More than 20 years of driveways, patios, slabs and concrete repair, priced from what your lot actually sits on.
Killeen Elite Concrete has spent more than 20 years working as a concrete contractor in Killeen, TX, pouring driveways, patios, slabs and sidewalks and repairing the ones that have already failed. We do new flatwork, concrete leveling, resurfacing, decorative work and commercial pours, and we do all of it on the same ground we have been working since the early 2000s. Twenty years on one soil map is the difference between guessing at a subgrade and knowing it.
What decides how a slab performs here is rarely the mix. It is what sits underneath it. Inside these city limits high plasticity clay sits over shallow limestone, and the depth to that rock runs anywhere from about nine inches to about thirty depending on which soil unit a lot falls on. We find that out before we quote, because it is the single largest variable in what the work costs.
We pull the flatwork permit ourselves, we hold a City of Killeen construction registration, and we carry the general liability coverage the city requires of a contractor in our category. We will also tell you plainly that Texas issues no state license for concrete work, so a company advertising one is advertising something that does not exist. What follows is what we actually do, and what it takes to have it done properly.
What we do
Concrete contractor serving Killeen and Central Texas
Crack repair, slab lifting, grinding and panel replacement in Killeen, TX, diagnosed at the cause rather than patched at the surface.
Settled driveways, patios and walks raised back to level in Killeen, TX by foam injection or mudjacking, with both methods priced against replacement.
New and replacement concrete driveways in Killeen, TX, priced from the actual subgrade and including the approach work in city right of way.
Stamped and seamless textured concrete in Killeen, TX, with pattern, color and joint layout settled against your house before the pour.
Concrete patios in Killeen, TX sized around the furniture and the way the yard is actually used, in broom, textured or stamped finishes.
RV pads, shop floors, shed bases, hot tub and equipment pads in Killeen, TX, sized from the load on top and the ground underneath.
Overlays, self leveling underlayment and decorative microtoppings in Killeen, TX for slabs worn on the surface but sound through the section.
Required sidewalks, ambulatory ramps and private walkways in Killeen, TX, built to the width, height and accessibility standards the city inspects against.
Poured concrete retaining walls in Killeen, TX designed for saturated clay pressure, with proper footings, reinforcement and drainage behind the stem.
Color, stamped patterns, seamless textures, acid stain and overlays in Killeen, TX, on new pours and on existing concrete that is sound underneath.
Parking lots, ambulatory ramps, curb and gutter, dumpster pads and dock aprons in Killeen, TX, built to the permits and standards each one triggers.
We have been pouring and repairing concrete across Central Texas for more than 20 years, on these soils and through these summers. That is long enough to have gone back to slabs we placed a decade ago and seen how the ground treated them, which is the only feedback loop in this trade that means anything.
Killeen requires a construction registration before a contractor may perform, contract to perform, or obtain a permit for permit-requiring work, and section 8-61 sets a minimum general liability policy of 100,000 dollars per occurrence for our category. We hold that registration, we carry that coverage, and we are glad to show you both.
Texas issues no state license for concrete work at all, so any company claiming to hold one is claiming something that does not exist. What is real is city registration, insurance, and a permit history an inspector can look up. We would rather tell you that plainly than let an invented credential do our selling.
Every quote starts with what the slab will sit on, because inside these city limits high plasticity clay sits over limestone that can be nine inches down or thirty, so excavation gets priced from the actual soil unit rather than from a square footage rate that quietly assumes dirt all the way down.
No lot gets quoted as though the rock is not there. Where limestone or a petrocalcic caliche hardpan sits a foot down, rock excavation becomes the largest line on the job, so we say so before you sign rather than writing a thin number and doubling it halfway through the dig.
Never by eye. Control joints go in at published spacing of roughly 24 to 36 times the slab thickness and get sawcut early with an early entry dry cut saw, so a slab cracks along the lines we chose rather than diagonally across a panel the way it does when joints are spaced by feel.
Hot weather work is scheduled against the 45-minute discharge limit that applies once it is above 90 degrees, not against the calendar, so concrete is placed and finished inside its window rather than worked stiff on the surface because the truck arrived at the wrong hour of the day.
The driveway approach where it crosses into city right of way is ours to run, including the separate permit, the estimated cost filed with the city engineer, the performance bond and the state permit where a property fronts a state road, so a job does not stall on paperwork nobody warned you about.
We price polyurethane foam injection and mudjacking against each other and against straight replacement, because we are not tied to one piece of equipment. A settled slab gets the method the ground argues for, rather than the method a contractor already owns and needs to keep busy.
A flatwork job runs from a look at the soil through layout, excavation, base, forming, reinforcement, the pour, finishing and curing. We tell you at the start which of those steps this particular lot will make expensive, because on shallow rock the excavation is the job rather than a line item. Most flatwork takes foot traffic the next day and vehicle loads once it has cured.
Purves silty clay covers about 8,671 acres inside the city limits and Denton silty clay another 6,860, and their surface plasticity index runs 39 and 37 against the 15 that IRC section R403.1.8.1 uses to call a soil expansive. What sits under a slab moves far more than the mix ever will, so we set the base and the joint pattern around the soil unit rather than a default.
We pour residential driveways, and we handle the approach where it crosses into city right of way, which section 25-91 makes the abutting owner’s to build and to pay for. That portion carries its own permit, an estimated cost filed with the city engineer, and a performance bond equal to that estimate. We price it into the job rather than discovering it later.
A patio is worth sizing around furniture, traffic and shade before anyone talks square footage, because the most common regret is a slab that fit the budget and not the table. We walk the yard with you, mark the footprint on the ground, and set the fall so water leaves the house. Then we price that size rather than a round number.
Shop floors, RV pads, hot tub pads, shed bases and metal building slabs each carry a different load, and each gets its own thickness and reinforcement schedule. We ask what is going on top and how heavy it is before anything is formed, since a pad poured for a car will not hold a fifth wheel. Anchor bolt layout is set before the pour, not chipped in afterward.
Killeen requires a sidewalk for every new residential and commercial building and for permitted additions or structural alterations abutting a public street, at a minimum of four feet wide, sitting within six inches of the property line and no lower than the top of the existing curb. No certificate of occupancy issues until that is satisfied, so we build to it the first time.
The small pours are the ones left off a cheap quote and the ones that decide whether a project looks finished: steps, garage aprons, thickened edges, footings and the transitions between one slab and the next. We include them from the start with the same reinforcement and joint detailing as the main pour. A step tied to a slab that moves independently is the step that cracks first.
Thickness and steel follow the load and the ground, not habit. We specify welded wire reinforcement, fiber mesh or rebar on chairs and slab bolsters according to what the slab actually carries, and we keep that reinforcement up in the section where it does some work. Since January 1, 2026 the vapor retarder under a slab returns to 6 mil under IRC section R506.3.3.
Nearly every slab cracks. The question is whether it cracked where it was told to. On soils with a plasticity index near 40 the ground moves seasonally, so a hairline inside a sawcut joint is the system doing its job, while a wide diagonal across a panel is not. We look at width, offset and whether the two sides have moved vertically before quoting anything.
A slab that has dropped along one edge is usually sitting over fill, an old trench line, or a soft pocket that consolidated after a wet season. The concrete itself is frequently sound and the void beneath it is the actual problem. We probe to find where the support ran out rather than assuming the whole slab has failed.
The same clay that shrinks and drops a slab through a dry summer swells and lifts it after a long wet spell, which is how one panel sits high in spring and flush in August. Tree roots and shallow limestone both concentrate that movement in one place. Treating a heave as a settlement and injecting underneath it only makes the high side higher.
A settled slab can be raised with a mudjacking slurry pumped through larger holes, or with polyurethane foam injection through much smaller ones. The slurry is heavier and cheaper by volume; the foam is light, cures in minutes and puts far less weight back onto soil that has already given way. We quote both and tell you which one the ground argues for.
Lifting restores elevation. It does not restore a panel broken into more pieces than it can span, or one that has lost its surface entirely. Once a slab shows multiple through cracks with vertical offset, or the base under it is still washing out, raising it buys a season and no more. We say that rather than selling the lift.
Route and seal crack repair, epoxy crack injection and carbon fiber crack stitching each answer a different crack: a joint that is still moving, a structural separation, and one you need to stop widening. Filling a crack without correcting drainage, a missing joint or a void underneath simply moves the failure a few inches sideways. We work out which one it is first.
Scaling and spalling mean the surface layer has lost its bond; dusting usually means the finish was worked with bleed water still on it; and a white bloom is efflorescence, salts carried out by moisture moving through the slab. Each has a different cause and only one of them is cosmetic. We name which is happening before recommending any resurfacer.
A vertical offset between two panels is the most common liability on a commercial frontage, and concrete grinding removes it in an afternoon wherever the panels either side are sound. On required sidewalks in Killeen the abutting owner carries that maintenance. We grind where grinding will hold, and replace the panel where the offset is going to come straight back.
Stamped concrete should take its pattern, its color and its joint layout from the house it sits against rather than from a catalog page. We look at the brick or stone on the elevation, the roof color and the scale of the area before choosing a mat. A pattern that looks right in a photograph and wrong at the back door is a common and expensive mistake.
An ashlar slate stamp pattern reads formal and hides traffic well; cobble and running bond suit paths and courtyards; tile patterns suit covered areas that read as outdoor rooms; and wood plank suits a patio meant to feel like a deck. Scale matters more than the pattern name does. We lay a sample area out on site before anyone commits.
A seamless texture skin puts a fine stone or leathered surface across a slab with no repeating grid, which is what most people around here ask for once they have seen both side by side. It forgives a large irregular area far better than a stamped pattern. Paired with a sawcut border it reads like tile without the joint lines.
Integral color is mixed into the truck and runs all the way through, so a chip shows the same color as the surface. Dry shake color hardener and antiquing release sit on top and give the depth and variation a single integral color cannot. They do different jobs and they wear differently, so we usually combine them and tell you which layer is doing what.
A sound slab that is only tired does not need replacing. Acid stain reacts chemically with the concrete for a mottled, permanent color, and a microtopping overlay or self leveling underlayment gives a fresh surface to stamp or texture. Both depend on the existing slab being structurally sound underneath, which is the first thing we check before quoting either.
An exposed aggregate finish washes the surface paste back to reveal the stone in the mix, giving a hard-wearing textured surface with real grip underfoot. The look depends entirely on the aggregate in the load, so we agree on it before the pour rather than after. Sealed, it darkens and the stone reads considerably stronger than it does dry.
A broom finish gives dependable grip on a driveway and hides a great deal; a rock salt finish gives the pitted texture suited to pool decks; a float finish sits between the two; and a hard troweled finish belongs indoors, because it is slick once it is wet. The finish decides how a slab wears and how it behaves in rain.
A large pour reads better broken into panels, and the sawcut pattern can do that work while still landing where the joints have to fall anyway. We set borders and bands with an early entry dry cut saw so the lines are crisp and cut early enough to still control cracking. Design and joint spacing get decided together, not one after the other.
Decorative surfaces need sealing to hold their color, and how often depends on exposure and traffic far more than on a calendar. A penetrating sealer protects without changing the look much, while a film-forming sealer gives gloss and needs stripping and redoing sooner. On exterior slabs that bake all summer we usually recommend the penetrating option, with a grit additive wherever slip matters.
It is unlawful in Killeen to park a vehicle on anything but an all-weather surface, meaning Portland cement concrete, an impervious bituminous surface over a compacted base, or another surface the building official approves. Commercial and multifamily parking surfaces must additionally be capable of retaining paint or striping. We build lots that meet that definition instead of a gravel compromise.
Killeen calls its curb ramps ambulatory ramps, and section 26-105 requires one at the end of each curb return at all street intersections in a subdivision, with the type, dimensions and surface finish uniform throughout. Detectable warning surfaces go in as part of that work. We build them to one detail across a whole site, so an inspector is never comparing two versions.
Curb, gutter and street curb work in the right of way runs under a separate permit filed with the city engineer with an estimated cost, and section 25-93 requires a performance bond equal to that full estimate or a cash deposit in its place. Section 25-91 withholds approval of the building work until non-conforming abutting curbs are brought to city standard. The permit application and the bond are ours to arrange as part of the curb and gutter work.
A single sidewalk pour in the right of way answers at once to the Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines, the Texas Accessibility Standards, ADA design requirements, chapter 25 of the city code and the Infrastructure Design and Development Standards Manual. IDDSM Item 805 then adds a wood-float finish to a rough texture, with sidewalks scored into four-foot sections. We build to all of it.
A single-container pad runs a minimum of 14 feet wide and 12 feet 4 inches deep, and its approach apron a minimum of 14 feet wide and 15 feet deep, varying no more than 10 degrees above or below horizontal. Both must be concrete deemed able to support the collection equipment, and maintenance of the pad and its approach is expressly the owner’s.
Dock aprons, drive through lanes, wheel stop bases and truck pads take concentrated wheel loads and turning stress a parking bay never sees, so they get thicker sections, dowel baskets at construction joints and a stronger base beneath them. We detail the joints where the trucks genuinely turn. Getting that layout wrong is what breaks an apron inside its first year.
The city’s construction submittal guidance routes any construction project over 50,000 dollars to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for accessibility review, and IDDSM Item 805 puts those approvals on the engineer of record. Below that threshold the accessibility standards still apply to the work itself. We build to them either way, and tell you which side of the line a project sits on.
Flatwork in Killeen is permitted by area at 11 cents per square foot with a 70 dollar minimum, plus a 10 dollar technology and application fee, and a failed inspection of any kind costs 50 dollars against 35 for a partial one. Any right of way excavation deeper than 18 inches needs its own permit and a 2,000 dollar surety bond. We pull them and we quote them.
Killeen Elite Concrete provides concrete contractor throughout the greater Killeen area, with the same crews and the same standards on every job.
Good to know
There is no honest square footage rate here, because the ground changes lot to lot. The price is driven by how deep the limestone or caliche sits, how much rock excavation that forces, the thickness and reinforcement the load needs, the approach work in city right of way, and the finish. We measure the site and quote from that rather than a rate card.
We pull it. Killeen permits flatwork by area at 11 cents per square foot with a 70 dollar minimum, plus a 10 dollar technology and application fee. A failed inspection costs 50 dollars and a partial inspection 35. Starting work before the permit is issued doubles the fee, which is the main reason we handle it ourselves.
No. Texas issues no state license for concrete work at all, so anyone advertising one is advertising a credential that does not exist. What you can actually verify is a City of Killeen construction registration, which the city requires before a contractor performs or obtains a permit for permit-requiring work, and general liability insurance. We carry both.
Foot traffic is normally fine the day after the pour. Vehicles need considerably longer, and the wait depends on the mix, the thickness and the weather during curing rather than on a fixed number of days. We give you the date for your specific pour before we leave the site, and we would rather you waited than cracked a slab you just paid for.
Concrete on this ground moves, so the realistic goal is controlling where it cracks rather than preventing it. We lay control joints out at published spacing of roughly 24 to 36 times the slab thickness and sawcut them early, which sends the crack into a line you cannot see. A slab with joints spaced by eye is the one that cracks across a panel.
Lifting is usually the cheaper option and often the right one, but not always. Where a panel is broken into more pieces than it can span, has lost its surface, or sits over a base that is still washing out, raising it buys a season. We quote polyurethane foam injection, mudjacking and replacement side by side so you can see the difference.
It depends on what it carries and what it sits on, which is why a single number is a bad answer. A shed base, a car driveway and an RV pad are three different sections with three different reinforcement schedules. We specify thickness, welded wire reinforcement, fiber mesh or rebar on chairs against the actual load and the actual subgrade.
Yes. Foundation repair has required a permit in Killeen since Ordinance No. 22-004 took effect on January 25, 2022. From January 1, 2026 the local amendment to IRC section R106.1.1.1 also requires engineered documents for structural repairs including foundation slab repair, and for masonry or concrete columns, walls or retaining walls over four feet in height.
Most residential flatwork is a matter of days on site rather than weeks, split between demolition and excavation, forming and reinforcement, the pour itself, and cure time before use. Rock excavation is the step that stretches a schedule here. Permit and inspection timing sits alongside that, and we build both into the dates we give you up front.
Yes, and it is a good part of what we do around Fort Hood, where a quarter of occupied single-family detached houses in Killeen are rented rather than owner-occupied. Turnover work has to be safe, presentable and finished between tenants, so we quote to a date, deal with the manager rather than the resident, and keep the scope to what actually needs doing.
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