Concrete Contractor in Allen, TX

Allen homes are young, and that changes the job list

Allen stands on U.S. Highway 75 in southwestern Collin County, eight miles southwest of McKinney. The town was established in 1870 by a purchasing agent for the Houston and Texas Central Railway, and it was named in 1872 for Ebenezer Allen, a former Texas attorney general. The houses are far newer than the town. Census figures give a median year built of 2003, with 33 percent of units built in 2000 to 2009, 27 percent in 2010 or later, and only 7 percent before 1980 (ACS 2024).

Six in ten homes here went up in 2000 or later. On a house that age, the requests a concrete contractor in Allen hears include a wider driveway or a parking pad beside it, a bigger back patio, a walk to a side gate, a slab for a shed or a hot tub. Some of that stays on your lot and some reaches the street, and that split decides which permit you need. Our Allen driveway page and Allen patio page go deeper on those two jobs.

Building and Permitting or the Right-of-Way Division: which desk handles your job

The Building and Permitting Division, at 305 Century Parkway, permits work on the lot, and every application goes through the city's Citizen Self-Service portal. Unlike the model code, the city's amended code gives driveways and sidewalks no permit exemption, so flatwork here isn't a pour-it-and-forget-it job. The city tells residents who hire a contractor to confirm the contractor has applied for and received a permit before work starts, and to expect inspections. The last page of each permit lists the required ones. Contractors all register with the city for $50 a year. Homeowners doing their own work sign a Homeowner's Affidavit instead.

The public right-of-way belongs to a different office. Engineering's Right-of-Way and Utility Division reviews, inspects and permits that work, and its forms include a Residential Driveway/Sidewalk Construction/Paving Permit. Since March 3, 2026, those applications go in through an online form, and the city asks for 10 business days. Where does the right-of-way start? The city's March 2026 contractor guidelines put it generally 9 1/2 feet from the back of the curb, and tell you to verify that on the plat from the Collin Central Appraisal District. We check your plat before we price an approach, which is part of what a concrete contractor in Allen has to do.

What It Costs

Our ranges for reinforced concrete here, before we see the site:

These are planning ranges. Once we've looked at the plat, the grade and where the right-of-way line sits, each job gets a free written estimate.

What Allen's approach detail calls for

Sheet SD-P41 of the city's standard paving details spells out the residential approach. Minimum driveway width is 10 ft, and the curb return radius is 10 ft, twice the 5 ft typical radius on Frisco's approach detail. The public walk runs 4 to 5 ft wide, crossing about 1 ft inside the right-of-way line, with a 2 percent maximum cross slope and a redwood expansion joint at that line. Slope on the driveway itself is limited to 8 to 10 percent.

A concrete contractor in Allen also builds to the tie-in rules for new concrete meeting old. Rebar laps 30 bar diameters. When the new slab isn't tied to existing steel, No. 6 dowels 2 ft long are drilled in instead. The street is saw cut to the block-out limit unless the approach is poured with the street. Under sheet SD-P08, driveway strength matches the street when the driveway is built with a paving project and otherwise comes from the construction plan, so the plan we submit carries the mix. Rear-entry lots get a separate detail. An alley driveway is 12 ft typical and 20 ft maximum, with a redwood expansion joint and No. 3 smooth dowels 24 inches long at 12 inches on center.

If you're weighing this city against its neighbors, our Plano, Frisco and Prosper pages cover those cities' approach rules.

City locates in Allen and what nobody marks for you

Digging in the right-of-way starts with a request for city utility locates. The city wants it at least 48 hours ahead, with the ROW permit number and the Texas811 ticket. The statewide 811 call is separate, and it brings out the utilities that own lines under your yard.

Here's the catch for homeowners: the city does not locate private water lines (from the meter to the house), sanitary sewer laterals or irrigation lines. Those are yours, and sprinkler lines can run right where a driveway widening or a new walk goes. Texas811 doesn't help there either: its FAQ says private lines owned by the property owner are not marked for free. Before we dig, we ask you to show us your sprinkler heads and valves, and any concrete contractor in Allen should plan to reroute heads at the edge of a new slab. When the city opens a street for utility work, its restoration details call for at least 6 inches of 3,600 psi concrete in the patch, which shows how the city treats pavement over its lines.

Our permits guide explains the statewide steps.

How Your Job Goes

1. Consultation and design

   We measure, pull up your plat to find the right-of-way line and any Private Drainage Easement, and walk the sprinkler heads with you.

2. Planning and preparation

   We file the building permit in Citizen Self-Service, add the right-of-way permit with Engineering when needed, and request 811 and city locates.

3. Installation and completion

   We form up, set steel and dowels to the city detail, pour, cut joints, and book the inspections listed on the permit.

Houston Black clay under Allen slabs

The city sits on heavy clay, and a concrete contractor in Allen designs for it. In the NRCS data, 18 of 30 random points inside the city are Houston Black clay. Its shrink-swell value (linear extensibility) is 12 percent, and 17 percent on the eroded phase. NRCS's Houston Black series description says that when dry the soil cracks 0.5 to 4 inches wide and 12 inches deep or more, and the cracks stay open 90 to 150 days in most years. Austin silty clay takes another 7 points at 5.1 percent and rates only Somewhat limited. Taken together, 20 of the 30 points rate Very limited for dwellings on concrete slab.

On flatwork, that means steel held up in the slab, a compacted base, joints cut on time, and no roof water left standing at the slab edge. FEMA shows less flood-zone ground here than in lake-side The Colony. FEMA maps put 25 of the 30 points in Zone X, minimal hazard, and 2 in Zone AE or its floodway. Is your lot one of those? The city keeps flood studies, and you can view them at City Hall through the Land Development contact. Our expansive clay guide has the full clay explainer.

Patio, shed and retaining wall fees for a concrete contractor in Allen

The city's June 2025 fee schedule lists the fees backyard jobs run into: arbor, patio or carport $200; retaining wall $150; screening wall $75; foundation repair $75; accessory structure of 120 to 200 sq ft $75; miscellaneous $50. A re-inspection costs $75 the first time, $100 the second and $125 the third, which is reason enough to get the forms, steel and paperwork right at the start.

A shed up to 120 sq ft is exempt, so long as where you put it doesn't break another city rule, such as sitting in a Private Drainage Easement. That easement doesn't show on the ground, which is why we check the plat before we lay out a pad. The residential forms library adds a Drainage and Grading Affidavit and 2026 patio cover plan review guidelines, so a covered patio has a checklist of its own.

Two timing notes. Construction hours run 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. And the City Council approved the 2024 ICC codes on July 28, 2026, effective September 26, 2026, so applications received on or after that date are reviewed under the new codes (adopted codes). Our slabs page covers slab sizing, and Allen foundations covers additions on an engineered slab. A concrete contractor in Allen who knows these fees and dates can give you a firm number early.