Concrete Footings in San Gabriel CA - a solid base sized for what it carries

Most people call us because they're adding a retaining wall, a room or a patio cover, and the plans or the city call for a footing under it. The price moves with what the footing carries, how well your ground holds weight and how easy the spot is to dig, and the schedule turns more on the city's sign-offs than on our crew. You get your own figure from the estimate, once I've seen the spot.

I ask early whether the footing holds up a whole wall or a single post, and whether you have soil test results, because both change what we build. Then we mark the layout, dig the trench or the pad holes, and set the forms and any steel the approved plans show. We have all of that ready before the inspector shows up so nobody waits on a second visit, and once it's signed off we pour, finish the top and let it cure. We haul off the dirt from the dig and leave the site clean, so you're not stuck with a pile in the side yard.

Footings often sit next to other work. If an old footing has settled and the wall or floor above dropped with it, foundation raising is the job that brings it back up before we add anything new. When a new footing has to go under an existing driveway, patio or garage floor, we start with concrete cutting to open a clean section instead of breaking up more than we need.

In San Gabriel, the Planning Division usually has to approve the project before a permit is issued, so that step goes at the front of the schedule, not the week before we dig. Permit applications go to City Hall, and either you as the property owner or a licensed contractor can pull the permit. Before work starts we settle with you who will handle it and what the city needs from us. The city also adds its own structural requirements to the building code because it sits close to earthquake faults, so the plan for your footing starts from San Gabriel's rules, not a generic plan from somewhere else.

Lots here are often tight, with narrow side yards and older garages close to the property line, so a lot of footing work gets dug by hand and the concrete comes in by pump or wheelbarrow. If a truck or pump has to sit in the street, the city's Engineering Division permits that, and we sort it out ahead of time so the neighbors aren't boxed in. We run into the same tight lots on jobs in Alhambra and Temple City.