Concrete Companyin Aliso Viejo, CA
A concrete company in Aliso Viejo starts with who owns the ground you are pouring beside. The state list exempts driveways and sidewalks from a building permit, yet the City also has a Public Works encroachment permit for public property, concrete touching soil is specified as 4,500 psi Type V, and Planning wants HOA sign-off on exterior changes.
Aliso Viejo's concrete is the product of one decade of building. The City says the Mission Viejo Company bought the last 6,600 acres of Moulton Ranch in 1976, Orange County approved its plan in 1979 and the first homes went on sale in March 1982. Census estimates for 2020 to 2024 put about 51 percent of the 20,507 homes in the 1990s and about 75 percent since 1990, so most driveways, patios and walks here have between 25 and 45 years of sun, irrigation and winter runoff behind them.
MDG Builders, CSLB #1040337, is a general contractor based in Tarzana. We plan the pour, put the permit and slope questions to Aliso Viejo's Building & Safety Division and bring in a licensed concrete subcontractor for forms, placing and finishing. Finishes and ranges are on the concrete page, and the Aliso Viejo overview shows the trades we manage in town.
What Aliso Viejo's Building & Safety Division, Public Works and local associations say about concrete work
Where concrete permits come from in Aliso Viejo: City of Aliso Viejo Community Development Department, Building & Safety Division.
- Exhibit A of the City's code ordinance requires a $3,000 deposit for an encroachment permit where public property could be damaged, refundable at final inspection, and forfeited if the applicant does not comply or does not ask for the refund within 30 days. The Forms page also lists a separate Public Works Encroachment Permit.
- The state exempt-work list in R105.2, as reproduced on a third-party code site, names sidewalks and driveways as exempt from a building permit, but the City's Forms page lists a Public Works Encroachment Permit, so confirm whether a driveway apron or sidewalk touches the public right of way.
- The City's patio cover and fence handouts both specify footing concrete of 4,500 psi with Type V cement and a 0.45 water-cement ratio, and the patio cover handout tells owners to save the concrete trip ticket or purchase receipts for the inspector at final.
- The City's patio cover handout lets a minimum-thickness concrete slab on grade replace pad footings only when the load on a supporting post does not exceed 750 pounds, so slab work under a patio cover is part of the patio cover review.
- The City's Construction and Demolition Permit packet (effective 07-01-2025) applies to all construction and demolition projects and requires 65 percent diversion, so a concrete demolition and replacement job should plan for CR&R bins and the deposit.
- CSLB defines the C-8 Concrete classification as a contractor who forms, pours, places, finishes and installs mass, pavement, flat and other concrete work, and places and sets screeds for pavements or flatwork, excluding contractors whose sole business is plaster coatings or placing reinforcing steel.
Does a driveway apron or sidewalk repair in Aliso Viejo need a Public Works permit?
Possibly, even though the building permit question looks settled. The state exempt-work list in R105.2, which we read on a third-party code site, names sidewalks and driveways as exempt from a building permit. The City's Forms page, though, lists a separate Public Works Encroachment Permit, so any apron, curb cut or sidewalk panel that touches the public right of way is a question for Public Works at 949-425-2530.
The City code exhibit, the text OCFA posted in December 2025 as part of the ordinance adopting the 2025 codes, requires a $3,000 deposit for an encroachment permit where public property could be damaged. It is refundable at final inspection and forfeited if the applicant does not comply or does not ask for it back within 30 days. That is a deposit, not a permit fee, and the ordinance number was not on the pages we read, so confirm the current terms.
Have the crew mark where private ends and public begins before bids come in, because a proposal that quietly assumes private ground can leave out the permit and the deposit.
Who maintains the slope behind an Aliso Viejo patio, and does the association have to approve new concrete?
Usually the Aliso Viejo Community Association, which the City calls the first community-wide property owners' association of its kind in California and which maintains most slopes, medians and parks. That matters for flatwork because water leaving a new patio can land on ground you do not own. Ask whether your lot's slope belongs to the association, a sub-HOA or you before you pick a grade.
Approval has two sources that disagree. The Planning page says Zoning Compliance Application PS-240 needs signatures from the owner and the residential association before plans go to Building, and the form requires association approval for exterior changes except like-for-like work. The residential checklist says an HOA letter is not required at submittal but that a permit never overrides CC&Rs. Planning at 949-425-2525 can say which applies to a patio or driveway.
Aliso Viejo became a city on July 1, 2001, with 93.3 percent of voters in favor, yet many neighborhoods kept their own sub-association. Ask the management company in writing for its paving and color guidelines before choosing exposed aggregate or a stamped pattern, and see Civil Code section 4765 for the answer an association owes to a written request.
Does concrete in Aliso Viejo need Type V cement and deep footings?
For footings and anything touching soil, the City's handouts say 4,500 psi Type V cement at a 0.45 water-cement ratio. The patio cover handout and the fence and wall handout both specify it, and the patio cover handout tells owners to keep the concrete trip ticket or purchase receipts for the inspector at final. Ask the batch plant for Type V by name.
The deeper rules come with an unresolved difference. The addition checklist asks for footings at least 24 inches below undisturbed soil and a slab at least 5 inches thick over a 10 mil moisture barrier, citing expansive soils and sulfates. The City's 2024 hazard plan, in contrast, says expansive soil is not a significant issue. We state that as a conflict to confirm with Building & Safety, and a patio is not an addition either way.
The ground itself was reworked. The hazard plan says most developed land was mass graded in the past 30 years, with some small shallow instability in the northwest and high liquefaction potential along the Aliso Creek watershed on the eastern and western borders. Send the lot address so the crew can see where it sits.
Do you need a permit for concrete work like a patio, walkway or slab in Aliso Viejo?
No City page we read says a flat patio slab is exempt or not, so ask. The state list names sidewalks and driveways, and the PS-240 form lists patio covers and accessory structures among its project types. The patio cover handout lets a minimum-thickness slab on grade stand in for pad footings only when a post carries 750 pounds or less, which makes slab work under a cover part of that review.
Starting without a permit is costly. The code exhibit says work begun without one can draw an assessment of double the permit fees, and the City's Code Enforcement page lists work without permits among its common cases, with citations that start at $100 and rise each time a violation goes uncorrected. We cite the exhibit and not the online code, because the code host blocked our tools.
Time limits apply to a permit once issued. Under the same exhibit it expires if the pour does not begin within 12 months or the job sits idle for 180 days, and written extensions come in blocks of up to 180 days.
- Is any part of the pour on public property?
- Is the slab under or beside a patio cover?
- Does the lot's slope belong to an association?
How tall can a retaining wall or block wall be in Aliso Viejo before the City wants plans?
The City's Fences and Walls handout draws the line at 48 inches for a retaining wall, measured from the bottom of the footing, with no surcharge and no wall at the top or toe of a slope. Masonry fences under 72 inches need no permit, and a building permit may be required next to slopes, with a soils report from a licensed engineer possible. Footings go at least 24 inches into undisturbed soil compacted to 90 percent, with expansion joints every 25 feet.
A Wayback copy of Chapter 15.14, archived February 7, 2025, adds zoning limits: retaining walls up to 6 feet are permitted, and one over 30 inches high that is visible off site must be landscaped with automatically irrigated shrubs or vines. Since that is an archive and not the live text, confirm it with Planning before you design around it.
Poured and block walls are different trades. CSLB's C-29 masonry class lists concrete block walls and fences, so the crew may differ from the one pouring your slab, as our subcontractor guide explains.
Can you pour concrete in Aliso Viejo rain or Santa Ana heat, and where does the wash water go?
Both are workable with planning, and where you are in the city changes the heat. At the Laguna Beach station NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals show 4.4 days a year at or above 90 F, while the Irvine Ranch station, about 9.7 miles north and farther inland, shows 61.6 such days and an August average high of 90.2 F. The City sits in the San Joaquin Hills, so ask how the crew will keep a hillside slab damp and cured in fall wind.
Drainage is the real design question. The City's code amendment says Aliso Viejo has no mapped Flood Hazard Zones, while its hazard plan says heavy rain from October to April on hillside terrain can still cause flooding in key areas. We list both as a difference, and the practical answer is that slabs here should shed water away from walls and slopes.
Demolition and washout follow the City's packet. It requires 65 percent diversion, CR&R bins and no dumpsters on public streets, and work runs Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
What does concrete work cost in Aliso Viejo, and what license should the crew hold?
We found no Aliso Viejo price study, so the anchor is Angi's 2026 Los Angeles pages. They show patios at $4 to $13 a square foot with a $5,248 average, stamped work at $15 to $30, driveways at $8 to $20 with a $7,270 average, and retaining walls averaging $7,140 across a wide spread. For plain flatwork of 300 square feet or more we plan around $8 to $14, and $9 to $20 for a driveway with the old slab removed. We print no per-foot price for walls, since height and drainage drive it.
For labor, the May 2025 federal survey puts cement masons in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area, Orange County included, at a mean of $33.67 an hour, which is pay and not a price to the customer. Ask each bid to itemize tear-out, gravel base, steel, hauling and drainage.
CSLB's C-8 class covers forming, pouring and finishing concrete. The City's owner-builder form warns that an owner who hires unlicensed workers can be treated as their employer once the work is worth $500 or more, and our license check guide shows how to verify a number.
Concrete photos from Aliso Viejo and nearby communities
Forms, rebar, finished flatwork and block walls from Aliso Viejo and towns within a few miles, shown at the steps that matter. Tap any photo to enlarge it.
What concrete costs around Aliso Viejo
Dollar figures on this page are Los Angeles planning ranges from our concrete page, not an Aliso Viejo bid, and the proposal should list demolition, base, rebar, drainage and any encroachment deposit on separate lines. The same property may need flooring in Aliso Viejo or a deck in Aliso Viejo. For neighboring towns, see concrete work in Laguna Niguel, concrete in Mission Viejo and concrete in Lake Forest.
| What it covers | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Patio, walkway or slab, broom finish, 300 sq ft or more | $8 to $14 per square foot |
| Decorative: stained, stamped or exposed aggregate | $15 to $30 per square foot |
| Driveway replacement, with demolition of the old slab | $9 to $20 per square foot |
| 20 by 20 foot plain patio (400 sq ft) | About $3,200 to $5,600 |
| 20 by 20 foot decorative patio (400 sq ft) | About $6,000 to $12,000 |
| Small jobs under 300 sq ft | Usually above the per-foot range |
| Retaining walls | Set by the written proposal |
Other work we manage in Aliso Viejo
Aliso Viejo concrete questions, answered
Can I pour a concrete patio without a permit?
In Aliso Viejo, no City page we read exempts a flat patio slab, so ask. The state list exempts sidewalks and driveways, but a slab under a patio cover is reviewed with the cover. Call Building & Safety at 949-425-2540 with the size, and check whether your association wants to see the plan.
Can I expand my driveway without a permit?
Not necessarily in Aliso Viejo. The state list exempts driveways from a building permit, but the City also has a Public Works Encroachment Permit for work touching public property, and the code exhibit requires a $3,000 deposit where public property could be damaged. Ask Public Works at 949-425-2530 before the forms go in.
What is the maximum height of a retaining wall without a permit in California?
Aliso Viejo's handout says 48 inches, measured from the bottom of the footing, with no surcharge and not at a slope top or toe. Zoning is separate: an archived copy of Chapter 15.14 allows walls up to 6 feet. Confirm both with Planning before building, since the archive is not the live code.
How much should a 20x20 concrete patio cost?
For Aliso Viejo we have no local study, but Angi's 2026 Los Angeles page puts a 20 by 20 foot patio, 400 square feet, at $1,600 to $5,200 inside a general $4 to $13 a square foot. Treat that as a starting point, and tear-out, base work, a slope or a decorative finish moves the total, so a site visit sets the real price.
How much do contractors charge for concrete in Aliso Viejo?
On Angi's 2026 Los Angeles pages, plain patios run $4 to $13 a square foot and driveways $8 to $20 with a $7,270 average. For flatwork of 300 square feet or more we plan around $8 to $14. Small jobs cost more per foot because of minimum charges, and hillside drainage adds a line.
How much does a 20x20 stamped concrete patio cost in Aliso Viejo?
Angi's 2026 Los Angeles page shows stamped work at $15 to $30 a square foot, so 400 square feet lands near $6,000 to $12,000 by multiplication, not by a quote. We trust it less than the plain flatwork range, so write the pattern, color and sealer into the proposal so bids compare.
Does an Aliso Viejo HOA have to approve a new concrete patio or driveway?
Check your documents, because the City's papers differ. Planning's PS-240 form calls for association approval of exterior changes except like-for-like work, while the City's checklist says no HOA letter is required at submittal but CC&Rs still apply. We found no association's paving rule, so ask the board.
Does Aliso Viejo require Type V cement for concrete?
The City's patio cover and fence handouts specify 4,500 psi Type V cement at a 0.45 water-cement ratio for footings. The addition checklist links that to sulfates and expansive soils, while the City's hazard plan says expansive soil is not significant. Ask the counter which standard applies to a flat slab, and keep the trip ticket.
What license does a concrete company need in Aliso Viejo?
A concrete company should hold CSLB's C-8 class for flatwork and foundations, and block walls fall under C-29. Any job that needs a permit requires a licensed contractor whatever the price, because the state's $1,000 unlicensed limit does not cover it. Check the number on the CSLB site and ask for the insurance certificate.
Send the lot, a photo and what you want poured
Describe the size and use, say whether any of it touches the sidewalk or a slope and name your association. The encroachment, drainage and approval questions come with us to the first visit.