Concrete cutting in Ventura CA - clean, straight cuts with the dust kept down
Need room for a drain line, a doorway or a new section of slab? We cut it straight and leave the rest in one piece.
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What is concrete cutting, and when do you need it?
Concrete cutting in Ventura means using saws and core drills to make straight cuts in a slab or wall, smaller openings and round holes, so you get room for a doorway or a pipe, drain or conduit line without breaking up the whole slab.
Most calls start with something that's in the way. Maybe you want a drain run across the garage floor, a doorway in a concrete wall, or a cracked stretch of driveway taken out so a new piece can go in, and you'd rather not tear out the whole slab to get it. The price mostly comes down to how many feet of cutting there are, how thick the concrete is, whether there's steel in it, how many round holes you need and whether the pieces get hauled away. The schedule turns on whether the slab needs a scan before we cut and whether the work touches the street, so I come out to look at it with you, and that on-site estimate gets you your own figure.
How we do concrete cutting, from the scan to cleanup
When I come out, we mark where the cuts go together, and I work out whether that slab or wall helps hold up the building, because if it does, we arrange a scan before any cutting to find the rebar, the steel bars set in the concrete, plus any post-tension cables, steel strands pulled tight inside the slab, and any pipes or wires running through it. Then we pick the saw that fits the surface and cut wet, with water fed to the blade the whole time, so the dust stays down instead of drifting into your house. Once the cuts are made, we break out and haul the pieces if that's part of your job, and we clean up before we leave. Your quote lists the saw cuts, the holes and the hauling as separate items, so you can see what you're paying for and what you're not.
Cutting is often the first half of a bigger job. When a cracked or sunken stretch of driveway comes out, we can pour the new section with concrete driveway building, and when a trench goes under the patio for a drain line, we can put that part back with concrete patio construction so it sits level and drains the way it should.
Concrete cutting in Ventura near the street and the storm drains
Work in the city's right-of-way, usually the strip along the street, or in its easements needs an encroachment permit from the City of Ventura, and the city's list names driveway, fire line and sewer lateral work but not concrete cutting. That list alone doesn't settle whether your cut needs one, so if the job sits at the curb, the sidewalk or the end of the driveway, the city is the place to ask before anyone starts. When a job does need a permit, we figure out whether the city or the county covers your address and take care of the paperwork with them.
We're based in Ventura and work across the cities around it, and we get the same calls on jobs in Oxnard and Camarillo as we do here, mostly garage slabs that need a drain trench, driveways losing a cracked section near the street and patios with a new line going under them. Ventura's storm drains run to local creeks, rivers and the ocean without treatment, so anything left in a driveway or the street ends up there. That's part of why we clean the work area and your driveway before we pack up.
Saw cuts and core holes
Get an itemized concrete cutting quote
We reply to every call and request within one business day. I'll set a time to come out, look at the cut with you and give you a free estimate on site, with no obligation to book.
(805) 507-9817Concrete cutting questions from Ventura homeowners
How much does concrete cutting cost per foot?
Professional slab saw cutting across the US usually runs about $4 to $15 per linear foot, and that covers the sawing, not breaking out or hauling the pieces. Reinforced or thicker slabs cost more per foot than thin, easy-to-reach ones, and on a small job a minimum or trip charge can count for more than the footage. I'll give you your own price after looking at the job in person.
Does the price of concrete cutting include removing the concrete?
Not always, because sawing and removing are separate jobs, and some cutters make the cuts and leave the panels lying where they were. Ask whether a quote includes breaking out and hauling the pieces, or decide ahead of time who's taking them out. On ours, hauling is its own line, so there's no guessing.
Do I need a city permit to cut concrete near the street in Ventura?
If the work lands in the city's right-of-way, check with the city first, as I covered above, and plan on some lead time either way. For encroachment permit work, the city wants to hear from you three working days before construction starts, and it asks that Underground Service Alert be called at 811 three working days before any digging so buried lines get marked. We build those waits into the start date.
How do I tell if my concrete slab is post-tensioned?
One scanning firm says to look for patched rectangles or circles along the edge of the slab, and for warning signs or stamps near stairs or garage ramps. The same firm suggests checking the structural drawings for "PT" notes, and if you can't confirm it, treating the slab as post-tensioned until a scan shows otherwise. Cutting one of those tight cables is dangerous, which is why we scan before cutting any slab that holds up the building.
What is the best way to cut concrete inside a garage or basement?
Indoors, the saw's fuel matters as much as the blade, because a gasoline-powered saw fills a closed room with carbon monoxide. There's a documented case of workers in a basement who died from carbon monoxide while running a gasoline-powered wet concrete saw. So before we cut inside, I plan the saw and the airflow around that.
Is concrete cutting dust dangerous?
Yes, cutting concrete throws off silica dust, which Cal/OSHA calls a known cause of cancer and of silicosis, a lung disease with no cure that's often fatal. For walk-behind saws, California's silica rule lists a saw that keeps feeding water to the blade. That's how we cut, wet, so the dust settles in the water instead of hanging in the air around your house.
Get your Ventura concrete cutting quote
Call (805) 507-9817 or use the form with photos, where the cut goes, about how long it is and how many holes you need, so I show up knowing what to bring.