5 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Concrete Contractor in the Twin Cities

Most homeowners collect three bids and pick somewhere in the middle. That's a reasonable instinct, but price alone tells you almost nothing about what's going under your driveway. These five questions will tell you a great deal — and any honest contractor will enjoy answering them.

1. How deep do you excavate, and what goes in the base?

This is the single most revealing question you can ask in Minnesota. You want a specific answer: how many inches of material get removed, what aggregate goes back in, and how it gets compacted. Vague answers like "we prep it properly" usually mean a thin scratch base and a slab that starts moving in year two.

Freeze-thaw damage almost always begins beneath the surface. A contractor who is proud of their base prep will happily talk your ear off about it.

2. Are you licensed and insured — and can I see the certificate?

Ask for a current certificate of general liability insurance and workers' compensation coverage. If an uninsured worker is hurt on your property, or a skid steer clips your neighbor's fence, you do not want that landing on your homeowner's policy. Also ask who pulls the permit when one is required, particularly for retaining walls over about four feet.

3. Who will actually be on my property?

There's a meaningful difference between a company that sends its own crews and one that sells the job and subcontracts it to whoever is available that week. Ask whether the person quoting the job will be on site, how many people will be there, and who your point of contact is day to day.

At Crosstown, the owner is on every job. It's not a marketing line; it's why we still get calls from customers we served in the 1990s.

4. What exactly does your warranty cover?

Ask for it in writing and read what's excluded. Concrete will develop hairline cracks — no honest contractor warranties against all cracking. What should be covered is workmanship: settlement from inadequate base prep, joints that fail, pavers that sink, walls that lean. Ask how long the company has been in business, too. A ten-year warranty from a three-year-old company is a coin flip.

5. Can I see three local projects from five or more years ago?

Anyone can show you photos from last month. New concrete always looks good. What you want to see is work that has survived five, ten or twenty Minnesota winters — and preferably in your own suburb, so the soil conditions are comparable. Drive by. Look at the joints, the edges, the surface texture, whether the pavers are still flat.

Two red flags worth walking away from

• A large cash deposit demanded upfront, or a discount for paying in cash with no written contract.
• A bid dramatically below the others. It is almost always a shallower base, thinner slab or a mix without the right air entrainment — you'll pay the difference later, with the tear-out on top.

What a good bid looks like

A clear written scope: square footage, excavation depth, base material and thickness, slab thickness or paver type, joint layout, edge detail, drainage plan, cleanup and disposal, schedule and payment terms. If those items are on the page, you're dealing with a professional. If the bid is one line and a number, keep looking.

We've answered these questions for Twin Cities homeowners for fifty years, and we'd rather you ask them of everyone you're considering — including us. Call Greg at 952-835-0343 for a free estimate.