Concrete Contractor Portland Maine
(207) 292-7649Plans that account for ledge, the shore and town rules
Concrete contractor in Cape Elizabeth, Maine
Patios, steps, driveways and repairs for Cape Elizabeth houses, planned around ledge and the shore.
Concrete work for Cape Elizabeth homes
Cape Elizabeth houses get the full range of concrete work from us: stamped and broom-finished patios, walkways, front steps, driveways, garage and basement slabs, footings, and repairs to concrete that has scaled, spalled or cracked.
Cape Elizabeth's owner-occupied rate is 88.0 percent, and the town's own housing report counts single homes as about 84 percent of all housing units. Very few are new: only 7.4 percent were built in 2000 or later, while 36.3 percent went up between 1940 and 1969. If your house is from that mid-century group and still has its first front steps or walk, that concrete has been through every winter since, and it is worth having it looked at before a step cracks through.
Every quote we write for a Cape Elizabeth job spells out the tear-out, base, thickness, reinforcement, joint layout, air content and finish, and names any town permit the work needs. If you are weighing a concrete contractor in Cape Elizabeth, that written scope is what lets you compare offers fairly. We are a Portland-area concrete contractor, and we plan around ledge, the shoreland zone and the town's entrance rules from the first visit, so none of them turns up on pour day. When a patio sits on a slope near the shore or over rock, we say what that changes before we price it.
We pour most flatwork between spring and fall, and protect any pour made in the cold. Street openings in town are also limited to April 1 through November 30, so entrance work that opens the street belongs in that window.
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What we pour and repair in Cape Elizabeth
In Cape Elizabeth we pour new concrete and repair or replace old concrete, from a stamped patio behind a shingled house to a garage floor from the 1950s. Details for each are one click away.
Concrete driveways
Replacement drives built to the town's entrance width and first-10-feet rules at the road.
Learn morePatios and walkways
Stamped or broom-finished, laid out around ledge outcrops and the shoreland limits.
Learn moreConcrete steps
Replacement steps for mid-century houses, set on footings below frost or on sound ledge.
Learn moreSlabs and garage floors
Old garage and basement floors torn out and replaced over a clean, compacted base.
Learn moreFoundations and frost walls
Footings and frost walls for additions and garages, planned around ledge when the dig meets rock.
Learn moreConcrete repair
Scaling, spalling and cracks diagnosed first, then repaired or replaced to suit the damage.
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Cape Elizabeth rules to check before concrete is poured
In Cape Elizabeth, a driveway entrance onto a public way needs a permit from the Director of Public Works, and Chapter 17 of the town code, Town Ways, sets its width, how its first stretch is surfaced and how a concrete sidewalk is cut.
- Entrance permit. No driveway, entrance or approach may be built onto a public way without one (§17-2-1). The full text is in the town's Town Ways ordinance.
- Width. A lot with 50 feet of frontage or less gets one combined entrance and exit, no more than 30 feet wide (§17-2-4).
- The first 10 feet of an entrance, measured from the Town Way, must be paved. We do not lay asphalt, so before we form a concrete apron we confirm with Public Works that concrete meets the rule for your entrance.
- Sidewalks. A concrete sidewalk that has to be opened is saw cut from joint to joint; pavement breakers are not allowed (§17-3-5). Curb and sidewalk removed for an entrance are replaced at the owner's expense (§17-2-4(e)).
- Street openings are permitted only from April 1 to November 30 (§17-3-1(c)), work must start within 30 working days, and a repaved street is closed to openings for 5 years (§17-3-10).
Building permits go through Code Enforcement, which moved to an online system, GovWell, as of May 8, 2025; its forms and applications page includes a Flood Hazard Development Permit. Town Hall is closed on Fridays. On a state road such as Route 77, entrances are permitted by the town inside the urban compact limits and by MaineDOT beyond them.
Near the water, the shoreland zone takes in everything within 250 feet of the upland edge of a coastal wetland, a term that covers all tidal areas. Inside it a patio counts as a structure, and structures, driveways, parking and cleared areas together may cover no more than 20 percent of the part of the lot in the zone. For Dig Safe, call 811 before machine digging; no machine may dig within 18 inches of a marked line until the line has been exposed, although machines can still break through pavement and rock.
What Cape Elizabeth's ground, weather and houses mean for concrete
In Cape Elizabeth, ledge can sit right at the surface, few houses are new, and winters bring hard freezes and deicer, so we plan each job around rock, repair and salt.
At Two Lights, the Maine Geological Survey describes ledges of the Kittery Formation, light gray quartzite and dark gray phyllite, left bare where the ocean washed the glacial deposits away. The Survey also notes that the bedrock surface is irregular and that only test borings or geophysical surveys give its depth precisely. When a footing dig meets sound ledge, the model residential code lets the footing bear on solid rock instead of going below the frost line; where the rock is fractured or steep, we plan the footing with you before any concrete is ordered. Where the region's Presumpscot clay lies over the rock, it is often a thin layer, and a compacted gravel base evens out the difference.
Another 19.3 percent of homes here date from 1939 or earlier, and 37.0 percent from 1970 to 1999. On old steps, walks and slabs, the Portland Cement Association defines the two surface defects to tell apart: scaling, where surface mortar breaks away under freezing and thawing and deicers make it worse, and spalling, deeper round or oval pits or long cavities along joints. We work out which one it is, and why, before recommending concrete repair or replacement.
January at the Portland International Jetport, the regional NOAA station, has a normal mean of 24.0°F, and nights at or below freezing still average 24.5 in March and 11.9 in April, which is why spring pours wait for warmer nights. Per the Federal Highway Administration, calcium chloride and magnesium chloride deicers attack cement paste chemically, forming calcium oxychloride, which expands and breaks it down. The agency's answer has four parts: less water in the mix, meaning a water-to-cementitious ratio under 0.45; about 6 percent entrained air for paving; supplementary cementitious materials; and a penetrating silane or siloxane sealer. We specify those for driveways and walks that will be salted.
Where we work in Cape Elizabeth
We work all over Cape Elizabeth, a town with more water than land inside its lines: 31.23 square miles of water against 14.70 of land. That takes in Cape Cottage, Delano Park, Shore Acres, Oakhurst, Pond Cove, Two Lights, Kettle Cove, Bowery Beach, Spurwink Shores, Great Pond, Broad Cove, Fowler, and the Hampton/Jewett and Cottage Farms Road areas. Concrete comes in by Route 77 (Ocean House Road) through the Town Center intersection at Scott Dyer Road and Shore Road, along Shore Road past Fort Williams Park and Portland Head Light, and out Two Lights Road. We also cover the towns shown below.
Frequently asked questions
How wide can a driveway entrance be in Cape Elizabeth?
On a lot with 50 feet of frontage or less, the town allows one combined entrance and exit, no wider than 30 feet. The entrance needs a permit from the Director of Public Works, and its first 10 feet from the Town Way must be paved.
Can new concrete steps sit on ledge in Cape Elizabeth?
Yes, if the rock is sound. The model residential code lets a footing bear on solid rock instead of extending below the frost line. Where the ledge is fractured or slopes away, the footing is planned around it before any concrete is ordered.
When can a street be opened in Cape Elizabeth?
Only from April 1 to November 30, the one window in which the town issues street opening permits. Work has to start within 30 working days, and a street repaved within the last 5 years stays closed to openings.
How do I get a building permit in Cape Elizabeth?
Online, through GovWell, the Code Enforcement Office's permitting system as of May 8, 2025. Town Hall is closed on Fridays, so plan calls and visits for earlier in the week.
Can I build a patio near the ocean in Cape Elizabeth?
Often, within limits. Within 250 feet of the upland edge of a coastal wetland, a patio counts as a structure under the state shoreland rules, and non-vegetated surfaces are capped at 20 percent of the part of the lot inside the zone. Talk to Code Enforcement before the size is set.
Planning a patio or new steps in Cape Elizabeth?
Send the form or call; we will walk the site, check the ledge and the town rules, and write up the quote.
- Your street or neighborhood, such as Shore Acres or Pond Cove
- What you want built or repaired: a patio, steps, a walk, a drive or a floor
- Photos of the old concrete, if it is a repair or a replacement
- Anything you know about ledge or wet ground on the lot