Concrete driveway building in Santa Barbara CA - a slab built for what you park on it
Driveway cracked, sinking or holding water? We dig out, pack the base and pour a new slab sized for your vehicles and sloped to drain.
- Fully licensed and insured.
- Free in-person estimates.
- We reply within 1 business day.
What goes into building a new concrete driveway in Santa Barbara?
Concrete driveway building in Santa Barbara, CA starts with clearing out plants and soft soil and packing a firm base, then setting the grade so water runs away from your garage, and ends with a broom-finished slab designed for the vehicles you park on it.
Most people call us when the old driveway has cracked through, settled on one side or started sending water toward the garage, and they want to know what a new one involves before anything gets torn out. We do this work across the South Coast and the cities around it, from Goleta and Carpinteria up to Santa Ynez and down to Ventura. The price moves with the size of the slab, whether old paving has to come out first, how much digging and packing the ground needs, how heavy your biggest vehicle is and whether you want a plain or decorative finish. The schedule turns on what the city or county office needs for your address and on how long you'll be parking somewhere else while the new concrete gains strength. I measure the job and send a written estimate that spells out what's in it, so you know your own number before you decide.
How do you know your driveway needs replacing?
Cracks that keep spreading
Fine cracks are normal in concrete, but cracks that widen, branch out or break the slab into loose pieces usually mean the ground underneath has moved. Every rain sends more water through them into the base, so the damage spreads faster the longer it waits.
One side sinking or tilting
When a slab drops at one edge or leaves a lip where it meets the garage or the walk, the dirt under it usually wasn't packed before the pour and has settled since. Patching the top won't lift it, and the lip keeps growing into something you trip on and drive over.
Water pooling near the garage
Puddles that sit at the garage door or in a low spot after rain mean the slab falls the wrong way or has sunk. Left alone, that water soaks under the slab and toward the house, which softens the base and makes the sinking worse.
How our concrete driveway building works
Before anything else I ask what the heaviest vehicle on the driveway will be, because the load shapes the whole plan, and then we talk through the layout and how the finished grade will move water away from your garage. On the job our crew strips out plants and soft soil, packs the fill into a firm subgrade, which is the ground the slab rests on, and sets the forms to the grade we planned. Where the design calls for rebar, the steel inside the slab that holds it together if it cracks, it goes in before the pour. We pour early in the day rather than in midday heat, which can leave a weak, dusty top, then give it a broom finish, a light texture that gives tires and shoes grip, and cut control joints, shallow grooves that tell the slab where to crack, before it picks its own spots. If the budget gets tight, I'll cut back on a fancy finish before I cut back on the base, because the base is what keeps the slab flat and nobody can fix it once the concrete is on top.
Driveway jobs often run into the rest of the yard. If you're also thinking about a back patio, we do concrete patio construction with the same base work and drainage planning, and if you'd rather the drive not be plain gray, our stamped concrete services press a pattern and color into the surface. Across the trade, decorative finishes like stamping, color and exposed aggregate take much more care and experience than a standard broom finish, so it's worth knowing who'll be doing yours.
Solid slab with a broom finish
This suits most driveways and anyone parking a truck, trailer or RV, because one continuous slab carries the load across its whole width. It's also the simplest to sweep and keep clean.
Ribbon driveway
Two concrete strips carry the tires, with a center strip of grass, groundcover or gravel that lets water soak in, and it costs less to install than a full slab. It suits a straight, simple drive, but the center needs tending and your wheels have to stay on the strips.
Pervious concrete
Pervious concrete lets rain pass down through the slab into the ground instead of running off it. It suits owners who'll schedule regular cleaning with vacuum sweeping and pressure washing, because debris clogs its pores and stops the water.
Get a written estimate for your new driveway
We reply within one business day to set a time. I come out, measure and look at how water moves across your lot, then send a free written estimate with no obligation.
(805) 869-0160- Based in
- Santa Barbara, CA 93101
- Hours
- Mon–Fri: 6 AM–10 PM, Sat–Sun: 8 AM–10 PM
What happens after you call about a driveway in Santa Barbara?
From your first call to the final walk-through, you'll deal with me and our crew, and you'll know what's in the price before any work starts.
Call or send the form
Call (805) 869-0160 or use the form, and tell us the rough size, whether old paving comes out and what you park on it. We'll set a time for me to come out.
I measure and check drainage
I measure, look at the ground and where water runs across it, and ask how you'll use the driveway. Then I send a written estimate that spells out the base work, the slab, the finish and what's included, so you can see where the money goes.
We check rules, then pour
Before we set a date we check what the city or county needs for your address and get the site fully ready. Our crew forms, pours and finishes with me on site, and then the slab needs time to cure before anyone parks on it.
Walk the finished driveway together
When it's done I walk the driveway with you, look over the grade and the joints, and tell you when it's ready for cars. If anything about the work doesn't look right to you, that's the time to say so.
Why Santa Barbara homeowners call Premier Santa Barbara Concrete for driveways
I measure every job myself
I do the site visits and estimates myself, and I'm on site while our crew forms, pours and finishes. The person who looked at your ground and asked about your vehicles is the one watching the base go in.
Building flatwork here since 2017
I learned the trade on a flatwork crew here in Santa Barbara, the side of concrete that covers driveways, patios and walks, and started this business in 2017. Slabs that sit flat and shed water are still what we're best known for.
Licensed and insured for concrete work
We're fully licensed and insured. If something goes wrong on your property during the job, you aren't the one left carrying it.
Your satisfaction, guaranteed. When you're ready to talk about your driveway, get in touch or call (805) 869-0160 and I'll come take a look.
Driveways, patios and storm water rules in Santa Barbara
The City of Santa Barbara's storm water program sorts projects by how much hard surface they add or replace, and a driveway counts. A project with less than 500 square feet of new and redeveloped hard surface in total is Tier 1, where concrete over ground that used to soak up water counts as new and concrete over old paving counts as redeveloped. Above that, the city says a Tier 2 project has to capture and soak in the runoff from 1 inch of rain over that surface, and taking out existing hard surface can meet part or all of it, such as replacing a driveway with permeable pavement, which is one reason a ribbon layout or pervious concrete is worth talking through. Removing as much paving as you're adding, or more, meets it in full. We check with the city or county office that covers your address before we set a date, and if the job needs a permit, we pull it or walk you through it and plan the schedule around review and inspections.
We tear out a lot of older driveways that were poured on raked dirt instead of a packed base, which is why they've settled and cracked, and owners often widen the drive or add a parking pad at the same time. We see the same tired original drives on jobs in Goleta and Montecito, and the work runs the same way there.
Questions about concrete driveways in Santa Barbara
How much does a new concrete driveway cost in Santa Barbara?
I can't give you an honest number without seeing the site, because tear-out, base work and the load the slab has to carry change the cost more than the square footage alone. A ribbon layout costs less to install than a full slab, while stamping, color or exposed aggregate add to it. The written estimate from my visit lists each part so you can compare it line by line.
How thick should my concrete driveway be?
There isn't one right thickness, because local or project requirements set the thickness and the concrete mix, and the vehicles you park on it can change the design. Heavier loads or weak ground call for a different plan than a typical car driveway, and any spot that crosses a trench, a culvert or recently filled ground needs its own support underneath rather than just thicker concrete. Tell me the heaviest thing you'll park there and I'll design around it.
How long does a new concrete driveway take to cure before I can drive on it?
Plan to park somewhere else for a while after the pour, longer than the wait before you can walk on it, because concrete keeps gaining strength well after it feels hard. That wait is curing, and while it lasts the new edges and corners are the easiest parts to break with early traffic. The color or a hard surface tells you little about when it can take a car, so I'll tell you at the walk-through.
Do Santa Barbara's storm water rules affect my new driveway?
They can, because the city counts driveway concrete toward a project's hard surface, and the total decides which storm water tier your project falls in. Larger projects have to soak in their runoff, and removing old paving can count toward that, as laid out above. We check this for your address before we set a date.
Who is allowed to build a concrete driveway in California?
In most cases a licensed contractor, since the state licensing board defines a concrete contractor as one who forms, pours, places, finishes and installs pavement and flat concrete work. The state's minor work exemption, which lets someone take a job without a license, has a $1,000 limit and applies only when the work needs no permit and that person employs no one on the project. Ask anyone you're weighing for their license before you sign.
What causes a new concrete driveway to crack?
Concrete shrinks as it dries and the ground under it moves a little, so most slabs get some cracks, and the ones that cause trouble usually trace back to a loose base, joints cut late or skipped, or a pour in the heat of the day. Nobody can honestly promise a driveway that never cracks. What we can do is handle those three things the way I described above, so any cracks have the best chance of landing in the joints while the slab stays level.
Related concrete work around your driveway
Concrete patio construction
Adding a patio while our crew is already set up lets us match it to the driveway's grade, so both slabs carry water away from your house.
Stamped concrete services
If a plain gray drive looks too bare for the front of your house, a pressed pattern and color can give it the look of stone or brick.
Where we build concrete driveways
Premier Santa Barbara Concrete is based in Santa Barbara, CA, and builds driveways across the South Coast. The eight cities below have their own pages, including Carpinteria and Santa Ynez, and they aren't the only places we work.
Santa Barbara, CA
Get your driveway measured and priced
Send the rough size, whether it replaces old paving or covers open ground, and the heaviest vehicle it'll carry, so I can come out with the right questions already in mind.