Concrete contractor in South Portland, Maine
Driveways, aprons, steps, patios, slabs and repairs, planned around South Portland's curb cut rules.
Concrete work for South Portland homes
We pour and repair residential concrete across South Portland: driveways and aprons, front steps, patios and walkways, garage floors and slabs, and the footings and frost walls under additions and garages.
South Portland is a city of 27,007 people, by the Census Bureau's 2025 estimate, on the Fore River, Portland Harbor and Casco Bay. Its houses come from every era: 24.5 percent were built in 1939 or earlier, the median year built is 1968, 18.7 percent date from 2000 or later, and detached houses make up 53.43 percent of the city's housing units. Older houses tend to need steps, walks and garage floors replaced, and newer ones more often want a wider driveway or a patio out back.
The city's rules shape the work as much as the houses do. A new or wider driveway needs a Curb Cut Permit, the code sets its width, and no street or sidewalk openings are allowed from November 15 to April 1, so apron work at the street has to fit between April 1 and November 15. Near the water, the state's shoreland zoning also limits how much of a lot can be paved. We check those rules for your lot before we quote.
Looking for a concrete contractor in South Portland? We are a concrete contractor based in Portland, just across the Fore River. Tell us the street and what is there now. We come out, look at the base, the drainage and how a ready-mix truck reaches the forms, explain the options and put the price in writing.
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What we pour and repair in South Portland
Each service has its own page on the job, the price factors, the specification and the season. The lines below say how each one plays out in South Portland, with its curb cut rules, its shoreline and its winter salt.
Driveways and aprons
New and replacement driveways within the city's 10 to 20 foot width for homes, with the curb cut permit sorted first.
Learn morePatios and walkways
Broom-finished or stamped patios and walks, sized to the shoreland limits near the water.
Learn moreConcrete steps
Front and back steps for older houses, on footings below frost so they do not heave.
Learn moreSlabs and garage floors
Garage floors, basement floors and equipment pads on a compacted gravel base.
Learn moreFoundations and frost walls
Footings and frost walls for additions, garages and porches, below frost depth.
Learn moreConcrete repair
Scaled, spalled, cracked or sunken concrete, repaired where it can be and replaced where not.
Learn more
South Portland rules to check before concrete is poured
A new or wider driveway in South Portland needs a Curb Cut Permit before any concrete goes in, and work at the street stops for the winter.
- Curb Cut Permit. City Code Chapter 23, §23-35, requires one to build or keep an entrance or exit driveway or curb cut. The Code Enforcement Officer issues Class I (minor) permits; for Class II (major), the Public Works Director reviews and the Code Enforcement Officer issues.
- Width and spacing. Table 23-37 sets a minor driveway, meaning residential use with fewer than 20 dwelling units, at 10 to 20 feet wide, and allows one curb cut per 50 feet of frontage, two at most; a lot with less than 50 feet gets one. Class I cuts sit at least 25 feet from an intersection on local roads and 50 feet on collectors and arterials.
- Street openings. Altering a sidewalk takes a street opening permit (§23-4). No street or sidewalk openings are allowed from November 15 to April 1, newly rebuilt streets carry a five-year moratorium, and damaged curbing is replaced at the permit holder's expense (§23-63).
- State roads. A driveway entrance on a state or state-aid highway needs a written permit (23 M.R.S. §704). South Portland is an urban compact municipality, so the city issues it inside the compact and MaineDOT outside it.
- Shoreland zoning. Within 250 feet of the upland edge of a coastal wetland, including all tidal areas, driveways, patios and other non-vegetated surfaces are generally capped at 20 percent of the lot area inside the zone, and a patio counts as a structure for setbacks. The city runs its own shoreland ordinance, and Code Enforcement is the first contact.
- Dig Safe. Call 811 at least three business days before any digging with power equipment.
Footings and frost walls are built to Maine's building code, which cities of South Portland's size must enforce through inspections and plan review. Before quoting the street end of a driveway, we confirm the current application and fee with Code Enforcement; our page on concrete driveways and aprons covers the rest of the job.
What South Portland's ground, weather and houses mean for concrete
South Portland's concrete sits on ground that holds frost, freezes and thaws through a long winter and takes deicing salt, so the base, the mix and the cure matter as much as the finish.
Much of Greater Portland lies on the Presumpscot Formation, a gray glacial-marine silt and clay that locals call blue clay. Silty soil with water in it is the kind that heaves when it freezes, and on a 2011 road job in Saco and Buxton, MaineDOT rated Presumpscot clay-silt subgrade moderately to highly frost susceptible. We set flatwork on compacted gravel and steps on footings below frost. Ledge, Maine's word for bedrock, can turn up in any dig.
Beyond the 24.5 percent of homes built in 1939 or earlier, 26.6 percent date from 1940 to 1969 and 30.2 percent from 1970 to 1999. Older concrete shows its age as scaling, cracks and steps pulling away from the house, and our concrete repair page is the place to start for any of those.
Deicers make freeze-thaw scaling worse, and ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate and magnesium-based deicers should never be used on concrete. For flatwork that will see deicers, NRMCA recommends 4,000 psi concrete with about 6 percent air and a breathable silane or siloxane sealer, which is what we specify for driveways and walks here.
At the Portland International Jetport, the regional weather station, the low reaches 32°F or colder on 144.1 days in an average year while the high stays at or below freezing on only 40.7, and snowfall averages 68.7 inches. That much freezing and thawing is why every outdoor pour gets air-entrained concrete and a proper cure.
Where we work in South Portland
We take jobs all over South Portland: Knightville, the traditional downtown on its small waterfront peninsula along Waterman Drive and Ocean Street; Willard Beach, where Southern Maine Community College abuts the beach; Ferry Village, Meetinghouse Hill, Pleasantdale, Ligonia, Thornton Heights, Redbank and Cash Corner; and the neighborhoods around the Maine Mall.
Cottage Road branches off in Knightville and runs from Broadway about 2 miles to the Cape Elizabeth line, where it becomes Shore Road. Long Creek runs near the Maine Mall, and the city's stormwater plan counts 128 outfalls to it and Clark's Pond, more than to any other water, so where a new driveway sheds its water matters there. From Portland, the Fore River crossings are the Casco Bay Bridge (Route 77), the Veterans Memorial Bridge (US 1) and I-295, and Turnpike exit 45 serves the Maine Mall area.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a permit to widen my driveway in South Portland?
Yes. South Portland requires a Curb Cut Permit to build or keep an entrance or exit driveway or curb cut, and a residential driveway serving fewer than 20 dwelling units must be 10 to 20 feet wide. The Code Enforcement Officer issues minor permits, and we check the application and the width with the city before we quote.
Can a driveway apron be replaced in South Portland in winter?
Not at the street. The city allows no street or sidewalk openings from November 15 to April 1, so apron and sidewalk work waits for spring. Work entirely on your own lot is limited by the weather instead, since concrete poured in the cold needs protection from freezing.
How many curb cuts can a South Portland lot have?
One per 50 feet of frontage, up to two per property, and a lot with less than 50 feet of frontage gets one. Class I cuts must also sit at least 25 feet from an intersection on a local street and 50 feet on a collector or arterial.
Can I put a concrete patio near the water at Willard Beach or on the Fore River?
It depends on the lot. Shoreland zoning applies within 250 feet of the upland edge of a coastal wetland, which includes tidal areas, and there a patio counts as a structure for setbacks. Driveways, patios and other non-vegetated surfaces are generally limited to 20 percent of the lot area inside the zone, and the city's Code Enforcement office is the first call.
Who issues a driveway permit on a state road in South Portland?
State law requires a written permit for a driveway entrance on a state or state-aid highway. South Portland is an urban compact municipality, so inside the compact the city issues it and outside the compact MaineDOT does. Ask the city which applies to your frontage before work starts.
Planning concrete work in South Portland?
Call or send the form, and we will check the city's rules for your lot and put a quote in writing.
- The street and neighborhood, so we can check curb cut and shoreland rules
- What you want poured or fixed, and roughly how big it is
- Whether the work reaches the street: a new curb cut, a wider apron or the sidewalk
- How a concrete truck gets close: the driveway, the yard, or a long carry