Concrete Footings in Ventura CA - planned around the soil under your project

Most people call us when they're planning an addition, a garden wall, a patio cover or a small building and the plans say it needs footings. What moves the price is how much digging and concrete the job takes, how easily we can get equipment and the truck to the spot, and whether the project calls for a soil engineer or a permit with plan review. The schedule turns on those same things, since any permit review or soil check has to happen before we dig, and the estimate is where you get your own numbers. If the footings are part of a bigger build, our foundation installation work covers the rest of what goes under a house.

It starts before anyone picks up a shovel, because footings depend on the ground they sit in, so on my first visit I ask about any disclosures you have on the soil and whether the project may call for a soil engineer. Once the plan is set, we mark out where each footing goes, check where water runs on the lot so it isn't headed toward the new work, and dig down to firm, undisturbed soil instead of loose fill. We set the forms, the wood sides that hold wet concrete to shape, and tie in rebar, the steel bars that keep the concrete from pulling apart if the ground moves. We pour early in the day when we can, because concrete that dries too fast in midday heat ends up weaker, then we finish the tops and keep the concrete damp while it cures, which is the slow hardening it needs before anything heavy goes on it.

Footings often sit next to other work. When part of a house has already settled and needs lifting back into place, foundation raising is the job, and new footings can be part of it. When a new footing has to go where a patio, driveway or garage floor already sits, we use concrete cutting to open a clean section instead of breaking out more slab than we need to.

The city's Ventura Permit Services issues permits with plan review for home alterations, additions and new construction, and its list names those jobs, not footings on their own, so the list alone doesn't settle whether your footings need a permit. When a job needs one, we figure out which city or county office covers your address and take care of the paperwork with them. Digging brings in more rules, because the city requires grading plans and permits when a site involves excavation or fill, with extra requirements in hillside areas. The county's seismic hazard map also shows where the ground may liquefy or slide in a strong earthquake, and if your lot sits in one of those zones, you may be required to look into that hazard and reduce it during permitting, before the dig starts. Inspections are requested through Permit Services, so if your permit calls for one, we plan the pour around it.

We're based in Ventura and work across the cities around it, and on jobs in Ojai and Santa Paula we meet the same mix of flat yards and sloped lots where the ground has been cut and filled. Either way, we find out what the soil is before we decide how deep to dig.