Concrete Contractor

Our masons have years of experience working on both commercial and residential projects.  You can rely on our team of professional concrete tradesmen to provide everything during the construction process starting with the planning and sketching all the way through to the pouring, placing and finishing of jobs.  Often the hardest part of a concreting project is the preparation. Concrete Kings handles that, too! We don’t stop at just surveying the land, we also have the crews and equipment necessary for demolition, excavation and removal of the debris.  This saves you time, money and the hassle of finding and coordinating with a second company.  Once the area is cleared we install the appropriate rebar and gravel then begin pouring.

What is Flatwork? 

Masonry flatwork is a general term meaning pouring concrete into a pre fabricated form and a liner that can be reinforced with rebar. This term can be applied to walkways, sidewalks, driveways, patios and any other project of a flat, measured surface. 

If this is a driveway, patio, walkway or any other type of flatwork you will have an incredible selection of finishes to choose from. Some of the most popular finishes around Dallas you will find are: exposed aggregate concrete, sandblast finish, stamped and stained concrete, float finish and acid stain. Most types of decorative concrete are then treated with a sealant which is included with most packages.

We have the crew and equipment available to offer a range of services that are related to, or needed before, a concrete driveway, foundation or patio.

A Full-Service Concrete Construction Company In Dallas, Texas

We offer a wide range of  residential and commercial concrete construction services to our clients in Dallas and the surrounding cities. Adding features to an existing structure is a large part of our business. Since 2006 it has been our goal to continue to grow and develop our crew to be able to offer our clients in the DFW new construction services as well. This includes preparing and pouring new foundations and architectural walls. We have recently expanded our portfolio to include basement slabs and custom drains. New construction jobs require a keen eye for detail making sure that the new structure is unique while fitting into the neighborhood. 

As the premier concrete contractors in the Dallas-Fort Worth area we offer a wide variety of services to meet any needs brought to us. Concrete Kings has all the necessary crew and equipment needed to accomplish all the above services in a timely and efficient manner. Because we don’t need to sub-contract any of the work we do for you we have complete control of the construction process from start to finish. This way we can ensure the cleanliness and safety of the job site and guarantee the quality of all work performed. We care about the outcome of your projects and also happily assist in the long term care and maintenance of your concrete structures. 

We’re going to discuss bidding and estimating with a concrete company in Dallas. We’re going to go over the three different ways that you could estimate the cost of a concrete job. Now, the first way, which is how many contractors do it: A simple “by the square foot price.  It’s a very popular misconception is by the square foot price that you just have a book with a list of if a job is 300 square feet, it’s this much. If a job is a thousand square feet, it’s this much power. And once you measure, you should just spit out, then the second way is a per day price. So that means you have three people on your job and yourself you charge X amount a day and that’s the flat rate, however many days it takes. The third way of getting in, estimating as time material plus profit. So we’ll get into the three different ways that you could bid and which way is right for you. So the first way in bidding is the very popular misconception, right?

​Everyone thinks you come to measure a job. You know the number bang just like that. It doesn’t matter if it’s in a backyard side, yard, front, it actually doesn’t matter. It’s 250 square feet.

It should cost let’s just say twelve hundred dollars or whatever your area will call for. That is a easy way of estimating.

But the problem is every job is different in its own way. And you may not be able to make money even if a job is three hundred square feet, two different jobs.

​You may need to charge two different prices just for the very simple reasoning of what if one is in a backyard and you need a pump or a wheelbarrow, an extra man to do it. And one is, let’s say, a sidewalk right in the front, right off the truck where maybe you could do that job yourself. So that’s why I don’t like just blurting out a square foot price. A lot of people call me on the phone and say I got 400 square feet. How much is a square foot? Well, I don’t know. You know, I have to come and look at the site, discuss different options with you. How thick do you want to do it? Is it dirt to remove as a concrete to remove? You know, there are just too many different factors in that. So while that may be the easiest and the quickest way to estimate, estimate a job, it’s probably not going to be the most profitable for you. And it’s more risk that you could lose money that way. So I had a guy call me one time. He said that he was a retired concrete mason. And he said, listen, I got 400 square feet. I’ll give you I think it was fifteen or eight hundred dollars. I said, I just I can’t do it. I said, you know, I’m going to come to the site. I’ll measure it up to make sure that you’re not making a mistake. And then we have to discuss the site conditions. No, no, no, no. I don’t want to be bothered with that. Just how much is a square foot? He goes, you should know off the top of your head. I said, well, it doesn’t work that way. So I passed on that job. The second way is the per day price. Now, for most new guys, this would be, let’s say, the easiest way of doing it.

​Right, because you feel you can’t lose if you’re there for six days, you get X amount of money if you there seven days, eight days. So even if you run into problems or you just don’t know how many days a job is going to take, you feel that safety blanket of, well, I can’t lose on this job.

The customer is assuming the risk because you really don’t know what it’s going to take. So if you tell a customer, well, I feel it’s going to take five days and this is my price per day, if you go into a six day, well, then you’re in trouble. Right, because the customer doesn’t understand why you ran into a sixth day and your thinking is, well, I told them it was per day, so I don’t have any risk.

​Another contractor local to me decided to go down that road.

He was sick of giving a per square foot price and he said, I’m just going to do a per day price, however long I’m there. That’s how much I’m charging. And that’s what your bill is going to be. And in the end, the customers would say, well, you didn’t get enough done during the day. So now he would either have to stay ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen hours to get done what they felt was acceptable or he would work the eight hours and fight with them later over the bill. Either way, it’s not profitable for either side.

The customer never feels that they get enough done in a day. And for you, you feel like if I got to work overtime, it’s for free because it’s per day.

So. Not while for newcomers, you may feel that’s the best way because you feel it’s the safest way, but it’s not the best way, the way that I estimate jobs is the third way. OK, it’s time and material plus profit. So this is the most common way to bid jobs. And it’s how a lot of guys price out small to large projects. It’s not a one size fits all, it’s per job. So basically, I walk on to a site, I’ll measure it up and say, OK, it’s this much money. I don’t really use a per square foot price. Now, a lot of people like to hear it per square foot number. So what I would do is I would just take the price that I’m charging, divide it by the number of square feet and it spits out a number. And whatever the number may be, it makes it a little bit easier for the customer to compare. But the other thing is, what if the other contractor is not including what I am? Right. So for me, I like to do at least four inches of concrete wire mesh, the fiber concrete, while the next contractor may be giving you two inches and no steel at all. So that’s why I feel you do with time material plus profit. You list everything that you’re going to do. Some people are going to read it and realize the difference. Some people are not. That’s just the risk you take as a business owner and it’s also how you present the job and you sell it to the customer.

​So the road that I take is I figure out the time and the material, right. So your material cost is going to be X, your labor cost is Y, and then I figure out roughly how many days I feel it’s going to take. Now, in the beginning, it was a little hard because I was kind of feeling out how many days it was going to take. So in the beginning you may under estimate a little, you may overestimate a little, but either way you’ll figure it out after a couple, maybe three, four to five jobs. You’ll figure it out how how long something should take. So I take X and Y, I say, OK, this job should take me two days to do. How much salary am I going to make? Are we working multiple jobs that day? Are we doing just this job per day? So you figure out what you want your per day salary to be as an employee because even though you’re the owner, you’re still an employee. You draw a weekly check from the company. So how much do I want to make per day? And then I add on 20, 25, 30 percent, whatever profit I feel I need for that particular project. And that profit gives you a safety blanket. If you should run into a little problem or if something doesn’t go your way, it takes an extra half a day. It’ll come out of the company’s profit.

But it really doesn’t hurt you as the business owner directly because you still made your prototype, your per day salary and the business still made money.

It just didn’t make as much as you felt it could have.

​So just to quickly break it down, the three ways is the per square foot price, just whatever square foot it is. That’s the number. That’s it. That is a easy, quick way to estimate. You could do ten, fifteen, twenty estimates a day like nothing. And it’s dangerous because some jobs are different than others and require different things. So you got to be careful with that the other way. The per day price, while it may seem safe and it is for a newcomer, you leave yourself vulnerable to what the customer feels. You should get done per day. And the third way, which is my way, which is the longest way, but it’s the most profitable way, is time and material X and Y plus how many days I feel for the salary and whatever percentage of profit you want to throw on top 20, 30, 40, 50, whatever you may feel.

I think most companies do ten to twenty percent. But again, it’s area specific and what your costs are as a business owner, because my insurance cost is different than the guy who’s in Wyoming. So obviously you have to add on different percentages for different areas and different types of jobs.