Slab foundation building in Pembroke Pines FL - a floor set at the right height

Most people who call me about a slab are planning a new home, an addition or an outbuilding, and they want to understand what they're paying for before anything gets poured. The price mostly moves with the slab's size, how much fill it takes to bring the floor up to the height your lot needs, what kind of moisture barrier goes under the concrete and whether the slab is reinforced with rebar, steel set inside the concrete to help it carry weight and hold cracks tight. The schedule usually turns on the permit and the plans more than on pour day, and we take care of the permit paperwork as part of the job. We're based in Pembroke Pines and work across the cities around it in Broward and Miami-Dade, and when I come out for the estimate I walk the job with you and explain what's in the price.

Before anything else, I want your floor height and your vapor barrier, the film laid under the concrete to stop ground moisture, settled, so we start by looking at your flood map together and talking through which barrier goes down and how it gets laid. Both are simple to get right now and very hard to fix under a finished house. Then our crew digs out the pad, clears rocks, roots and anything sharp that could poke a hole in the barrier, and brings in fill and packs it in layers so the subgrade is firm and level instead of just raked flat, which is how slabs end up settling with the dirt. We set the forms and the rebar, lay the barrier over the packed base and pour early in the day when we can, because midday heat dries the top too fast and leaves it weak and dusty later. After finishing, the slab needs time to cure, the slow hardening that gives concrete its strength, before heavy building goes on it. If the budget gets tight, the base is the last thing I'd cut, because it's hidden on day one and it's the one part you can't redo once the walls are up.

A slab is often one piece of a bigger job. If your plans call for footings or a deeper base under the walls, that's part of our foundation installation work, and we plan it alongside the slab so the two tie together. On commercial lots, the same site prep and drainage thinking carries over to concrete parking lot building around a new building.

In Pembroke Pines a new slab means planning around permits from the start, because the city requires a building permit for most construction work, and its engineering division requires engineering permits for construction on private property, including excavation and fill, which a slab almost always involves. When your job needs a permit, we take care of the application and the paperwork the city asks for, and if anything about your lot is unclear, we check with the city's building department before we start. If you live in a homeowners association, the city notes you may need the HOA's approval before any work begins, so it's worth asking them early.

Floor height is the other local piece. The city explains that flood maps set the minimum height of the finished floor on new construction, and it says properties here can flood, especially in low-lying neighborhoods. Broward County's FEMA flood maps were updated in July 2024, so if you looked up your zone before then, check it again on the city's flood zone page. We have the same floor height conversation on jobs in Miramar and Davie.