Las Vegas Elite Concrete: Concrete Contractor in Las Vegas, NV, Driveways, Patios & Pool Decks
Las Vegas Elite Concrete is a concrete company working across Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Valley.
We are concrete contractors doing residential and light commercial flatwork, stamped concrete
patios, concrete driveways, walkways, steps and pool decks, and this kind of
cement work on desert ground is all we do.
Free on-site estimate, usually within two working days.
✓ Licensed, bonded and insured in Nevada
✓ Proper base over compacted valley soil
✓ Written quote, with slab thickness and base depth stated
Las Vegas Elite Concrete is a concrete contractor working residential and light commercial flatwork across
Las Vegas. Everything below is quoted free on site, and every quote states the slab thickness, the base
depth and the mix, so you can hold it next to another contractor's and compare like with like.
Why caliche, sulfates and evaporation decide how long a Las Vegas slab lasts
Under most of the Las Vegas Valley there is caliche, a cemented layer of calcium carbonate that the desert has been building for thousands of years. It can sit six inches down or six feet down, and it can be a thin crust or two feet of material that has to be ripped. Caliche is not a problem in itself; it is a good bearing layer once you reach it. The problem is a contractor who quotes a job without knowing where it is, then hits it on day one and issues a change order.
The second factor is sulfates, and it is the one that separates a slab that lasts thirty years from one that spalls in eight. Soils across the valley carry sulfate concentrations high enough that ordinary cement is chemically attacked from below. The reaction expands inside the concrete and pushes it apart. The answer is sulfate-resistant cement, Type II or Type V depending on the exposure class, and it is not an upgrade. It is what the exposure requires. A quote that does not name the cement type has not priced this.
The third is evaporation. On a June afternoon here you have 110-degree air, single-digit humidity and wind, and water leaves the surface of fresh concrete faster than it can bleed up from below. That is what causes plastic shrinkage cracking, the short, random surface cracks that appear before the slab has even set. Summer pours start before dawn, the mix carries an evaporation retarder, and the slab is fogged and covered the moment it is finished. A crew that pours a driveway at two in the afternoon in July is giving you cracks that were built in on the first day.
Broom-finished driveway with saw-cut control joints
How the finished surface can look
The concrete underneath is the same. What changes is the surface, and it is worth
seeing them side by side before deciding, the difference in price between them is small
against the difference in how the finished job looks.
Subgrade. Topsoil comes off. It is organic, it compresses, and anything built on it will settle.
The exposed subgrade gets compacted in layers rather than in one pass, because a plate compactor only
influences a few inches at a time.
Stone base. Four to six inches of compacted aggregate base over the native subgrade, once the caliche depth is known. The base spreads load and, just as
importantly. It drains. Skipping it is the most common way a slab that looks perfect in year one is broken
by year five.
Forms and fall. Set to shed water away from the structure. A dead-level slab holds standing water,
and standing water in January is how surfaces come apart.
Reinforcement. Fibre through the mix for patios, and for driveways #4 reinforcing bar at eighteen
inches on centre, chaired up into the slab rather than laid on the ground where it does nothing.
The pour. Continuous. A patio poured across two days has a cold joint through it, and on stamped
work that line never goes away.
Finishing. On the concrete's schedule, not ours. Float too early and you seal bleed water into the
surface, which is what makes concrete dust and flake later. Float too late and it will not close at all.
Reading that window is judgement, and it is most of what a good crew is worth.
Control joints. Cut about a quarter of the slab depth, spaced in feet at roughly two to three
times the thickness in inches, eight to twelve feet on a four-inch slab. Joints do not prevent cracking.
They choose where it happens, and a crack inside a joint is a crack nobody ever sees.
Curing. Concrete gains strength through hydration, not by drying. Keeping moisture in during the
first days matters more than anything that happens to it afterwards.
Commercial and HOA work
We handle sidewalks, ADA curb ramps,
parking areas, dumpster pads and
loading dock aprons for property managers and associations across
Las Vegas. On commercial work the phasing usually matters more than the price, a blocked entrance costs a
tenant far more than the slab does, so we schedule around trading hours, including overnight and weekend
pours where that is what the site needs.
Commercial sidewalk with ADA curb ramp and detectable warning panel
What concrete costs in Las Vegas
Plain broom-finished patio, $8-$15 per square foot. Stamped patio, $13-$22 per square foot.
Driveway, $7-$13 per square foot plain or $13-$22 per square foot stamped, and
$9-$16 per square foot including removal if the old surface has to come out.
Steps price per step, usually $250-$500 per step.
Pool decks run $9-$16 per square foot because of the texture and the
detailing at the coping.
Four things move a number inside those ranges: the area, the finish, whether there is an existing surface
to remove, and whether a truck can reach the pour. That last one catches people out. A back garden a mixer
cannot get near means the concrete moves by wheelbarrow, and that labour is a real line on the quote rather
than a rounding error.
Most people arrive with a picture rather than a specification, which is the right way round. The
comparisons that come up most often are concrete against pavers,
concrete against asphalt, and
stamped against stained. Each of those pages sets out the real
trade-off rather than steering you toward the more expensive answer.
One piece of advice worth more than any of them: when you are shown photographs of finished work, ask to
see one that is three years old. Everything looks good freshly sealed. What matters is how a finish wears
through Las Vegas summers, and a three-year-old slab tells you that in a way a handover photograph cannot.
Stamped concrete texture with integral colour and antiquing release
Looking after concrete once it is down
Concrete is close to maintenance-free, but "close to" is not "entirely", and the difference shows up
after about a decade. Three things actually matter here.
Sealing. Decorative work, stamped, coloured, exposed aggregate , gets its first seal at
twenty-eight days and then roughly every two to three years. Use a penetrating silane-siloxane on anything
that gets de-iced. Film-forming acrylic looks glossier and will peel where salt gets under it, which is why
so many stamped driveways in this region look patchy by year five.
De-icers. Rock salt is the least damaging of the common options. Ammonium sulphate and ammonium
nitrate attack concrete chemically and should never go on a slab, despite being sold for exactly that.
Nothing should go on concrete in its first winter; use sand for traction instead and let the slab finish
gaining strength.
Joints. The one piece of genuine maintenance. Control joints and the expansion joint against the
house should stay filled. An open joint is a direct route for water into the base, and water in the base
sitting against sulfate-bearing soil beneath is what spalls and lifts slabs here. A tube of self-levelling sealant every few years
prevents a repair that costs thousands.
How to read a concrete quote
Most quotes in this trade are a single line and a number, which makes them impossible to compare. Four
things should be written down, and if they are not, ask.
Slab thickness. Four inches for a patio or walkway, five for a residential driveway, six where a
truck parks. A driveway quoted without a thickness is frequently four inches, which is a patio slab under a
car and will fail at the apron first.
Base depth and material. Four to six inches of compacted aggregate base over the native subgrade. "Poured on grade"
means straight onto soil, and it means the slab moves when the soil does.
Air entrainment. Five to seven percent for exterior work. This is the specification that separates
concrete built for a freeze-thaw climate from concrete that merely survived its first summer.
Joint spacing. Should be stated, and should work out at roughly two to three times the slab
thickness in feet. Wide spacing means fewer cuts, faster work, and cracking in the middle of panels.
You are also entitled to see a Nevada contractor licence and a certificate of insurance. A contractor
who is reluctant about either is telling you something, and it is worth hearing.
Where we work
Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and the wider Clark County valley, 52 neighbourhoods and towns:
How much would a 20x20 concrete driveway cost in Las Vegas?
A 20 by 20 pad is 400 square feet, so at $7-$13 per square foot that is roughly $2,800 to $5,200 for plain reinforced concrete, and $5,200 to $8,800 stamped. The spread inside that range is almost entirely how deep the caliche sits and whether a truck can reach the pour. We put a test hole down before quoting so the number does not move afterwards.
How much is a 100 foot concrete driveway?
A hundred feet of driveway at a normal ten-foot width is about 1,000 square feet, so $7,000 to $13,000 plain and more with a decorative finish. On a run that long the joint layout matters more than on a short drive, because a slab that cannot move at planned intervals will crack at unplanned ones.
How much does it cost to build a 10x10 stamped concrete patio?
A hundred square feet stamped runs about $1,300 to $2,200. Below roughly 200 square feet the rate per foot climbs, because the truck, the crew and the forming cost the same whether the pour is small or large. If you are close to that size it is often worth going bigger rather than smaller.
How much should I pay for concrete in Nevada?
Between $6-$13 per square foot for flatwork, depending on thickness, reinforcement and access. Nevada sits slightly above the national average. Anything materially under that range has usually cut the base depth, the reinforcement or the cement type, and in this valley the cement type is not optional.
What are the downsides of a concrete driveway?
It costs more up front than asphalt or gravel, it cannot be lifted and reset the way pavers can, and once it cracks the repair is visible. Against that it lasts thirty to forty years here. It does not soften in summer the way asphalt does, and it needs nothing but an occasional reseal.
Which is better, a concrete driveway or a paver driveway?
Pavers cost $10-$50 per square foot installed, concrete pavers $15-$30 against $7-$13 per square foot for concrete, and they can be lifted and reset individually if something settles. Concrete is cheaper per foot, has no joints for weeds or ants, and is faster to install. In the valley both work if the base under them is compacted properly, and both fail early if it is not.
Is it cheaper to replace or repair concrete?
Repair, until it is not. Crack repair runs $7-$20 per linear foot and replacement $9-$16 per square foot including removal. The rule we use is that once you are spending about two percent of the replacement cost every year on repairs, replacement is the cheaper decision. Cracks that step or move are structural and no repair holds on them.
How do you fix badly damaged concrete?
It depends on the cause, not the appearance. Surface spalling from sulfate attack means the slab is being eaten from below and it has to come out. Cracks with no vertical offset are routed and filled. A slab that has sunk over a void gets lifted and the void filled first, because filling the crack without filling the void just means doing it again next year.
Is it okay to put cement over cracked concrete?
An overlay only works over a sound slab. If the crack is stable and the concrete underneath is solid, an overlay or resurfacing at $4-$9 per square foot will hide it and last. If the slab is moving or spalling from underneath, the overlay cracks in the same place within a season and you have paid twice.
What is decorative concrete called?
It is an umbrella term. Stamped concrete is patterned while wet. Stained and integrally coloured concrete changes the colour rather than the texture. Exposed aggregate washes back the surface to show the stone. Polished concrete grinds and seals it. In Las Vegas the searched term is usually stained or decorative concrete.
What are the common problems with decorative concrete?
Colour fading under desert UV, sealer wearing off in traffic lanes, and heat. A dark stained patio here can reach a surface temperature you cannot stand on barefoot, which is why we talk colour through before pouring. Resealing every three to five years handles the first two.
Is decorative concrete worth the investment?
Stamped runs $13-$22 per square foot against $8-$15 per square foot plain, so it is roughly a fifty per cent premium. It is worth it where the surface is seen and used, like a patio or pool deck, and rarely worth it on a side path nobody looks at. The structural work underneath is identical either way, and that is where the life of the slab is decided.
How much does a concrete patio cost in Las Vegas?
A plain broom-finished patio runs $8-$15 per square foot installed. Stamped work runs $13-$22 per square foot depending on the pattern and whether it is coloured. Those figures include the stone base, an air-entrained mix and cut control joints. Quotes well below them are usually saving money on one of those three.
How long before I can use it?
Foot traffic after about three days, furniture at seven, and cars on a new driveway at seven as well. Heavy vehicles wait twenty-eight days. Decorative work gets sealed at twenty-eight days, once the slab has cured.
Will it crack?
Every concrete slab moves, and control joints exist to decide where that movement shows. Cut at the right spacing, cracks follow the joints and stay invisible. What should not happen is a crack with one side sitting higher than the other. That is the base failing, not the concrete, and it means the ground work was skipped.
Do I need a permit?
For work in the public right of way, the sidewalk across your frontage and the driveway apron at the street, yes, and it needs inspecting afterwards. Work behind the property line usually does not, though some lots carry impervious-surface limits that a large new patio can push past. We check before quoting.
Can you pour in winter?
Yes, with adjustments. Below about 40°F concrete needs protection, heated blankets, and sometimes a mix change, and that costs more than a pour in May. We will tell you honestly whether waiting is the better call.
Do you do repairs, or only new work?
Both. Sometimes the honest answer is that a slab can be lifted back to grade or resurfaced for a fraction of replacement. If more than roughly a third of a driveway is failing, though, replacement is genuinely the cheaper route.
Get a free estimate
Tell us what you need. We answer the same day, the free estimate is on site, and nobody chases you afterwards.
Get a written quote
Call (702) 966-9498. We come out, measure, look at drainage and access, talk through
what the space is actually for, and leave you a written price with the specification on it. The visit is
free. It takes about twenty minutes, and nobody chases you afterwards.
Find us around Las Vegas
Photos of recent pours, before and after shots, and the jobs we are on this week.
