What we repair · Concrete Restoration
Spalling — Where the Quantity Is Unknowable
Salt reaches the reinforcement, the steel rusts, rust expands, and the concrete cracks off. It is the single most common finding in coastal Florida recertification and the hardest to price honestly.
We will turn it into a buildable scope, a phasing plan and a realistic range — so the board can decide with numbers rather than adjectives.
Not us
We do not perform the inspection. An engineer does
30/25
Years to first milestone — 25 within 3 miles of coast
Occupied
Buildings stay occupied while we work
Licensed
General contractor, licensed in the state of Florida
You cannot see how far it goes
A visible spall is where the concrete has already failed. Around it is a zone where the steel is corroding and the concrete has not let go yet, and nobody knows how large that zone is until it is opened and sounded. Any contractor quoting a fixed price for concrete restoration before demolition is guessing, and the difference will arrive as a change order in front of your membership.
There is a second reason the quantity moves. Chloride contamination travels further through concrete than the damage shows, so a repair that removes only the visibly failed material leaves contaminated concrete against sound-looking steel. That area fails again within a few years, which is how an association ends up repairing the same bay two and three times and concluding that the contractor was at fault.
What actually drives the cost
- Measured quantity of deteriorated concrete, which is not known up front.
- Depth — surface spall, full depth, or steel replacement.
- Access: swing stage, mast climber or scaffold, which is a large cost on its own.
- Whether the member is structural, which changes engineering and sequencing.
- Chloride contamination, which can require far more removal than the visible damage.
Why the engineer sounds the structure first
Sounding is somebody working across the structure with a hammer, listening for the hollow note that means concrete has delaminated from the steel beneath it. It is slow, unglamorous and the only reliable way to establish how much repair a garage or a balcony actually needs before anything is opened.
What sounding cannot find is contamination that has reached the steel where the concrete is still firmly attached. That is what chloride testing is for, and a survey that sounds but does not test is describing today's damage rather than the next five years of it. Ask your engineer for both.
How we handle it
- 01Sound the structure with the engineer to establish likely quantities.
- 02Price on unit rates with an estimated quantity, not a fixed lump.
- 03Measure and document each repair as it is opened, with the engineer.
- 04Remove to sound concrete and clean or replace steel as specified.
- 05Repair with the specified mortar and cure it properly.
- 06Report measured quantities to the board monthly so there are no surprises.
The honest structure here is a unit-rate contract with an estimated quantity and measured actuals. A board is rightly nervous about that because it feels open-ended. It is far better than the alternative, which is a fixed price with a padded number or a fight halfway through.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We will not give a fixed price on concrete restoration before the structure has been sounded. If another contractor will, ask them what happens when the actual quantity is double, because sometimes it is.
FAQ
Common questions
- Why can you not give a fixed price?
- Because the quantity of deteriorated concrete is not visible until it is opened. Unit rates with measured actuals is the honest structure.
- How much more could it be?
- Occasionally double the estimate. It is why the engineer sounds the structure first and why the board should hold contingency.
- What causes spalling?
- Salt reaching the reinforcement. The steel rusts, expands, and pushes the concrete off. It is a coastal Florida certainty over time.
- Can it be patched cheaply?
- Patching without removing to sound concrete and treating the steel fails within a few years. It is the cheapest way to pay twice.
The requirements
Milestone Inspections
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Phase 1 and Phase 2
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Structural Integrity Reserve Studies
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Funding the Work
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Choosing the Team
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Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.