Concrete footings in Sunnyvale CA - a solid base that carries the load into the ground

Most people call us because something new is going up, like a deck, a patio cover, a garden wall or a room addition, and the plans show footings under it, or because a concrete retaining wall or a new slab needs a proper base. The price mostly moves with how many footings there are, how much digging and steel the plans call for and how easily we can reach the spot. The schedule usually depends on whether the city needs to review the plans and inspect the work. When I come out, I look at all of that, and afterward you get the scope and the price in writing.

I start every footing job by asking what it will carry, whether a post, a wall or the edge of a slab, because that decides which type of footing fits and what the plans need to show. With the plans approved, we lay out each footing where they place it, dig it out and clean the bottom down to firm, undisturbed soil, since a footing works through the soil right under it and loose dirt left in the hole will settle later. Then we set the forms and the rebar, the steel bars that help the concrete hold together under load, wherever the plans call for it. We call for any inspection the job needs, pour, and let the concrete set properly before anything is built on it. We clean up and haul away the extra dirt as we go, and I keep the job as simple as the plans allow.

Footings often come with other work. If a new footing has to go under an existing patio or garage floor, we use concrete cutting to open a clean section rather than breaking out more than we need to. If an older footing has already let a corner of the house or a porch sink, foundation raising may be the right first step, and I'll tell you at the visit whether that needs to come before any new concrete.

In Sunnyvale, the city decides whether a footing job needs a permit, through its One-Stop Permit Center at City Hall, where building, fire, planning and engineering staff review building plans. The city says every project has different requirements, so I don't assume yours is exempt, and when it isn't clear, we check with the permit office before we start.

Soil is the other thing I raise at the estimate. The state maps liquefaction zones, which are areas where the ground can lose strength in an earthquake. Inside them, the stability of foundation soils has to be investigated and countermeasures built into buildings people occupy, and cities have to use these zones when they issue permits. On our jobs here, and in Santa Clara and Mountain View, we mostly see flat lots with older homes getting new additions, decks and walls, so I ask early whether your lot falls in one of those zones, because the answer can shape the plans.