Walkway construction in Salinas CA - a path that stays flat with edges that hold

Most people call us when there's a dirt track from the driveway to the door, or when an old path has sunk and the pavers rock when you step on them. The price comes down to how long and wide the path is, the material you pick, how much old concrete or sod we haul out first, and whether the walk ties into a city sidewalk or curb. The schedule mostly turns on the weather and, for any sidewalk piece, on the city. On the estimate I write down the work, the materials and the reason for each, so you can line it up fairly against other bids, and if the driveway is tired too, I can look at driveway pavers on the same visit.

I start by laying out the path with you on site, since a line is easier to change in paint than in pavers. We dig it out and pack the soil underneath before anything else goes in, because how well that soil is compacted decides how much the walk settles later. Then we spread the base in layers, pack each one and set edging along both sides. We use edging made to hold pavers in place, not wood, because wood warps and rots and lets the pavers drift apart. Last we level a thin bed of sand, lay the pavers on it and clean up, and every walkway we build is backed by our satisfaction guarantee.

A walk usually runs past a planting bed, a gate or the front of the house, so the masonry around it matters too. We build low walls and planters along a path through our brick wall installation work, and our stone masonry can add a stone pillar at the gate or a border where the walk meets the garden.

The part of a Salinas walkway that needs the most care is where it meets the public sidewalk, curb or gutter, because that ground belongs to the city. For sidewalk, curb and gutter repairs, the City of Salinas Permit Center issues an encroachment permit with no fee, after a project meeting with the city's maintenance staff, and the work has to follow the city's standard plans. Before any digging, the work area gets marked with white water-based spray paint and a call goes to USA Underground Service Alert so buried lines get found first. Whether a new walk that ties into the sidewalk falls under that permit is something I check with the city before we start, and when a permit is needed, we handle the application and the inspections and keep you posted on where it stands.

Many of the walks we build here run from the driveway or the sidewalk to the front door of an older house, so I look at how the new path will meet the step and the sidewalk edge before I price it. We see the same kinds of front walks on jobs in Prunedale and Marina. We're based in Salinas and work in the cities around it, and if yours isn't listed, call and ask.