Plain gray slab, cracked patio or a driveway you want to look like stone? We pour, stamp and seal it on a packed base.
Stamped concrete is a slab we pour, color, press with rubber pattern mats while it's still soft and then seal. That way your patio, walkway or driveway in Malibu can look like stone, brick, wood or tile in one poured surface. The work happens in a few stages, and afterward you stay off the slab while it cures, which is the wait while the concrete gains its strength.
Most people call us about one of three things: a plain gray slab they're tired of, a cracked patio that needs replacing, or a new driveway they want to look like more than bare concrete. The price mostly turns on the size of the area and whether it carries cars, since a driveway needs a thicker slab and more steel than a garden path. Removing old concrete, a site that's hard to reach, and the pattern and color method you pick all add to it as well. The schedule turns on the weather, the cure and whatever the city asks for at your address. We're based in Malibu and take jobs in many of the cities around it, and after I measure on site you get a written scope with a price you can compare line by line.
I come out to look at the job and take the measurements myself, and I'm on site with our crew while we do the work. When your project has an engineer, architect or soil consultant, we work alongside them so the slab fits their plans.
Before concrete, I ran a sign shop for years, where a job was only right if every measurement was right. I learned this trade next to experienced finishers and foundation crews, and I've run True North Malibu Concrete since 2023 with that same habit.
We're fully licensed and insured for the concrete work we do at your house. If you'd like to see the details before anything starts, ask me during the estimate and I'll go over them with you so nothing is left to guesswork.
We write down exactly what goes under and into your concrete, such as the base, the thickness and the steel, so you can see what you're paying for before any work begins. Satisfaction guaranteed. Call (424) 388-5404 or use the form to get started.
We reply within one business day by phone or message, and the estimate is free, done at your property and comes with no obligation. I'll measure the area and look at access and any existing concrete, then send your written scope with the price broken out. It helps to have the rough size, whether it carries cars and a photo of the site ready when you call (424) 388-5404 or send the form.
Malibu's building safety office takes permit requests for building, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, spa and pool, and excavation work. Stamped concrete isn't named on that list, so the list alone doesn't settle whether your job needs a permit. The whole city also sits in the California coastal zone, which puts development here under the city's Local Coastal Program unless it's exempt. The city publishes coastal development permit exemption forms, including ones for single-family home improvements and for repair and maintenance. An older city engineering handout asks projects that add hard surface, meaning ground that sheds rain instead of soaking it up, for a hydrology report on drainage. That means it matters whether your patio replaces an old slab or covers ground that used to be lawn. Before we 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 handle the concrete side of the paperwork or work with your architect or engineer. The city has the final word on your lot.
Around Malibu, a lot of our stamped work is on sloped lots and tight sites, where access for the truck and the way water runs off decide as much about the job as the pattern does. We do the same work in nearby cities, including Calabasas and Topanga, and if you're not sure we cover your address, just ask when you call.
Stamped concrete in Malibu is priced job by job, and the main factors are the size of the area, what it carries and the pattern and color you choose. Work you won't see later moves the price too, such as breaking out an old slab, digging out and packing the base, and how far the truck can reach. A detailed pattern or a border adds finishing time, while a single color and a simple pattern keep it lower. Call (424) 388-5404 and I'll come measure.
Color hardener is the common choice for driveways, because this dry shake is worked into the top and gives a richer color and a harder wear surface. The catch is that its color lives only in the top layer, so a deep chip shows gray and an uneven spread comes out blotchy. Integral color runs through the full depth, so a chip or saw cut matches the surface. It's more forgiving as the slab ages, though it gives up the deepest, brightest tones.
One field guide advises resealing every 2 to 3 years, so plan on it as part of regular upkeep. The same guide advises applying sealer in two thin, even coats, because a heavy flood coat can bubble and turn white.
Start with the rough size of the area, whether it carries cars and a look at what's there now, because those three things decide most of the build. Next we settle the pattern and color method, work through the city requirements covered above and set a pour date around any approvals and the weather. After the pour, you stay off the slab until it has cured, and resealing becomes part of owning it.
Most cracking traces back to what's under the slab, such as a base that was raked level instead of dug out and packed, or a slab too thin for what it carries. Stamped concrete is still flatwork, the trade's word for slabs like patios, walks and driveways, so it needs the same compacted base, thickness and reinforcement as plain concrete. Concrete shrinks and moves as it ages, and that's why the joints along the pattern lines give it a place to crack that blends into the design.
The Contractors State License Board licenses them. Its concrete contractor class covers forming, pouring, finishing and installing flat concrete work like stamped slabs. Under state law, building or replacing a driveway, terrace or patio next to a home counts as home improvement, and a home improvement contractor is one licensed by the board.
