Concrete driveway building in Fremont NE - poured on mild days so it cures right
Is your drive cracked, sinking or pooling water? We pour a new concrete driveway and tell you plainly when you can park on it.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free estimates at your property.
- We reply within 1 business day.
What does it take to build a new concrete driveway in Fremont?
Concrete driveway building in Fremont means we break out the old drive or start on open ground, then form, pour and finish a new slab that gives you a paved place to drive and park, with an entrance that ties your lot to the street.
Most calls come when the old drive has cracked through, sunk by the garage or started holding water, and the first questions are always the same ones: the cost, how long you'll be without the drive, and whether the new one will crack like the old one. The price moves with the size and shape of the drive, whether old concrete has to be broken out and hauled off, how the ground slopes, the finish you pick and whether the entrance meets a city street. The schedule turns mostly on the weather and on the city's sign-off at the street, and the written estimate I give you after the visit puts those pieces into figures for your own drive.
How do you know your driveway is due for replacing?
Cracks across the drive
Cracks that run across the slab or split into a web usually mean the drive moved with nothing to guide where it broke, often because water got underneath. Each winter, water gets into those cracks, freezes and widens them, so the pieces start rocking and chipping at the edges.
A sunken slab by the garage
When a section drops at the garage or the sidewalk, the ground beneath it has usually given way, and that leaves a lip you can trip on or catch a shovel on. It also tends to tip water back toward the house, which is the last place you want it.
Water pooling on the drive
Puddles that sit for hours after a rain mean the slab has the wrong fall or has settled into a low spot. In winter that water turns to ice and works into the top, and that's how a drive starts to flake and pit.
How we build a concrete driveway
Before we form anything, I look at where the water runs off your lot, and where the drive meets a city street, we sort out the entrance paperwork with the city first. Then we break out and haul away the old drive if there is one, set the forms so the finished slab falls away from your house and garage, and pour on a date with mild days ahead, starting early so midday heat doesn't dry the top too fast and leave it weak and dusty. We give it a broom finish, a light brushed texture so tires and shoes grip when it's wet, and we cut control joints, shallow grooves that give the slab a straight place to crack. Concrete does crack in time, and joints cut on time are what keep most of those cracks in the grooves instead of across the middle of your drive. After that the slab needs to cure, which is the slow hardening it has to finish before it can carry weight, and I tell you plainly which day you can park on it.
Plenty of people do other work at the same time as a new drive. If the back of the house needs a place to sit, we handle concrete patio construction too, and if you'd like a pattern instead of a plain finish out front, that's part of our stamped concrete services. Pricing them at the same visit saves you a second appointment.
Broom-finished drive
This suits most homes because it's plain, it grips well in wet weather, and it's the simplest to look after. If the budget is tight, this is the finish I'd point you to, because the money does more good in the drainage and curing than in the looks.
Stamped or colored drive
This suits a homeowner who wants the front of the house to look finished, and it costs more because of the extra work in the pour. It still needs the same slope, joints and curing underneath the pattern, so we don't trade any of that for the look.
Get a written estimate for your new driveway
Send the form and we'll reply within one business day to set a time for me to see your drive. The estimate is free and done at your property, with no pressure to book.
(402) 512-8158- Based in
- Fremont, NE 68025
- Hours
- Mon–Sun: 8 AM–9 PM
What happens when you call about a new driveway in Fremont?
Here's how a driveway job runs, from your first call to the day I walk the finished drive with you.
Call and set a visit
When you call, I set a time to come out, look at the drive and listen to what you have in mind. While I'm there I check where the water runs and where the drive meets the street.
Review your written estimate
After the visit you get a written estimate for your drive, so you can read it over and compare it with other quotes at your own pace. If anything on it isn't clear, call me and I'll explain it.
We handle permits, then pour
Once you're ready, we take care of any permits, pick a pour date with the weather in mind and do the work with our own crew. Plan another spot for your car from the pour until the curing wait is over.
Walk the finished drive together
When we finish, I walk the drive with you and go over how to look after it through its first months. That's a good time to ask me anything you've been wondering about.
Why Fremont homeowners call Fremont Concrete for a new drive
The owner writes your estimate
I come out myself to look at the drive and write the estimate, and our own crew does the work while I'm on site to check it. You deal with the person responsible for the job from the first visit to the last.
A licensed, fully insured business
We're licensed and fully insured. Nebraska requires every contractor to register with the state before doing construction work, and Fremont asks contractors on permitted jobs inside city limits and the two-mile zoning area to register with the city as well, but the state says registration doesn't ensure quality, so you can check a contractor's registration with the state and still judge them on how straight they are with you.
In business since 2017
I learned this trade on a Fremont finishing crew, started this business in 2017, and I still answer my own phone. If a new drive isn't what you need, I'll tell you so before you spend the money.
Satisfaction guaranteed. When you're ready, call (402) 512-8158 or use our contact page, and have your address, a rough size for the drive and whether it meets a city street on hand. Thank you for considering us.
Driveways and street entrances in Fremont
Fremont requires the city's permission for any driveway entrance onto a street. On that work the City Engineer sets the proper elevations, and the entrance has to stay within the city's maximum width of 32 feet, which matters if you were hoping for a wide apron. Before any work begins, Nebraska 1 Call is reached by dialing 811 so every buried utility gets marked, and an inspection is requested before the approach, the stretch where your drive meets the street, is poured. We handle that application and book the inspection for our part of the job. The city's building official issues permits for buildings and structures, and whether the private part of your drive up by the house needs a permit of its own is a question I take to the building official before we start, rather than guess.
Most of the drives we replace around Fremont fall short in the same ways, with water running back toward the garage, joints cut late or not at all, and tops that flake after years of freezing and thawing. We see the same thing on jobs in Blair and Schuyler, and we fix it the same way, by getting the slope and the joints right before we think about the finish.
Questions about concrete driveways in Fremont
How much does a new concrete driveway cost in Fremont?
The cost comes down to the size of the drive, whether the old slab has to be broken out and hauled away, how much the ground slopes and which finish you choose. A plain broom finish keeps it lower, a stamped or colored finish raises it, and a city street entrance adds the permit and inspection step. I'll come out, measure and give you a written estimate for your own drive.
How long does a new concrete driveway take to cure before I can drive on it?
You can typically drive and park on a new concrete driveway seven days after it's poured. RVs and large trucks should wait at least 28 days, so plan other parking for that first week and longer for anything heavy. I'll tell you the day for your drive before we leave.
Can concrete be poured in cold weather in Fremont?
It can be, but concrete cures best when the air stays above 50° F, and in colder weather curing slows a great deal or can stop altogether. That's why we plan the pour for a stretch of days that stays above 50° F, and late in the year I'd rather wait for the right forecast than rush a slab into the cold.
What is the best way to protect a new concrete driveway in its first winter?
Keep deicing salt off it and use clean sand for traction instead. Guidance from a Canadian concrete group says to keep calcium, magnesium and sodium chloride off new concrete, and guidance written for Michigan says to hold off on deicers until the slab is a year old, since a drive poured in October or November may not dry long enough before they go down.
What kind of concrete mix should a driveway in Nebraska use?
Ask for air-entrained concrete, a mix with tiny air bubbles worked through it that give freezing water room to expand. Guidance from a Canadian concrete group calls it a must to prevent scaling, the flaking of the top layer, so it's worth asking whether the mix in each quote you get is air-entrained.
Should I seal a new concrete driveway?
Sealing is worth considering, and guidance from a Michigan concrete group recommends a store-bought penetrating concrete sealer. Apply it according to the maker's directions on the product you buy, since those decide how and when it goes on, and I'm glad to go over it when we walk the finished drive.
Related services for your driveway project
Concrete patio construction
When you're planning a new drive, a back patio is worth pricing at the same visit, so we can plan where the water runs off both slabs at once.
Stamped concrete services
If plain gray isn't what you want at the front of the house, a stamped pattern can give the drive the texture of stone, brick or slate.
Service areas for our driveway work
Fremont Concrete is based in Fremont, Nebraska, and builds driveways in the 7 cities listed here, from Gretna to La Vista, along with other cities nearby. Pick yours to see what we run into on jobs there.
Fremont, NE
Get your new driveway on the calendar
A quick look at where your drive meets the street tells us early whether city paperwork has to come before the pour.