Concrete Driveway Contractor in Spokane, WA: New Driveways, Replacements & Approaches

Concrete driveway contractor in Spokane, WA, pouring new driveways, replacements and street approaches built for freeze-thaw winters. Raven Buildings forms, pours and finishes driveways across Spokane and Spokane County with compacted base, air-entrained concrete and control joints laid out before the pour. Inside city limits we build approaches to the City of Spokane's standard plans; outside them, to Spokane County's.

Driveway work we do

• New driveways: for new homes, shops and garages, sized to your vehicles and drainage
• Driveway replacement: tear-out and re-pour of cracked, settled or scaling driveways, in full or panel by panel
• Approaches: the section between your property line and the street, built to City or County standards
• Widening and extensions: extra parking pads, RV and trailer parking, and side-yard access
• Walkways and steps: tie-ins to front walks, porches and garage slabs

First question: City of Spokane or Spokane County?

A Spokane mailing address can be inside city limits or in unincorporated Spokane County, and the rules for the approach are different. We check your parcel before we quote.

Driveway approach permits inside the City of Spokane

• Permit required: under Spokane Municipal Code 17H.010.220, an approach permit from the City is required to build or modify any driveway onto the public right-of-way
• Must serve parking: every driveway has to access an off-street parking space, and garage or carport entrances must be at least 20 feet from the back of the sidewalk
• Width limit: total driveway width per ownership can't exceed 40 percent of the street frontage. The City's application caps an approach at 30 feet
• Replacing an old approach: the City's application says replacing an existing approach requires building it to current standard plans. Under SMC 17H.010.220, an existing driveway wider than 40 percent of frontage or wider than 20 feet has to be brought into conformance when it's altered or repaired
• Unused curb cuts: abandoned driveways must be replaced with curb and sidewalk
• Who builds it: the application says the work must be done by a contractor qualified to work in the right-of-way, who gets a Street Obstruction Permit before construction. The work is inspected
• Street trees: if you'll excavate within 10 feet of a street tree, the City asks you to contact Urban Forestry at 509-363-5495
• Paperwork and timing: a site plan is required, and the City says review takes up to 5 working days. Applications go to Planning & Development Services at City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. (509-625-6300)
• New subdivisions: no approach permit is needed where the driveway is shown on approved street plans

What the City's standard plans call for

The City of Spokane's Standard Plans (Section F, residential and commercial driveway approaches) specify:

• Concrete: 6 inches of air-entrained, 6-sack commercial concrete
• Base: 4 inches of compacted crushed surfacing top course (CSTC)
• Expansion joints: 3/8-inch premolded, full-depth joints, plus one at the property line on shared driveways
• Contraction joints: hand-tooled, 1/4 inch wide and at least 2 inches deep
• Thickened edges: where the approach doesn't abut existing pavement

Approach permits in unincorporated Spokane County

• Permit required: Spokane County says all approaches that connect to a county road need an approach permit. Urban approaches have curb; rural approaches don't. No County permit is needed on private roads within a plat, and state highways and other jurisdictions' roads go through that agency
• Floodplains and wetlands: those approvals come first, and approaches aren't allowed on County summer roads
• Urban (curbed) approaches: the County inspects the forms before the pour, with at least 2 working days' notice. Driveway concrete is 6-sack commercial, air-entrained, with a full-depth 3/8-inch expansion joint down the center of driveways over 20 feet wide and 95 percent compaction under the approach
• Urban width and spacing: residential approaches run 16 to 30 feet wide, total driveways can't exceed 50 percent of frontage, and approaches stay at least 7.5 feet from any property line and 20 feet from the curb line of an intersecting street
• Rural (no curb) approaches: crushed rock is required in the right-of-way, 5/8-minus or smaller, and some approaches need a culvert sized at inspection. The County says to keep concrete back 5 feet from the road and tie in with asphalt or gravel
• Sight distance: on rural approaches, the County wants sight distance of 10 times the posted speed limit in both directions, so 350 feet on a 35 mph road
• Changes to existing approaches: a permit is required to pave or widen an approach or move the driveway
• Contractor bonding: the County says a contractor without a Spokane County street obstruction bond has to post a cash surety, and a City of Spokane bond is valid only in the City right-of-way. Spokane County Public Works Permit Center: 509-477-7151

How we build a driveway for Spokane winters

The Michigan Concrete Association's 2025 driveway guidelines, written for another freeze-thaw state, line up with how we build:

• Thickness: at least 4 inches, and 5 inches where delivery or heavier vehicles will drive. City approaches are 6 inches per the standard plans. See our driveway thickness guide
• Base: at least 4 inches of compacted sub-base
• Slope: at least 1/8 inch per foot so water drains off instead of sitting and freezing
• Mix: 4,000 psi at 28 days, a water-to-cementitious ratio of 0.45 or less, and 6.5 percent air content (plus or minus 1.5)
• Control joints: in both directions at no more than 2 times the slab thickness in feet (8 feet for a 4-inch slab), panels no more than 1.5 times as long as they are wide, cut to 1/4 of the slab depth. Isolation joints go full depth at fixed objects. See why driveways crack

Washington's residential code (IRC Table R402.2) also requires air-entrained concrete of at least 3,500 psi for garage floors, porches and carport slabs where weathering is severe, with 5 to 7 percent total air. Our concrete psi guide covers mix choices.

Curing and when you can drive on it

• Curing: the Michigan guidelines say curing should start immediately and last at least 3 days, and in cold weather the concrete should be kept at 50 degrees F or above for at least 3 days
• Cars: open to traffic after 7 days of curing, or sooner if testing confirms 3,000 psi. The Concrete Network puts normal driving at 7 to 10 days
• Heavy vehicles: the Concrete Network suggests waiting at least 28 days for RVs and heavy trucks, and keeping tires off the edges
• Sealer: the Michigan guidelines recommend a penetrating sealer at 30 days, reapplied every 3 to 5 years

More detail in when you can drive on a new driveway.

Repair or replace?

The Indiana Ready Mixed Concrete Association's repair guide offers a simple rule of thumb:

• Usually repairable: narrow, stable cracks, localized chips, minor surface scaling, broken corners or edges, and damage that's cosmetic rather than structural
• Usually time to replace: large settled areas, multiple structural cracks that keep widening, badly exposed reinforcing steel, widespread deterioration, drainage problems repairs can't fix, and repairs that keep failing

A replacement is also the time to fix the base, drainage and joint layout that caused the problem, and inside the City, to bring an oversized approach into conformance. See our repair vs. replacement guide.

What it costs

Driveways and approaches are quoted per project after we see the site, since tear-out, base work, thickness, size and approach requirements change the price. Adding a patio? Raven's current patio pricing, including site prep and the pour:

• Broom finish: about $12 to $20 per sq ft
• Stamped: about $18 to $30 per sq ft
• What moves the price: the size of the patio and whether a pump truck is needed

Why Spokane homeowners call Raven

• Concrete is our core trade: our own crew forms, pours and finishes. See our concrete flatwork services and all services
• We know the paperwork: City approach permits and standard plans, or County approach rules, sorted before we quote
• Shops too: need a slab and a building? We do steel buildings and pole buildings

Get a Spokane driveway quote

Call 509-350-2016 or request a free quote with your project, rough size and address or parcel number.

Sources

• Patio pricing: Raven Buildings' current rates
• Spokane Municipal Code 17H.010.220, Driveways
• City of Spokane Driveway Approach Application with Site Plan (PDF)
• City of Spokane Standard Plans, Section F (PDF)
• Spokane County Urban Residential Approaches (E-4)
• Spokane County Rural Residential Approaches (E-3)
• Michigan Concrete Association, 2025 Driveway & Sidewalk Guidelines (PDF)
• Concrete Network: How Long Before You Can Drive on New Concrete?
• 2021 Washington Residential Code, Chapter 4 Foundations (Table R402.2)
• Indiana Ready Mixed Concrete Association: Steps for Repairing Concrete