Commercial concrete subcontractor in Norfolk, Virginia

The scope we self perform

The work is flatwork and the concrete that sits alongside it. Curb and gutter, sidewalks and walkways, city sidewalk replacement, ADA ramps and detectable warning, slab on grade, building pads, dumpster and generator and equipment pads, aprons and approaches, loading areas, footings and stem walls, and removal and repour where an existing section has to come out before anything new goes down.

Self perform matters on a bid sheet. The concrete scope is not brokered on to another sub after award, so a question about a detail gets answered by the person who will be on site when it is poured. That is the practical difference between a number you can build a schedule around and a number that turns into a second conversation in week three.

What this is not is a structural concrete operation. Elevated decks and multi story cast in place are somebody else's scope. The work that fits here is the flatwork package on a small commercial project, the site concrete on a building job, or a concrete only scope that a larger contractor has passed on because the quantity does not justify their mobilization.

If a package contains scope outside that list, say so in the invitation rather than assuming it is covered. A bid that quietly excludes half a scope is worse for an estimator than a decline, and the exclusions belong on the page and on the proposal, not in a phone call after award.

What we need to price a package

A complete bid comes back fastest when the invitation carries four things. The plan set, or at least the civil and architectural sheets that show the concrete. The bid due date, so the package gets sequenced against everything else being priced. The scope you want covered, because a plan set rarely makes the split between the concrete sub and the site contractor obvious. And the schedule window for the pour, since that is usually what decides whether a job can be taken at all.

Specifications move a price more than square footage does. Mix design, thickness, reinforcement, subgrade preparation requirements, jointing layout, and the finish and cure called for on the drawings all change what a job costs to build. If those live in the project manual rather than on the sheets, send the relevant sections with the plans and the number will reflect them instead of a standard assumption.

Access is the other thing worth saying out loud at bid time. Whether a truck can reach the pour, whether there is somewhere to wash out, and whether the work has to happen around an occupied building or a live drive aisle are all questions that change the plan and the price. They are cheaper to answer in the invitation than on the morning of the pour.

Tell us in the invitation what the project requires on wage rate, inspection and documentation so it is settled before a number goes in. Requirements like those are not obstacles, they are inputs, and a bid put together without knowing about them is a bid that has to be revisited.

How a job runs after award

Preconstruction starts with a site walk. Concrete work lives and dies on access and on where the water goes, and both are settled before a date is committed rather than discovered once the trucks are ordered.

Subgrade is the part of the job that decides how the finished work performs. Compacting the subgrade, correcting soft spots, confirming grade and setting forms to the elevations on the drawings are the work that happens before anything interesting shows up on site. Rushing it is the single most common reason flatwork cracks in a pattern nobody wanted, and it is the part of a low bid that usually explains the difference.

Placement is scheduled around the concrete, not around the calendar. Ready mix has a working window, and that window shortens in the heat and stretches in the cold. Pour sequence and the finishing plan get set to match the volume and the conditions, so the last truck is placed and finished to the same standard as the first one.

Finishing and curing follow the specification on the job. Broom, float and trowel are the standard finishes and the drawings usually make that decision for you, with decorative and stamped work available where a project calls for it. Jointing is laid out to the plan and cut on time, because a control joint cut late has already lost the crack it was there to control.

Closeout means the scope is cleaned up, the forms are out, the washout is handled and the punch list is walked rather than mailed. On a small commercial job the concrete sub is often the first trade to finish and the easiest to forget, so we close out in person.

Why a smaller sub is sometimes the right call

The flatwork package on a small commercial project is an awkward size for the market. It is too large to hand to a residential driveway crew and too small to be attractive to a contractor whose overhead is built around highway and large site work. Those packages get bid late, bid high, or not bid at all.

That gap is the work this business is set up for. A short scope, a tight site, a package under the threshold where the large outfits start paying attention. The advantage to a general contractor is a real number from a sub who actually wants the job rather than one who priced it defensively because they hoped to lose it, and an early no when it is not a fit.

The trade off is honest and worth stating. This is not the operation to call for a package that needs several pours running at once or a scope outside flatwork. It is the operation to call when a job is the right size, the site is tight, and you want the person pricing it to be the person pouring it.