About Concrete Contractors of Abilene, Texas | Concrete Contractors of Abilene

Concrete Contractors of Abilene places foundations, slabs, paving and flatwork for owners across Abilene and the Big Country, and coordinates the utilities and earthwork that go with them. The concrete trade partners handle the placing and finishing. The underground trades and the dirt work sit with trade partners who work under our coordination and run on the same calendar as our forms and pours, which leaves an owner or a prime contractor with a single calendar to follow.

The work here is shaped by institutions. Abilene is the regional center for an air base, hospitals, universities, school districts, churches, county and city government, agricultural processing and the wind and utility sites that dot the surrounding counties. Those owners buy construction through documented procedures, so we have organized our company around documented procedures: every inspection is a scheduled event, and every closeout binder is treated as part of the product.

What we build

Most of our work starts below the building. We prepare pads, place footings and stem walls, and pour slabs on grade for shops, clinics, classrooms, warehouses and plants. Heavier work includes industrial floors, equipment pads, containment, truck courts and dock aprons. Around the building we place sidewalks, curb and gutter, parking and the accessible routes that tie a site to its street.

Underground and earthwork scopes are the other half of the ground-level package. Water, sewer, storm drain, fire lines, duct banks, conduit trenching, grading, excavation, soil treatment and drainage structures are all scopes that owners ask us to organize. We do not claim to perform those trades ourselves. We choose partners who do them well, hold them to the inspection calendar and keep their records alongside ours.

The ground we build on

Clay over caliche is the condition that every Abilene project has in common. It carries load well when its moisture is stable and badly when it is not, and a long dry spell can open the ground while a wet spring swells it again. Drought cracking is the result when a slab, a sidewalk or a drive was poured without respect for that movement. We deal with it through proof-rolled pads, moisture control before placement, joint layouts that follow the column and fixture plan and curing that is matched to the weather.

Summer heat and wind are the other constants. We place early in the day, keep a second delivery window open, use windbreaks and curing compounds when the air is drying the surface faster than the concrete can bleed, and watch cylinder breaks as closely as the calendar. A pour is finished when the cure is finished, not when the crew leaves.

Who we work for

Our clients fall into groups that buy differently. Commercial developers want a pad that lets a tenant open on a fixed date, while general contractors and construction managers look for a subcontractor that reads the drawings against the soils report and raises conflicts before bid day. Schools, hospitals, cities, counties and districts buy through public procedure, and we bid and build accordingly.

Industrial and energy clients tend to need work around live operations: plant floors, compressor and equipment pads, vaults and duct banks. Farm and ranch owners need drainage, traction and durability. Homebuilders need cycle time. Each of these groups has its own page on this site that explains how we price, schedule and document the work, and we have written those pages to be read by the people who will actually sign the contract.

How a project runs with us

We start with documents: the drawings, the soils report, the specifications and the owner's schedule. If a footing depth conflicts with the bearing recommendation, or a paving section does not suit the truck loading, we say so in writing before the bid is due. That habit prevents change orders, and it also tells an owner early whether the people they are hiring read what they were given.

Next comes the plan for inspections. Each hold point, whether it is subgrade, steel, forms or the pour itself, goes on a calendar with a name and a lead time. The owner's inspector and the city's reviewer are notified before the crew mobilizes. Third-party testing for strength, slump and compaction is tied to the date and location of every placement, and results are filed as they arrive, not at the end.

Closeout is the last step and the one we care about most. Delivery tickets, test reports, inspection sign-offs, joint layouts, photographs and as-built notes are organized by building area and phase. A lender, a buyer, a district facilities director or a plant engineer can pick up the binder years later and find what they need without calling us.

Where we work

Our base market is Abilene, from downtown to the university district, the airport area and the Dyess Air Force Base area. From there we mobilize crews along Interstate 20 and the US 83 and US 277 corridors to Sweetwater, Clyde, Merkel, Baird, Cisco, Eastland, Ranger, Breckenridge, Coleman, Anson, Haskell, Stamford, Hamlin and the smaller communities between them, as well as Winters, Albany, Throckmorton, Aspermont, Roby and Rotan.

Distance is a real planning input. For a job in a smaller community we check the haul from the nearest batch plant, because travel time affects slump and set, and we plan chilled water, retarders or smaller loads when summer demands them. We group nearby work so a single mobilization serves several sites, and we say so in the estimate.

Buildings and sites

The buildings we pour for range from warehouses and metal-framed shops to manufacturing plants, tilt wall buildings, hangars, cold-storage and food processing facilities, clinics, schools, civic buildings, hotels and apartments. A joint layout that works on a warehouse floor informs the way we plan a clinic slab, and a cure method developed for August informs everything else.

We also keep the long view in mind. Owners of institutional buildings hold them for many years, so the slab, the walk and the apron have to be readable and repairable by whoever inherits them. Our records and our joint layouts are written for that reader.

What owners can expect from us

Expect a plain estimate that separates pad preparation, utilities, footings, slab, paving and flatwork, with allowances and alternates labeled so they can be accepted or declined. Expect a pour plan that shows the day, the hour, the pump, the crew and the contingency for weather. Expect the inspector to be notified before we arrive rather than after, and expect the coordinating site supervisor to tell you when something in the field differs from the drawing.

We would rather describe how we work than recite a history. What we can show is the method, the market knowledge and the records that come from following it. To see how that works on a specific kind of project, the pages on this site for municipal and public works and industrial and manufacturing owners are a good place to begin.

Common Questions

Do you perform the utility and earthwork trades yourselves?

No. Concrete placing and finishing is done by the concrete trade partners. Utilities and earthwork are carried by trade partners we coordinate, scheduled around the same inspections, with their compaction and test records filed beside ours in a single binder.

Which owners do you usually work for?

Commercial developers, general contractors and construction managers, school districts and hospital owners, cities and counties, industrial and energy operators, farm and ranch owners, and homebuilders. Each group is described on its own page, with the pricing and documentation that fit how that owner buys.

How do you handle the clay soil in this area?

We read the soils report before pricing, proof-roll the pad, condition the moisture before placement and lay out joints to follow the structure. We also explain to owners what ordinary hairline movement looks like and what a cracking pattern that needs attention looks like.

Can you work on a public bid?

Yes. We review bonding, insurance and reporting requirements at the invitation stage, price on the owner's bid form with quantities and unit prices visible and attend the pre-bid meeting when one is held.

What do I receive when the work is finished?

A closeout binder organized by building area and phase: delivery tickets, strength and compaction reports, inspection sign-offs, joint layouts, photographs, cure notes and as-built sketches.