foundations across the 12 cities listed here, including Martinez and Clayton. These are the cities with their own pages, not the only places we work.
Concord, CA
Book a site visit for your foundation
Call (925) 536-0945 or send the form, and we'll settle the foundation choice with your lot in front of us instead of only on paper.