Slab foundation building in El Paso TX - solid ground under your new house
Planning a new house or addition and need a slab under it? We dig out, pack the base and pour it right.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free on-site estimates.
- We respond within 1 business day.
What goes into building a slab foundation in El Paso?
Slab foundation building in El Paso means pouring the reinforced concrete slab your house or addition rests on, set on a dug-out, packed base and left to cure before anyone builds on it.
Most people who call about a slab have plans for a new house, an addition or a garage, and they want to know what it'll cost and when the framers can start. The price mostly follows the size and thickness of the slab, how much dirt has to come out and how much fill goes back, the steel inside it and how easy it is to get a truck to the spot. The schedule turns on the permit, your plumber and electrician getting their lines in the ground before the final base, the weather on pour day and the wait while the concrete cures. When the job calls for a permit, we handle the paperwork. Your estimate puts a figure on your own lot.
How do you know you're ready to plan a slab?
Plans with a slab drawn
You've got drawings for a house, addition or casita, and the first sheet shows the slab. Everything else waits on it, so putting off the booking usually pushes your framers back too.
Dirt that sinks underfoot
If your boots sink in or the ground stays soft after rain, the top layer is loose. That usually means digging it out and packing a new base, because a slab poured on loose dirt settles right along with it.
Water running toward the spot
Watch where the water goes in a storm. If it runs to where the house will sit, the grade needs fixing before the pour, or you end up with a slab that sends water toward your walls every time it rains.
How we build a slab foundation
We start by walking the lot and checking where water runs, so the finished grade sends it away from the house. Then we dig out the loose dirt and pack the subgrade, the ground the slab sits on, until it's firm, instead of raking it level and hoping. We set the forms and the rebar, the steel that holds the slab together if it cracks, then pour and cut control joints, grooves that give the concrete a straight place to crack instead of a random one. I won't promise you a slab with no cracks at all, because concrete cracks, but joints cut on time decide where. While it cures, the slow hardening that gives it strength, we tell you when it can take foot traffic and when to hold off on heavy loads, so the next trades don't get on it too soon. If the budget gets tight, the base is the last place I'll cut, because nobody sees it after the pour and the only fix later is tearing the slab out.
A lot of slabs are part of a bigger job. If part of your house needs deeper footings or stem walls, that's foundation installation, and we plan it with the slab so the two tie together. Business owners putting up a shop or office often have us take on concrete parking lot building too, graded so water runs off the lot and away from the building.
Conventional slab with rebar
This is the slab most houses, additions and garages sit on, with steel bars tied in a grid through the concrete. It suits most jobs where the plans don't call for anything more.
Post-tensioned slab
Steel cables run through the slab and get pulled tight after the concrete hardens, and it's the design on your plans that calls for it, not us. On a post-tensioned slab, we make sure you know who did the design before we pour.
Get a written estimate for your slab foundation
We reply within one business day, then I come out to measure the lot. The estimate is free, with no obligation. Send the address, the slab size and whether you're inside city limits.
- Based in
- El Paso, TX 79901
- Hours
- Mon–Fri: 8 AM–10 PM, Sat–Sun: 6 AM–9 PM
What happens when you call us about a slab in El Paso?
From your first call to pour day, here's who does what and what you'll have in hand before you decide.
Call and set a visit
You call, and I come out to look at the lot, measure it and ask how you'll use the slab. Have your plans handy if you've got them, because the slab follows the drawings.
Get a written estimate
You get a written estimate that spells out what's included and what isn't. That way you can hold it up against other bids line by line instead of guessing what's missing.
Line up paperwork and prep
We line up any paperwork the job needs, then prep the ground and set the forms. Book your plumber and electrician early, since their lines go in before the final base.
Pour and hand it over
We pour when conditions make sense, and I'm on site for it. Then the slab sits and cures while you plan the next trades around it.
Why El Paso homeowners and builders call Formcraft for slabs
A framer who switched to slabs
I framed houses for years and got tired of building walls on slabs that weren't right, so I learned concrete under a finisher here in El Paso and started this business in 2013. That's why the base and the joints get my attention before anything else.
Our own crew on your slab
The people who set your forms and pour your slab work for us, not for whoever was free that week. They've been doing slabs the way I want them done, base first.
Licensed and fully insured, guaranteed
We're licensed and fully insured, which is worth checking with anyone who'll have a crew and a concrete truck on your lot. Our work is backed by our satisfaction guarantee.
What matters most on a slab is the part you won't see once it's poured, and that's where we spend our time. Send us your lot details and I'll come take a look.
Permits and ground for slab foundations around El Paso
Inside El Paso city limits, the city requires a permit to build, add on to, alter, repair, move or tear down a building or structure, so a slab for a new house or addition goes through it. The city only issues permits to builders who file its application every year. Out in unincorporated El Paso County it works differently, because the county says state law doesn't let it issue building permits, and the county's permits page points owners to Emergency Service District #1 or #2 for guidance. Lots over the line in New Mexico go through the state, which is why the first thing I ask is where your lot sits.
The ground changes from one lot to the next. A summary of the county soil survey puts shrink-swell clay on about 4% of the county's land, and one foundation guide says our desert soils can drop suddenly the first time they get soaked. So we dig to firm ground, pack the base and keep water moving away, the same way we do on jobs in Horizon City and Socorro.
Questions about slab foundations in El Paso
How much does a slab foundation cost in El Paso?
A reinforced concrete slab in El Paso usually runs about $6 to $11 per square foot, as the going rate in the area, not our price. Where yours lands depends on the size, how much dirt work the lot needs, the steel and how easy the spot is to reach. Our on-site estimate gives you the number for your lot.
How long does a new slab foundation need before you can build on it?
A slab should be walkable within about 48 hours, though concrete takes a month to fully cure. To be safe, you may want to wait a week before putting heavier loads on it. Plan your framing start and lumber deliveries around that wait.
What's the best time of day to pour a slab in El Paso heat?
A national concrete industry guide says to schedule the pour for a time of day or night when the weather is favorable, and to keep the concrete from drying out while it's placed and while it cures. In an El Paso summer, that usually means staying out of the midday heat, which can leave a weak, dusty top. Ask whoever you hire when they plan to pour and how they'll keep the slab from drying out.
How do I keep a slab foundation from moving after it's built?
Keep the moisture around the slab's edges steady. That means gutters that work, ground sloping away from the house, no standing water, careful watering in a drought and root barriers for big trees. Ground that swings from soaked to bone dry is usually what moves a slab.
Who should design a post-tensioned slab foundation?
The national trade standard for designing post-tensioned foundations is written for licensed design professionals. Ask who prepared your design and whether that person holds a license. Have that name handy when you call us.
Can I drill into a post-tensioned slab later?
Only after someone locates the tendons, the tightened cables inside it, and follows qualified procedures. Don't let a trade drill or cut blind, because those cables carry the load the slab was designed around.
Work that often comes with a new slab
Foundation installation
When the house needs more than a slab sitting on the ground, like deeper footings or stem walls, foundation installation covers that part before the floor goes in.
Concrete parking lot building
When a new shop or office goes up on a slab, we can pour the parking lot too, planned around the same drainage and base work.
Service areas for slab foundation work
Formcraft El Paso Concrete Company is based in El Paso, Texas, and we pour slabs across the city and the cities around it, from Canutillo to San Elizario and over the line in New Mexico. These 12 cities have their own pages, and we work in others nearby too.
El Paso, TX
Get your slab on the schedule
Booking the slab early lets your plumber and framers plan around a real pour date instead of a guess.