Question 1

How long does a driveway take from start to finish?

Accepted Answer

A standard two-car driveway is three days on site. Day one is tear-out and haul-off, day two is excavation, compacted base, forms and steel, and day three we pour, finish and saw the control joints before we leave. A larger or stamped drive runs four to five. The part people forget is the waiting. You stay off it on foot for 24 hours, off it with cars for 7 days, and off it with anything heavy — a loaded moving truck, a dumpster, a concrete delivery for the neighbors — for 28 days. We work the sequence around where you are going to park before we ever start.

Question 2

Can you pour concrete in the winter?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and we do it most Januaries — but only when we can protect the slab. We need unfrozen ground, air temperature holding around 25 degrees or better through the pour window, and a forecast that gets the concrete through its first 48 hours above freezing. That means heated water in the mix, an accelerator and insulated blankets over the finished slab. What we will not do is pour on frozen subgrade or in front of a hard cold snap just to keep a crew busy. Frozen ground thaws, settles, and hands you a crack the following spring. Stamped and decorative work we push to warmer weather outright: cold dulls the color and you cannot rush the finishing window.

Question 3

What do I need to do while it cures and through the first winter?

Accepted Answer

For the first week, less than you would think. Stay off it for 24 hours, keep vehicles off for 7 days, and leave the curing compound alone — do not wash it, cover it with plastic or drive stakes through it. If we ask you to keep it damp during a July pour, that means a light sprinkle a couple of times a day, not a sprinkler running on it. The first winter is what matters. No de-icing salt on new concrete, and honestly none ever if you can avoid it — salt is why ten-year-old drives look pitted and flaky. Use plain sand for traction, shovel with a plastic blade instead of steel, and keep your downspouts discharging out and away from the slab edge.

Question 4

Does stamped concrete have to be sealed, and how often?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Sealer is what holds the color and keeps water out of the surface; unsealed stamped concrete goes chalky and washed-out inside two seasons. We put the first coat on around 28 days after the pour, once the slab has finished curing, and that first seal is included in your price. After that, plan on re-sealing every two to three years in Kansas City. It is a few hundred dollars and an afternoon of work — we will come back and do it, or tell you exactly which product to buy if you would rather handle it yourself. We also broadcast a fine grit into the sealer on steps and pool decks, because sealed stamped concrete is genuinely slick when wet and nobody mentions that at the sales table.

Question 5

Do you tear out and haul away the old slab?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it is its own line on your quote so you can see what it costs instead of finding it buried in a lump sum. We break out the old concrete, load it and haul it to a recycler that crushes it back into road base. It does not go to a landfill. Our own crew does the demolition, so nobody you have never met turns up in your driveway with a hammer. We lay plywood runways over turf and beds for the machine, saw a clean edge at the garage or the property line so we are not tearing up what stays, and pull the approach permit where the city wants one. Your street gets swept every night we are there.

Question 6

How does payment work?

Accepted Answer

A deposit at scheduling holds your date and covers material; the balance is due after the final walkthrough, once the work is finished and you have looked at it. We never ask for the full amount up front. If something genuinely unforeseeable turns up below grade we stop and price it in writing before we carry on, so the last invoice matches the quote you approved. Cash, check and card are all fine. Cabrera Concrete does not offer financing or payment plans.

Question 7

How far out are you booking right now?

Accepted Answer

Two to five weeks through spring and fall, which is when everyone calls at once. Mid-summer and winter are usually quicker and we can often start inside two weeks. The estimate itself is fast — every request gets answered within 4 business hours, and we are normally standing in your driveway within a few days. We only book what our own crews can pour, which is why we quote three weeks instead of taking work we cannot staff. The date we give you is a real date. The one thing that moves it is weather: rain or a hard freeze can slide a pour a day or two, and you will hear that from us the evening before, not at seven in the morning from a truck that never showed up.

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