Planning a new room or replacing a cracked, uneven floor? We pour a slab planned around the flooring and the way you'll use the room.
Concrete floor installation is flatwork, the trade of flat slabs inside and outside a house. In Malibu, CA it means we dig to firm ground, set the moisture protection your flooring needs, then pour and finish a slab you can build on. Most of the wait comes after the pour, while the slab cures before any flooring goes on.
Most people who call about a floor are adding a room, replacing a slab that's cracked or uneven, or working through a rebuild, and they've usually picked tile, wood or carpet for the top already. The price moves with the size of the room, how easily we can get concrete to it, whether old concrete has to come out first, how much digging the base needs and whether the slab carries steel. The schedule turns on approvals for your address, access and weather, and on the curing time before flooring. If the room is a garage, our garage floor concrete page covers that work. Once I've seen the room, my written scope puts each of those items and its price on paper.
I come out to look at the job and take the measurements myself, including access for the pour and any old concrete that has to come out. Our crew does the work with me on site, and we work alongside your engineer, architect or soil consultant when the project has one.
Before any work begins, the scope lists what goes under and into your concrete, from the base and moisture protection to the rebar, with a price on each line. You can compare it with other bids item by item instead of guessing what's included.
Before this business I ran a small sign shop for years, where a job was only right if every measurement was right. I learned concrete working next to experienced finishers and foundation crews, and I started True North Malibu Concrete in 2023.
We're fully licensed and insured, and we stand behind the work with one plain promise, satisfaction guaranteed. When you're ready, call (424) 388-5404 or use the form, and have your flooring choice, the room's use and your address handy so I can set up a visit.
We reply within one business day, by phone or by message, and the estimate is free, done at your property and comes with no obligation. I'll measure the room, look at access and any existing concrete, then send you a written scope with a price you can compare line by line.
In Malibu, the city takes requests for building, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, spa/pool and excavation permits through its Development Portal. That list doesn't settle whether a floor job like yours needs a permit, so ask there or let me check. Before I price your job, I look into what the city asks for at your address and tell you what I found. Where approvals are needed, we plan the start around them and can handle the concrete side of the paperwork or work with your architect or engineer. The whole city also sits in the California coastal zone, so all development and activity here falls under the city's Local Coastal Program unless it's exempt. For your own lot, the city has the final word.
On hillside lots and in the state's seismic hazard and fault zones, the city's guidelines have the project's geotechnical consultant, the ground expert, give recommendations for changes to floor slabs on additions, and we build to them. Many jobs here come with steep drives and tight access, and that shapes how we get concrete to the room. We're based in Malibu and take jobs in many of the cities around it, including Topanga and Calabasas, so if you're not sure we cover your address, just ask when you call.
A concrete slab or pad in the Los Angeles area usually costs about $7 to $14 per square foot, and a reinforced slab runs a little higher per square foot than a plain pad. That's the area's usual range, not our price. Access, old concrete removal and base work move where your floor lands, and my written scope gives you the figure for your room.
Probably a little, because the leading guidance on concrete floors says today's methods can reduce cracking but not eliminate it. Even with the best design and proper construction, a completely crack-free floor isn't realistic. That's why the packed base and control joints described above matter, and why it's worth choosing your covering with that in mind.
You can usually walk on a new slab within 48 hours, but concrete takes about a month, 28 to 30 days, to fully cure. To be safe, wait a week before moving in anything heavy. After the cure, the slab should be left to dry and tested to show moisture isn't coming through before flooring goes on, which is the moisture test I build into the plan.
For an indoor floor, plan on one, because industry guidance calls it sensible to put a vapor retarder under every interior slab, while outdoor slabs on the ground generally don't need one. The same guidance says moisture protection is required under carpet, tile, wood, resilient or seamless polymer flooring, and where moisture-sensitive equipment will sit. Without it, vapor moving up through the slab can make adhesives fail and leave flooring separated, warped or discolored, sometimes lifting into a trip hazard.
Usually not, because the city's rebuild guide says existing slabs in fire-destroyed buildings are typically compromised and aren't permitted to be reused. If the building was damaged rather than destroyed, the slab first needs a feasibility review by the city's Community Development Department. We plan the new floor with your architect or engineer around that answer.
It needs a contractor licensed for concrete, because California's contractors board defines a concrete classification for this work. A general "B" contractor can take the job only if it holds that classification or subcontracts the concrete to a licensed specialty contractor, so it's fair to ask anyone bidding which applies.
Have the flooring you plan to put down, how you'll use the room and your address ready when you call (424) 388-5404 or fill out the form. Those three things tell me the moisture protection, the kind of slab and which rules apply before I come out to measure.
