Foundation installation in La Verne, CA - a solid base built to your plans and lot

Usually, when someone calls us about a foundation, they have drawings in hand or nearly so, and they want to know what happens before anything is poured. The price follows the size and type of foundation in the plans and how much the lot has to be dug out and prepared. The schedule turns mostly on the city's permit and inspection steps and on getting the ground ready, so your written estimate is where you'll see our figure for your project. Where the city requires a permit, we handle the application and set up the inspections.

A new foundation starts with the plans from your design professional, and we build to them. I also suggest you check your lot against the state's earthquake hazard maps early, since what they show can shape the plan. Our crew lays out the footprint, digs the footings and packs the subgrade, which is the soil the concrete sits on, so the foundation isn't resting on loose dirt. Then we set the forms and tie in the rebar, the steel inside the concrete that holds it together when the ground moves. Once any required inspection is done, we pour with me on site, finish the top and let the concrete cure, the slow hardening that gives it its strength, before the forms come off. If a budget has to give somewhere, I'd rather it come out of the finish than the base, because nobody sees the base once the house is on it, and it's the part that decides whether the floor stays level.

Some projects need work beside the main pour. Where the plans call for separate pads under posts, porches or a garage wall, we pour those as concrete footings, and if the new building needs paved room for cars, we also handle concrete parking lot building. If your lot calls for drilled piers, piles or a retaining wall, the residential concrete code for house foundations doesn't cover them, so their design is a separate matter for your engineer.

If a lot in La Verne sits in one of the state's mapped earthquake hazard zones, the state has found that weak soil or rock is likely beneath it. Unless proper precautions are taken during grading and construction, that ground can fail in an earthquake and damage the house. That's why we treat the maps as a planning step that comes before design, not after the forms are set. The state rules for those zones don't apply to a single-family frame home of up to two stories that isn't part of a development of four or more units. The city can be stricter than state law, though, so we check with the city on each job, and your design professional decides what the plan needs.

Many foundation jobs here are additions and garages next to a house where a family already lives. We keep the street clear for the neighbors, protect the yard where the forms and trucks go, and clean up each day. We're based in La Verne and work the same way on jobs in San Dimas, Claremont and the other cities around us.