Concrete Contractors in Norman, OK

Norman is our home market, and the concrete contractors who work here have to plan for a city that is far bigger than most people picture. The 2020 census counted 128,026 residents, making Norman the second-largest city in the Oklahoma City metro and the seat of Cleveland County. Wikipedia lists about 189 square miles inside the city limits, a span that runs from tight lots around the University of Oklahoma to wooded acreages near Lake Thunderbird. We pour new driveways, patios, sidewalks, steps, stamped surfaces and garage or shop slabs, and we tear out and replace concrete that has cracked, sunk or scaled.

A city that grew in two big jumps

Norman was settled in the Land Run on April 22, 1889, and incorporated in 1891. For decades it stayed a college town. Then Interstate 35 opened in June 1959, and during the 1960s the city annexed about 174 square miles. The population climbed from 33,412 in 1960 to 68,020 in 1980 and kept rising every decade after.

That history shows up in the concrete. Central Norman has walks and drives poured well before the 1950s. The ring of neighborhoods built from the 1960s through the 1980s now has flatwork that is 40 to 60 years old, often with cracked aprons, stoops that have pulled away from the house and patios that tilt. Newer additions on the west and north sides have younger slabs, but many of them were poured quickly during building booms and are starting to show settlement near downspouts and garage doors.

Historic districts near campus

Norman has three local historic districts: Chautauqua, Miller and Southridge. Chautauqua was set up in 1995 with about 153 homes and Miller in 1997 with about 148; Southridge, platted in 1922 and built mostly between 1923 and 1959, became a district in 2016 and was expanded in 2018. The city's historic preservation page lists "installation of concrete areas, parking, or paving" among the projects that need a Certificate of Appropriateness, reviewed by the Historic District Commission. Ordinary maintenance and repair does not.

If your house is in one of these districts and you want a wider drive, a new parking pad or a patio that shows from the street, we plan the layout with that review in mind and help you put together the drawing the city needs. Replacing a failed walk in the same footprint is usually treated differently from adding new paving, so it pays to sort out which one your job is before anything is formed.

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Weather that works on concrete

Norman is home to the National Weather Center on the OU campus, which houses the Storm Prediction Center and the local Weather Service office, so residents know their weather well. The NOAA averages Wikipedia cites put annual precipitation at about 37.65 inches, with May and June the wettest months. Temperatures have ranged from a record high of 116 degrees to a record low of minus 17, and the average January low sits near 28 degrees. That means real freeze and thaw cycles in winter and long, hot summers.

For flatwork, the practical result is that water management matters more than anything else. Every slab we pour is graded to carry water away from the foundation, joints are cut deep enough and close enough to control cracking, and exterior mixes are chosen for freeze and thaw exposure. Downspouts that dump onto a patio or into a driveway joint are one of the most common causes of the sunken sections we are called to fix, so we look at them on every visit.

East Norman and the lake side

The eastern part of the city is a different place from the prairie on the west. Wikipedia describes it as the area around Lake Thunderbird, with about 6,000 acres of lakes and Cross Timbers forest. Lake Thunderbird itself was finished by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1965 on the Little River and supplies water to Norman, Midwest City and Del City. Homes out here sit on larger lots with long gravel or aging concrete drives, shop buildings and outbuildings. Common jobs include long driveway replacements, shop and barn slabs, RV pads and wide approaches that a truck and trailer can turn on.

What we pour in Norman

• Driveways: tear-out and replacement, widening, new aprons and long rural drives
• Patios: broom-finish slabs, larger entertaining areas and extensions off an existing patio
• Stamped and decorative concrete: patterned patios and walks with color and sealer
• Sidewalks and steps: front walks, side paths, stoops and porch steps
• Garage, shop and shed slabs: detached garages, shops and pads for storage buildings
• Repair and replacement: sunken panels, trip edges, scaled surfaces and broken steps

Rentals and student housing

The 2020 census counted 55,694 housing units in Norman, and 48.6 percent of occupied homes were renter-occupied, a high share driven by the university. Landlords and property managers call us for walk and step repairs between leases, parking pad additions and driveway sections that have become trip hazards. We can schedule around move-out dates and work from a written scope so the owner knows exactly what is being replaced. Call (405) 442-4315 to set up a visit anywhere in Norman.