Elite Concrete Kokomo · Howard County, Indiana
Concrete Contractor in Kokomo, Indiana
Driveways, patios, sidewalks, slabs, walls and garage floors, built for what Kokomo actually is: flat, wet glacial clay, a 30-inch footing line, and about 131 nights a year at or below freezing.
- Footings 30 in. below grade (Howard County)
- Air-entrained mix for salt and frost
- City driveway & curb-cut permits
Concrete Services for Kokomo Homes and Businesses
Ten kinds of work, each with its own page on the decisions you'll actually face: thickness, finish, repair or replace, what it costs. Pick the one that matches your job.
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Concrete Driveways
Tear-out, stone base, the city approach and an air-entrained pour sized for salt and frost.
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Concrete Leveling & Lifting
Raise sunken walks, steps and driveway panels instead of tearing them out.
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Stamped & Decorative Concrete
Stamped patterns, color and exposed aggregate, sealed against salt and freeze-thaw.
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Concrete Patios
New and extended patios, pitched away from the house so clay ground stays dry.
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Sidewalks & Walkways
Front walks and public sidewalk panels, plus the city paperwork and 50/50 program.
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Foundations & Slabs
Garage, shed, pole-barn and addition slabs, with footings below the frost line.
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Retaining Walls
Block and poured walls with the drainage stone that wet till soil demands.
"Touches the street" means the job may need City of Kokomo paperwork: a Driveway/Sidewalk Permit, and a right-of-way permit if it cuts the curb.
Cracked, Sunken or Flaking Concrete? Match the Problem to the Fix
Most calls start with a problem, not a service name. Here's how we sort them, including the cases where the cheaper fix is the right one.
Tap the one that looks like your slab.
The slab dropped, but it's in one piece
A walk panel that sank an inch at the joint, a driveway slab tipping toward the garage, a stoop pulling away from the house. The usual cause here is water softening the clay under the slab or washing out the fill. If the slab is still whole, it can be raised by pumping material underneath it: concrete leveling, by mudjacking or foam, for a fraction of a tear-out. If it's broken into pieces, lifting just raises broken concrete.
Cracks: cosmetic or movement?
No slab is crack-free; the industry's own guidance says so. Fine shrinkage cracks that stay tight are cosmetic. Cracks that keep widening, run through a panel with one side higher than the other, or let water pour in at the foundation mean something is moving. We handle sealing and patching too, and we'll tell you when patching would be money wasted.
Flaking, pitted or scaling surface
When the top layer peels off in flakes, that's scaling: freeze-thaw and salt working on a surface that was finished wet, overworked, or poured without enough entrained air. If the slab underneath is sound and level, a bonded overlay (concrete resurfacing) gives it a new wearing surface. If it's also cracked through and settling, an overlay will crack right along with it.
When replacing the driveway or walk is the honest answer
Broken across several panels, heaved by roots, draining toward the garage, or patched so many times the patches have patches: at that point tear-out and a new base cost less over ten years than repeated fixes. Start with driveway replacement or sidewalk replacement.
Dusty, stained or salt-pitted garage concrete
Winter slush from Kokomo's salted streets sits on garage floors for months. A floor that's dusting, oil-stained or pitting but still structurally sound is a candidate for grinding, patching and a coating; we can quote garage floor epoxy and polyaspartic coatings. A floor that's heaved or broken needs a new slab first.
How Much Does a Concrete Contractor Cost in Kokomo?
No concrete company in Kokomo publishes a price list, us included, because the same 400 square feet can be a one-day pour or a three-day tear-out depending on what's under it. What we can do is show you the published national ranges and tell you which way your job leans.
The cost of poured concrete is mostly not the concrete. It's tear-out and haul-away, the stone base, forming, the finish, and in town the permit and the 6-inch section at the curb. Small jobs cost more per square foot because a truck, a crew and a pump or buggy cost the same for a stoop as for a patio.
Hold back 10 to 15% for surprises. Half of Kokomo's homes were built before 1967 (Census median year built), so plenty of driveways and walks are on their second or third pour. Tear-out turns up old patches over brick, buried stumps, or no base at all, and we can't see that until the old slab is up.
| Job | Typical published range | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| New or replacement driveway | $8–$20 per sq ft | plain broom finish $6–$8; tear-out extra |
| Patio slab | $6–$15 per sq ft | a 12×12 patio runs about $850–$2,300 |
| Front walk or public sidewalk | $8–$12 per sq ft | about $2,000 for 200 sq ft |
| Stamped or colored work | $8–$28 per sq ft | pattern, colors and borders drive the spread |
| Garage, shed or pole-barn slab | about $4–$18 per sq ft | thin pads low, thickened foundation slabs high |
| Lifting a sunken slab | $3–$6 (mudjacking) / $5–$25 (foam) per sq ft | national average job about $1,241 |
| Retaining wall | $20–$60 per sq ft of wall face | block $15–$35; poured $20–$45 |
How a Concrete Company Should Run Your Job, Start to Finish
This is the order a residential pour in Kokomo goes in. If a bid skips a step, ask why.
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Before the bid
Measure the slab and check the drainage
Where does the downspout dump, which way does the yard drain, how thick is the old slab, is there any base under it?
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2+ working days ahead
Indiana 811 locate and the permit
State law requires the locate request at least two full working days before digging. In Kokomo the Driveway/Sidewalk Permit comes from City Hall; a curb cut needs a right-of-way permit applied for 5 working days ahead.
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Day 1
Tear-out and base
Old concrete comes out, at the street back to the nearest control joint as the city's handbook requires. Soft clay gets dug out and replaced with compacted stone instead of being covered up.
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Day 1–2
Forms, slope and inspection
Forms set for drainage away from the house. On public sidewalk, the city inspects the forms before any concrete goes in.
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Pour day
Air-entrained pour, broom finish, joints
Class A, air-entrained concrete per the INDOT spec the city uses, a broom finish for traction, and control joints cut or tooled at spacing matched to the slab thickness.
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First week
Curing
Cure compound or covers, at least 72 hours on public walks per INDOT. Walk on it in a day or two; keep cars off for about a week.
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First winter
No salt, sand instead
No deicers the first winter. A breathable silane or siloxane sealer goes on later, ideally in late summer after a few dry days.
What Kokomo Soil, Frost and Road Salt Do to Concrete
These three facts decide more about how long your concrete lasts than the brand of mix or the size of the crew.
Soil
Wet clay till under most yards
Howard County sits on the Tipton Till Plain: flat ground with 50 feet or more of glacial drift over the bedrock. The common soils are Crosby on the low rises and Brookston in the low spots. USDA describes Crosby as somewhat poorly drained, with a perched water table 6 inches to 2 feet down in wet season and 35–45% clay in the subsoil; Brookston can hold water right at the surface. Water that can't leave freezes under the slab and lifts it. That's why the stone base and the grade matter more than an extra inch of concrete.
Frost
A 30-inch footing line and 131 freezing nights
The Indiana Residential Code sets Howard County's minimum footing depth at 30 inches below finished grade (Miami and Cass counties just north are 36) and rates the whole state "severe" for weathering. NOAA's Kokomo station averages 130.9 nights a year at or below 32°F and 34.1 inches of snow. Every one of those thaw-and-refreeze swings works water into weak concrete, which is why the mix gets entrained air.
Salt
Salted streets end up in your driveway
In a 2023 storm, the city's street director said 22 trucks were out clearing 339 road miles. That brine rides into driveways and garages on every tire. Air-entrained concrete with a low water content resists it; a first-winter slab, wet-finished concrete, or a magnesium-chloride deicer does not.
Housing
Older blocks, newer subdivisions, different problems
From the Victorian houses of the Old Silk Stocking district near Wildcat Creek to post-war streets and newer subdivisions on the edges of town, the median Kokomo home was built in 1967. Older blocks bring narrow drives, old walks and mature trees; newer lots are often fill over former farm ground, where settling shows up in the first few years.
Kokomo's Pour Season, Month by Month
Thirty years of NOAA readings from the Kokomo 3 WSW station, with what each month means for outdoor concrete. Tap a month.
- Reliable pouring weather
- Cold nights common (40°F and below)
- Most nights freeze
- Bar = average low to high, 10°F per band
| Month | Avg high / low | Nights at or below 32°F | Snow | For a pour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° / 17°F | 27.8 | 10.6 in. | Ground is usually frozen, and concrete must never go on frozen subgrade. Outdoor flatwork waits; it is a good month to collect bids. |
| February | 37° / 19°F | 25.1 | 9.8 in. | Same as January. Line up the permit and the Indiana 811 locate now so a spring job can start on the first dry week. |
| March | 49° / 28°F | 21.4 | 5.2 in. | Warm afternoons, but about two nights in three still freeze. Any pour needs heated materials and blankets. |
| April | 62° / 39°F | 8.4 | 0.7 in. | The season opens on a gamble: 8 freezing nights on average. Fresh concrete has to be kept from freezing for about two days. |
| May | 73° / 50°F | almost none | none | Reliable pouring weather. Resurfacers (50–90°F) and exposed-aggregate retarders (55–90°F) are in their range most days. |
| June | 81° / 60°F | almost none | none | The wettest month (5.2 in.), so rain days shuffle the schedule more than cold does. |
| July | 84° / 63°F | almost none | none | Hottest month. Hot, windy afternoons cause plastic shrinkage cracks, so early-morning pours and prompt curing matter. |
| August | 82° / 61°F | almost none | none | Late summer, after a few dry days, is when NRMCA suggests sealing exterior concrete ahead of the salt season. |
| September | 77° / 53°F | almost none | none | Still prime. A September slab gets October to cure before freezing nights turn common. |
| October | 65° / 42°F | 5.0 | 0.1 in. | Half the nights drop to 40°F or below. Pours still happen, but the slab meets its first winter young: sand, not salt. |
| November | 50° / 32°F | 17.0 | 1.5 in. | More than half the nights freeze. Only heated, protected pours; most homeowners are better off waiting for spring. |
| December | 38° / 23°F | 25.5 | 6.2 in. | Winter. City salt trucks are out; keep magnesium and ammonium deicers off concrete of any age. |
Commercial Concrete Contractors for Kokomo Lots, Pads and Curbs
For businesses, churches, landlords and HOAs we do concrete flatwork: parking lot panels and approaches, dumpster pads, loading aprons, curb and gutter, sidewalks and ADA curb ramps. Ramps are where commercial jobs fail inspection, so we build them to the numbers below.
Two honest limits. Big structural packages, such as elevated decks, tilt-up walls or a new building foundation with engineered steel, belong with a larger commercial firm, and we'll tell you if yours is one. And if a site disturbs more than an acre, the city requires a stormwater pollution prevention plan before work starts, which adds time you should plan for.
Send us the site plan or a few photos for a flatwork bid.
- Curb ramp running slope
- 8.33% maxINDOT 604.03(a); ADA 1:12
- Ramp & walk cross slope
- 2% maxINDOT 604.03(a)
- Detectable warnings
- Full ramp widthtruncated domes, INDOT 604.03(g)
- Walk at a drive
- 6 in. thickor the drive's depth if greater, INDOT 604.05
- Air content
- 6.5% ±1.5%INDOT 702.05
- Site over 1 acre
- SWPPP requiredCity of Kokomo stormwater
Cement Contractors Near Me: Where Around Kokomo We Pour
All of Kokomo, including Indian Heights on the south side, which became part of the city in 2012, and the neighborhoods people actually call home: Forest Park, Country Club Hills, Highland Springs, Willowridge, Webster Estates, Markland Heights and the older blocks downtown. Outside the city we work across Howard County, from Russiaville and the Center area to Greentown, plus Sharpsville, Windfall, Galveston and Converse.
Past Peru or Tipton, ask anyway. If a job is far enough out that we couldn't get back quickly for a punch-list item, we'll say so and point you to someone closer rather than take it.
Footing Depth Changes at the County Line
Tap a county number. Six inches of extra footing depth is the kind of thing a bid copied from another job misses.
- Howard County: footings 30 inches below grade. Kokomo, Indian Heights (part of the city since 2012), Russiaville, Greentown, Cassville, West Middleton and the farm ground between. Inside city limits a driveway or walk needs the city's Driveway/Sidewalk Permit; outside them, a new drive onto a county road goes through the Howard County Highway Department.
- Miami County: footings 36 inches. Peru, Bunker Hill and Converse. Six inches deeper than Kokomo for the same garage, porch or wall footing.
- Cass County: footings 36 inches. Galveston sits just over the Howard County line, and its footings go to the deeper Cass County number.
- Tipton County: footings 30 inches. Sharpsville, Windfall and Tipton. Same depth as Howard County, but a different county's permit office.
Kokomo Concrete Contractor Questions
Do I need a permit to pour concrete in Kokomo?
For a driveway or sidewalk, yes. The City of Kokomo issues a Driveway/Sidewalk Permit for "installing/replacing a driveway or sidewalk," and any driveway or walk that needs a curb cut also needs a right-of-way permit, applied for at least 5 working days ahead. The permit office is on the first floor of City Hall, 100 S. Union St. Outside city limits, a new drive onto a county road goes through the Howard County Highway Department. A backyard patio isn't on the city's list, but ask before you assume.
Does the City of Kokomo license concrete contractors?
No. The city's permit page says plainly that it "does not require general contractors to be licensed," and recommends checking references. Work in the street right-of-way is different: the contractor needs a permit, and most right-of-way work also needs a bond on file. So ask any contractor for proof of insurance, recent addresses you can drive past, and who pulls the permit.
Can I put salt on new concrete?
Not the first winter. The ready-mix industry's guidance (NRMCA, Concrete in Practice 2) is to avoid deicers on concrete in its first winter and use clean sand for traction. After that, plain rock salt or calcium chloride is acceptable. Never use magnesium-based or ammonium-based deicers on concrete of any age, and hose off the salty slush cars drag onto a new driveway or garage slab.
How late in the year can concrete be poured in Kokomo?
Concrete can be poured in cold weather, but it costs more. Once the air is at or below 40°F, INDOT's rules require heated materials and protection, and the industry guideline is to keep fresh concrete from freezing until it reaches about 500 psi, roughly two days. Kokomo averages about 131 nights a year at or below freezing, so most flatwork is scheduled spring through fall. A late-fall driveway also goes into its first winter young, which is the main reason we'd rather pour it earlier.
I only need a load of concrete for my own project. Can you deliver it?
That's a ready-mix supplier, not a concrete contractor. Kokomo has a ready-mix plant (imi Concrete & Supply on East Havens Street) that sells concrete by the yard. If you'd rather someone else place and finish it, that's where we come in.
What's the difference between cement and concrete?
Cement is the gray powder; concrete is cement plus sand, stone and water. "Cement contractor" and "concrete contractor" mean the same tradesperson. The mix matters more than the word: outdoor work in Kokomo should be air-entrained concrete, which INDOT specifies at 6.5% air, give or take 1.5%.
Get a Concrete Estimate in Kokomo
Tell us the job, rough size and where it is. Photos of the old slab, the downspouts and the street edge save a trip. You'll get either a written range or a time to come measure.
- Written scope: tear-out, base depth, thickness, finish, joints
- Who pulls which permit, and what it costs
- What we'll do if the tear-out finds something bad