Eau Claire, WI · Northwestern Wisconsin Closed now (715) 450-9897
(715) 450-9897

Concrete in Eau Claire

Concrete in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Concrete flatwork, aprons and curb in Eau Claire. Commercial pours go down at 4,500 PSI with tied rebar, priced and scheduled with the asphalt.

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A poured concrete apron running from a parking lot up to a loading dock door on a metal industrial building, with the asphalt tied in along its edge.
72,331 People in Eau Claire
4.7 Google ratingFrom 18 reviews
2-3 yrs Reseal cycleIn Eau Claire
400°F Crack fillerDirect-fire rubber

What a Concrete Job Looks Like in Eau Claire

The valley soils along both rivers are sandy outwash, in places tens of feet deep. Sand drains well, which is good, and it also migrates when water is moving through it, which is why so many failures here start at a catch basin or a downspout outlet rather than in the middle of a lot.

The other thing worth knowing about Eau Claire is the grade. A driveway on the Eastside Hill or up toward Putnam Heights sheds water quickly and wears at the bottom; a flat lot down near the confluence holds it. Those two need different answers, and quoting them the same way is how a contractor ends up sealing over a drainage problem.

Concrete specifically in Eau Claire

The commercial concrete Eau Claire wears out first is dock aprons and dumpster pads in the two big industrial parks, Chippewa Valley on the northeast side and Gateway Northwest off the North Crossing. Both are truck-heavy, and a pad sized for the container rather than the truck is the usual point of failure.

The Driveways and Lots in Eau Claire

Eau Claire sits where the Eau Claire River meets the Chippewa, on the northern edge of the Driftless Area. That matters for pavement more than it sounds: the city runs from river flats up steep slopes toward the east and south sides, so grade and drainage vary sharply from one neighborhood to the next. Clairemont Avenue, Hastings Way and the North Crossing carry most of the commercial traffic.

The most mixed stock in the valley. About a third of Eau Claire's houses were built before 1960 and nearly a fifth before 1940, while the single largest cohort is the 1970s at roughly 16 percent of all housing. In practice that means we work on everything here: narrow pre-war drives in the Third Ward and Randall Park, wide 1970s suburban aprons, and new construction on the edges.

It's also a heavy rental market. Close to a fifth of the housing sits in buildings of five units or more, which is why so much of our residential work here is actually small commercial: apartment lots and converted properties around the university.

Where we work in Eau Claire

  • Third Ward
  • Randall Park
  • Eastside Hill
  • North River Fronts
  • North Side Hill
  • Shawtown
  • Putnam Heights
  • Sherman Creek
  • Upper Westside

Around Eau Claire: Carson Park, Phoenix Park, Pablo Center at the Confluence, Banbury Place, Half Moon Lake.

Eau Claire averages 55.4 inches of snow a year against about 33 inches of total precipitation, so snow outweighs rain. Wisconsin's building code sets footings at a minimum of 48 inches below grade for frost, which is a fair proxy for how hard the freeze works on anything above it.

From our jobs

Job Photos

A fresh asphalt drive lane running up to a loading dock door at an industrial building, new yellow lines beside it
The approach paved up to the dock
A freshly poured concrete walk across the front of a commercial building, coned off, with the bollards set
A storefront walk poured and coned off
Two crew working a curb and gutter pour, radius forms and rebar in place
Curb and gutter: radius forms and rebar, on a Best Buy storefront
A freshly poured concrete walk running past steel bollards at a commercial storefront, coned off
A storefront walk poured around the bollards
A new concrete driveway running to a single garage at a blue house, caution tape across the street end
A driveway replaced, start to finish
A new concrete driveway poured down the side of a house, crossing the public sidewalk, cones at the street end
A driveway poured down the side of the house

All job photos

The joint between concrete and asphalt

Concrete and asphalt move differently. Concrete is rigid and moves at its joints; asphalt is flexible and moves everywhere. Where they meet, that difference has to be absorbed, and if it's not, the joint opens. Once it's open, water goes straight into the base under both of them. This is why so many lots fail first at the dock apron, the dumpster pad and the garage apron. Not because those slabs were bad, but because two different the line where they met was nobody's. We pour the concrete and lay the asphalt against it, so that joint belongs to the job.

What Decides the Price in Eau Claire

Flatwork prices per square foot and is easy to quote from measurements. Structural work like curb or a dock apron is quoted per project, because the forming is most of the labor and it doesn't scale with area.

Residential flatwork

Driveways, sidewalks, patios

Measured on site

  • Per square foot, broom finish, base prepared
  • Removal of the old surface priced separately

Garage or dock apron

Per project

Measured on site

  • Thicker slab, tied rebar, asphalt tied back in

Dumpster pad

Per pad

Measured on site

  • Heavy slab, because a loaded truck on a hot day is the worst case
  • Sized to the truck, not to the dumpster

Curb and gutter

Per linear foot

Measured on site

  • Straight run at the low end, radius work at the high end

What moves it: thickness, reinforcement, how much has to come out first, access for a truck, and whether the asphalt around it needs tying back in. Removal and haulaway is a real line and gets quoted rather than buried.

How the Work Goes in Eau Claire

Base, forms, steel, pour, finish, and the asphalt keyed back in against it.

Take out what's there

Broken slab out and hauled away, down to whatever the new pour needs to sit on.

Prepare and compact the base

Graded and compacted. Concrete poured on soft ground cracks on a schedule set by the ground, not by the concrete.

Form and reinforce

Formed to grade so water runs where it should, and reinforced where the span and the loading call for it. Radius forms for curb work.

Pour and finish

Placed, screeded, floated and broom finished. Control joints cut where the slab is going to crack, so that it cracks there instead of somewhere visible.

Tie the asphalt back in

The step most concrete contractors leave to somebody else. Asphalt keyed to the new edge, compacted, joint sealed.

Booking sealcoating and striping through October · Call (715) 450-9897

Questions We Get in Eau Claire

What Eau Claire calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
Do you work on the hills, or only flat driveways?
Both, and they're genuinely different jobs. A steep drive on the Eastside Hill sheds water fast and wears hardest at the bottom where everything collects. On the steepest ones cure time matters more, because sealer needs to sit still while it sets, so plan for the drive to be off limits a little longer.
We manage an apartment building near campus. Is that residential or commercial?
Commercial, and we quote it that way. Around a fifth of Eau Claire's housing is in buildings of five units or more. On apartment lots the bid puts in writing which areas get worked, so the manager can tell residents what to expect.
How much does a concrete driveway cost?
Thickness, reinforcement and access are what move it. A slab that has to carry vehicles is thicker than one that carries feet, steel adds cost and adds life, and a pour a truck cannot reach has to be barrowed, which is labour. Removing the old surface is quoted separately rather than hidden in the rate, so you can see what each part costs.
Concrete or asphalt for a driveway?
Concrete costs roughly two to three times as much up front and lasts longer with less maintenance. Asphalt is cheaper, goes down faster, handles frost movement better, and needs sealing every two to three years. Which one suits comes down to the loading, the frost and the budget.
Do you do curb and gutter?
Yes, including radius work, formed and poured to spec. It is priced by the linear foot, and a curve costs more than a straight run because the forms have to be built to the radius.
Why do dumpster pads fail so often?
Because they're usually sized to the dumpster instead of to the truck. The worst loading a pad ever sees is the front axle of a loaded refuse truck on a hot day, and a slab poured for the container alone isn't built for that.
How long before we can use new concrete?
It depends on the mix, and that is worth asking about rather than assuming. On a standard pour: foot traffic in 24 to 48 hours, vehicles after about seven days, heavy trucks at 28 days for a full-strength cure. Where the schedule will not take seven days, we spec a 4,500 PSI exterior mix instead. One of those is a loading dock apron we poured with tied rebar in a working parking lot: customers were driving on it three days later. Whichever mix your job gets, the window goes in the scope up front so you can plan around it before the pour.
Do you subcontract the concrete out?
The concrete and the asphalt around it are priced and sequenced together, so the joint between them is somebody's responsibility rather than nobody's.

Get a Free Estimate in Eau Claire

Tell us what it looks like and we'll come measure it. You get a written price before anything starts.

(715) 450-9897
  • Free on driveways and lots anywhere in the service area
  • A photo of the problem helps, and it can go in the message
  • Surfaces that are not ready yet get told so at the estimate

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Everything about concrete, including how the work goes and what changes the price