Concrete Contractor in Juneau, AK - Pours Planned Around the Cold and Rain

New home construction needs a building permit, which the city issues once its building, planning and engineering reviewers have all approved the plans, and its guidance expects about two weeks for that approval. Applications go in online only, through Civic Access, and since May 1, 2026, inspections are booked through the same account. When a job needs a permit, we file it and book the inspections through ours, and if it isn't clear whether a driveway or patio needs one, we ask the CBJ Permit Center before we start.

Yes, the state says anyone bidding or working as a contractor needs a certificate of registration from the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. General contractors building or altering homes of one to four units also need a residential contractor endorsement, where altering means changes worth more than 25 percent of the structure's value, and any business has to register for CBJ sales tax before working in the borough. We're fully licensed and insured, and it's fair to ask anyone you're weighing to show you theirs.

I can't give you a fair number until I've seen the site, because here a big part of the price is what goes under the slab. How deep we dig to reach firm ground, how much gravel goes back in, whether an old slab comes out first and how much drainage work a sloped lot needs can matter as much as the size. The city's 5% sales tax applies to services too, so plan for it.

You can usually walk on new concrete within a few days and drive on it some time after that, and in Juneau's cold both waits run longer. That wait is curing, the slow hardening that gives concrete its strength, and cutting it short is how a good slab ends up with a chalky top. I'll give you the dates for your pour once we know the weather.

Most cracking and sinking here starts underneath, with a slab laid on wet or soft ground that settles, or water running under it and freezing. We pack the base, set rebar, steel bars that hold the slab together if it does crack, and cut control joints, shallow grooves that give the concrete a straight line to crack along. Concrete cracks eventually, so the goal is cracks in places we picked.

Look it up on the city's maps before you plan a foundation or a big slab. The city's Mendenhall flood inundation maps cover the Mendenhall River Valley, where experts expect recurring and likely record-breaking glacier lake outburst floods, and the area they reach has grown each of the last three years. For downtown, the city's emergency managers point you to the avalanche hazard maps.