Questions Summerville homeowners ask us
Licensing, permits, prices, the builder's driveway, foam lifting, lot coverage, easements, earthquakes and floods — the short answers. Anything we missed, call and ask.
Are you licensed and insured?
Yes. South Carolina requires a Residential Specialty Contractor registration for concrete work over $500 and a Residential Builder license for work over $5,000 — the crews that work through us hold both — and they carry general liability and workers' compensation. We hold the Town of Summerville business license and Berkeley County's permit authorization card. The documents are available before you sign.
Do I need a permit for a driveway?
The apron does, from whoever owns the road: the Town ($25 encroachment permit), Dorchester or Berkeley County (free), or SCDOT (free) on US 17-A, US 78, Dorchester Road, Bacons Bridge Road, SC 61 and US 176. Inside the Town, every new driveway is Town-approved, the curb cut is limited to 12 feet on lots under half an acre, and the Town won't issue a building permit for a new house until the county or SCDOT apron permit is approved. See the guide.
How much does a driveway cost?
About $7–$11 per square foot reinforced, so a 24-by-40 two-car driveway is roughly $6,500–$10,900, plus $1.20–$1.90 a square foot to tear out the old one. A culvert apron on a swale road adds $2,500–$5,500. Stamped runs $10–$17; pervious $12–$18. Everything is itemized in writing after we've measured.
Do you charge for estimates?
No. An estimator measures the job, probes the ground, reads the plat and runs the coverage math, and leaves a written price good for 30 days.
Do you require a deposit?
Not until you've approved the written price and we've scheduled the work. Flatwork is paid on completion; foundation work may be staged at the inspections.
Why did my 2005 driveway fail?
Because of what's under it: a scraped lot with no base, no steel and three and a half inches of concrete, on soils with the water table a foot down in winter or clay that swells. The replacement gets the base, the steel and the thickness the builder skipped.
Can you fix a sunken slab without replacing it?
If the concrete is sound, yes — polyurethane foam lifting raises a sunk garage approach, walk or pool deck in a morning at a third of replacement. If it's cracked into pieces or unreinforced on clay, replacement is the honest answer. About half of what we're called about can be lifted.
What's the lot-coverage cap?
The Town counts every paved surface and everything under roof as impervious coverage and caps it at 30 percent of the lot in GR-2 and GR-3, 35 in GR-5. Pervious concrete is excluded. We run the math before quoting a patio or a driveway extension; see the guide.
Can I pour in an easement?
No. The Town says no structures in any easement; Dorchester County prohibits driveways in easements in those words; Summerville CPW's sewer easement is ten feet each side of the pipe. We read the plat first and place the slab where it's allowed.
What is seismic D2?
The Seismic Design Category the Town requires for houses, because the 1886 Charleston earthquake (magnitude 7.03) was centered near Middleton Place and the fault is still active. It means engineered continuous footings, reinforcement, anchor bolts and hold-downs. Our foundations are built to the engineer's D2 plan and inspected before the pour.
Does the flood map affect a patio?
A patio at grade, not much — it has to drain and sit on a base that won't wash out. An addition, yes: both counties require the finished floor two feet above base flood elevation in a mapped zone, which sets the foundation height.
Where does the old concrete go?
To the crushing yards in North Charleston as base stone wherever they'll take it — cheaper and better than the landfill. What they won't take goes to Berkeley County's landfill at $100 a ton; Dorchester's convenience sites don't accept contractor debris.
How soon can I use it?
Walk on a slab the next day, cars in seven days, trucks in two to four weeks. Foam-lifted slabs are usable the same day. In summer we pour at first light so it sets before the heat.
Do you serve Nexton, Cane Bay and Goose Creek?
Yes — and Carnes Crossroads, Knightsville, Sangaree, Ladson, Lincolnville, Ridgeville, Moncks Corner and all of Summerville. Three counties, each with its own permit office, and we know which is which.
Do you really answer at night?
24 hours a day, every day. A person picks up and an estimator calls back the next morning.