A new driveway and apron, a sidewalk the City says is yours to fix, or footings and a slab on difficult ground — poured to the City’s standards, with the Right-of-Way permit handled for you. Free on-site estimate, quoted by the owner.
CSLB #979389 · C-29 Licensed · Bonded $25,000 · Free on-site estimates
City concrete by the numbers
On your own lot, a driveway, walk or patio slab 30 inches or less above grade needs no City building permit (SDMC §129.0203). The moment the work crosses the property line — a new or wider apron, a curb cut, a replaced sidewalk panel — it is public right-of-way, and “all improvements in the Right-of-Way require review and approval” (Information Bulletin 165).
The City also puts the sidewalk out front on you: normal wear, age and damage from your own trees are the owner’s to repair, and a Right-of-Way permit is required for every sidewalk repair. Get the driveway’s geometry right while you’re at it — at least 20 feet long from the back of the sidewalk, 12 to 25 feet wide on a lot over 50 feet, and never steeper than 20%.
Footings, slabs and flatwork mixed, reinforced, jointed and cured for the ground they sit on. County-wide detail is on our concrete page.
Driveways
Tear-out and replacement, widening and new curb cuts — the slab on your lot thickened where cars turn, the apron built to the City’s standard drawings under a Right-of-Way permit, with Rapid Review where the design is City-standard.
Sidewalks
Lifted or cracked panels the City has flagged as the owner’s responsibility, replaced under a Right-of-Way permit with the existing scoring and colour matched.
Footings
Footings for walls, additions, fireplaces and posts, excavated to firm soil and inspected before the pour. Structural work always needs a permit — we handle it.
Slabs
Patio and equipment slabs, side-yard walks and steps, broom, exposed-aggregate or stamped, with control joints cut at the right spacing so the cracks go where we put them.
Tear-out
San Carlos, Pacific Beach and Point Loma driveways and walks poured fifty or more years ago, broken out and replaced on a proper base instead of overlaid.
Steps
Poured or block-cored steps on hillside entries, with uniform risers and a landing at the sidewalk that drains to the street, not the house.
Concrete is specified by its 28-day compressive strength; early tests only track progress. It reaches that strength only if it stays moist — the ACI default is 7 days of curing, or until it reaches 70% of design strength — which is why we cure every pour instead of walking away from it. Joints go in at roughly 24 to 36 times the slab thickness, cut a quarter of the way through.
The ground under a City slab ranges from Point Loma sandstone to Mission Valley river alluvium the City’s own geotechnical review calls unsuitable for improvements in its current state, and the Rose Canyon fault — capable of an M6.9 in the USGS scenario — runs through the middle. Footings for walls and structures follow City standards such as the 3,000-psi footing concrete in IB 221, and on poor ground an engineer’s design.
IB 165 covers curb, gutter and sidewalk replacement, new sidewalk, residential and commercial driveways and curb ramps. A City-standard residential driveway (remove and replace, or new) and up to 150 linear feet of curb, gutter and sidewalk replacement qualify for Rapid Review; a non-standard design needs a full plan submittal, and work tied to a building permit isn’t eligible. Plans show the curb-to-property-line distance, the sidewalk and utilities, and a Traffic Control Permit may also be needed.
The driveway itself is set by SDMC §142.0560(j): openings follow the Regional Standard Drawings, the curb cut stays at least 3 feet from the side property line, there’s one driveway per lot without alley access, and two driveways serving the same lot need 45 feet of full-height curb between them. Inside the Parking Impact Overlay Zone a single-dwelling driveway is capped at 12 feet wide.
Both work on a San Diego lot. Here’s how they differ once the City’s rules and the ground come into it.
| Poured concrete | Pavers | |
|---|---|---|
| On your lot | Exempt to 30 in above grade | Exempt to 30 in above grade |
| Apron at the curb | Built to the City’s standard drawings | Apron still follows the City standard |
| After a utility dig | Saw-cut and patch — the patch shows | Lift and relay the same pavers |
| National installed cost | $5–$8/sq ft plain; $14–$21 stamped | $8–$25/sq ft |
| Heat | Reflects 30–50% of sunlight new | Depends on colour and finish |
Costs: ConcreteNetwork (Jan 2026) and Fixr (Aug 2025), national. See our San Diego pavers page for the paver side.
Lot width, curb-to-property-line distance, slope, existing joints and utilities — the facts the City’s plan form asks for.
On-lot work exempt or not; Rapid Review or a full submittal for the right-of-way; traffic control if the street is involved.
Old concrete removed to clean, firm soil; soft spots dug out and replaced with compacted base.
Forms set to grade and fall, base compacted, reinforcement placed and chaired; right-of-way forms inspected before the pour.
Placed and finished to the specified texture, joints tooled or saw-cut at the right spacing, and the sidewalk scoring carried across the drive.
Cured, not left to dry; you’re told when to walk and when to drive on it.
Planning one? Shaun will walk the site with you and tell you what it needs — free, no obligation.
Call (619) 581-2492Demolition, access and the right-of-way work drive City jobs more than the yardage does. Published national figures to start from — not our quote:
| Item | Published range |
|---|---|
| Plain gray driveway (ConcreteNetwork, 2026) | $5–$8 per sq ft |
| Broom, coloured or exposed aggregate (ConcreteNetwork) | $8–$14 per sq ft |
| Stamped, two or more colours (ConcreteNetwork) | $14–$21 per sq ft |
| Typical two-car driveway, national (ConcreteNetwork) | $3,200–$13,000 |
| 24 × 24 ft, 5-in broom-finish driveway (Fixr, 2025) | $3,460–$6,910 |
National cost guides; San Diego labour and tear-out usually sit toward the top. Right-of-Way permit fees are set by the City and quoted separately.
The rules are citywide; the ground isn’t. ZIP figures are Census ACS 2020–2024 estimates.
The San Diego page covers the ground, permits and neighbourhoods across every kind of job. The county-wide pages go deeper on the build itself.
Straight answers before you hire. Anything else — call, and Shaun answers it himself.
Call (619) 581-2492The part on your lot is exempt if it’s 30 inches or less above grade (SDMC §129.0203). The apron, curb cut and any sidewalk you touch are City right-of-way and need a Right-of-Way permit (IB 165); a City-standard residential driveway goes through Rapid Review.
For a detached single-dwelling lot over 50 feet wide, 12 to 25 feet; on a lot 50 feet or narrower, 12 to 20 feet; and 12 feet maximum inside the Parking Impact Overlay Zone (SDMC Tables 142-05M and 142-05N). The curb cut stays at least 3 feet from the side property line.
In the City of San Diego, normal wear, age and damage from trees on your own property are the owner’s responsibility. The City covers damage from street trees in the right-of-way, City utility work, heat expansion and subsidence. Every sidewalk repair needs a Right-of-Way permit.
Up to 5% with no transition. Steeper than that, the City requires a 20-foot transition at 5% or less after the apron, and no part of the driveway may exceed 20% (SDMC §142.0560(j)). On San Carlos and Point Loma hillsides that often shapes the whole design.
Walk on it after about 24 hours and drive on it after about 7 days (ConcreteNetwork). The ACI default is 7 days of curing, or until the concrete reaches 70% of its design strength — and the design strength itself is measured at 28 days, so keep heavy trucks off for the first month.
Yes — and where a driveway crosses the sidewalk, the City requires the sidewalk’s scoring pattern and colour to continue across it.
Shaun holds California contractor licence #979389 (C-29), verifiable at cslb.ca.gov, and pulls the City permits on the jobs that need them.
One visit covers the measurements the City asks for, the permit path and the price. Call Shaun directly.
