Concrete Contractors in Gretna, NE

Gretna has grown fast enough that many people hiring concrete contractors in Gretna are finishing a house that was built only a year or two ago. The town counted 5,083 residents in the 2020 census and an estimated 9,071 in 2022. A lot of those new homes came with a driveway and a front walk, and little else. The backyard patio, the side pad for a trailer, the walk to the gate and the shed slab are left for the owner to add, and that is the work we do most often here.

Building on freshly graded lots

New subdivisions are graded in big passes, then houses go up, then yards are finished. The soil under a backyard in a new Gretna development is often fill that has not had many seasons to settle. Before we pour a patio or pad on a lot like that, we look for soft spots, check how the yard slopes away from the house, and compact a rock base thick enough to bridge minor settlement. Pouring straight onto loose topsoil is the fastest way to get a cracked patio by the second spring.

If your lot is still new, it can be worth waiting until the yard has been through one wet season before you add a large slab. We will tell you honestly if we think that is the case for your property.

Near two rivers

The Elkhorn River joins the Platte about 1 mile south and 3 miles west of Gretna. Properties on the lower ground toward the rivers can have a higher water table and sandier soils than lots on the hills in town. For shop floors and garage slabs on acreages out that way, we check drainage carefully, add a vapor barrier where a building will be heated, and set the floor high enough that water runs away from the overhead door.

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A railroad town that kept growing

Gretna started after the Burlington Railroad built an Omaha to Ashland line in 1886, and the town site was platted in 1887. The older core still has blocks of older homes with original walks and steps, which are a different job from the new subdivisions. There we replace heaved walk panels, rebuild front steps, and pour replacement driveways that fit narrow older lots.

Schools, traffic and timing

Gretna Public Schools covers about 70 square miles and has passed several bond issues to build new facilities, a sign of how quickly families are arriving. New neighborhoods mean construction traffic and busy streets. We plan concrete deliveries and pumping around school hours where we can, and we keep ready-mix trucks off fresh lawns and sod.

What we pour in Gretna

• Backyard patios, plain or stamped, sized for new outdoor living areas
• Driveway extensions and side pads for trailers, boats and extra cars
• Walks to gates, sheds and back doors
• Shop, pole barn and garage slabs on acreages
• Repairs in the older part of town, from steps to sunken panels

Check your covenants first

Many new Gretna subdivisions have covenants and architectural review for patios, pads and fences. Get the approval you need before the pour, or send us the rules and we will design to them. Call (531) 217-5944 to set up an estimate.