Concrete contractor in Anaheim, CA - driveways and patios built on solid ground

Most likely, because the city says most improvements need a permit before construction starts and only cosmetic work goes without one. An older city handout lists painting and similar finish work as needing none, and says a permit is needed before anything is built, altered, repaired, removed or demolished. Since that handout is older, the city's building permit page and the Building Division are where to confirm your own project, and we check your address before we start.

Ask the contractor for their California contractor's license and their Anaheim business license, since the city requires that business license even from contractors based outside the city. The state licensing board says a license is needed when a job requires a building permit, uses any other workers, or totals $1,000 or more in labor and materials, which takes in just about any real concrete job.

A project submitted now falls under the 2025 California Building Codes with Anaheim's own amendments, which cover anything submitted on or after January 1, 2026, while projects submitted before that date follow the 2022 codes. The city's amendments deal with the lay of the land, the climate and the geology here, and you can read them on the city's current codes page. When a project needs drawings, the city says a qualified person has to prepare them, usually a California licensed architect or engineer, and city staff won't draw them for you.

Your price comes from how much old concrete has to be broken out and hauled, how much digging and base work the ground needs, the size of the slab and the finish you choose. A broom finish, a light texture that keeps shoes and tires from slipping, costs less than stamped or colored work, and a hillside driveway or a tight side yard adds labor. If the budget's tight, I'd rather you go plain on top than cut the base, because nobody sees the base on day one but it decides whether the slab sinks and cracks.

Most of the cracking and sinking we see here starts under the slab, with a base that was raked level instead of dug out and packed, or water that soaked in because the slab drained the wrong way. Joints cut late or skipped let cracks pick their own path, and tree roots lift sections from below. We pack the base, set the slope, cut control joints on time and add rebar, steel that holds the slab together, where the job calls for it, so the hairline cracks concrete gets stay small and in the joints we planned.

An older city handout leaves retaining walls up to 4 feet tall, measured from the bottom of the footing, off its permit list unless they hold back extra load above them, such as a slope or a driveway. Taller walls and loaded walls aren't on that no-permit list, and because the handout is older, we check with the Building Division for your address before we build. The handout also says even no-permit work should be checked with Planning and Zoning for zoning rules, and a planner can be reached at 714-765-5139.