Concrete footings in Shafter CA - a firm base sized for what sits on top
Planning an addition, a patio cover or a wall that needs to stay put? We dig, form and pour footings that carry the load.
- Licensed and insured.
- Free quotes on site.
- Replies within 1 business day.
What are concrete footings, and what will yours need?
Concrete footings are the wider base at the bottom of a foundation, and in Shafter, CA we dig and pour them to spread the weight of your walls, posts or columns into the ground so whatever you build stays put.
Most footing calls start with something new going up, a room addition, a garage, a patio cover or a block wall, and plans that show a footing under it. The price mostly turns on what the footing carries and how wide the ground makes it, and the schedule turns more on the permit and the inspection before we pour than on the digging. You'll get your own figure in writing at the estimate. If a floor goes in with it, our slab foundation building work covers that side.
How do you know your project needs footings?
Plans with a footing detail
If the drawings for your addition, garage or patio cover show a footing, the structure was designed to sit on one. Pouring something smaller to save a little usually costs more later, when the inspector or the walls find out.
Posts sitting on loose blocks
A patio cover or shade structure propped on blocks or set straight in the dirt has nothing spreading its weight, so it tends to lean and settle. Wait long enough and you're replacing posts and beams along with the base.
Cracked or leaning block wall
Stair-step cracks in a block wall, or one end sitting lower than the other, usually mean the footing under it is too small or missing. A leaning wall only goes one direction, and fixing it later means taking it down first.
How we build concrete footings
Nobody sees a footing once the building is up, which is exactly why we don't rush them. What sits on top decides the type and the plans decide the size, so I start there, then we lay out the lines, dig the trenches or holes to the depth and width on the plans and clean out the loose dirt so the concrete lands on firm ground. Next goes the rebar, steel bars that hold the concrete together when the load tries to bend it, and forms wherever the trench needs them. Once any inspection the job calls for is done we pour, and then the concrete cures, a wait that lets it gain strength before anything heavy goes on it.
Footings often come with other work. When a post or wall has to go where there's already a slab, we start with concrete cutting to open a clean hole instead of busting it up with a hammer. And if the trouble is an older house that has already settled, new footings beside it won't fix that, so look at foundation raising instead.
Continuous footings
A strip of concrete that runs the full length under a wall. It suits room additions, garages and block walls, anything carrying weight along a line.
Pad footings
A single block of concrete under one heavy point, like a post or a column. It suits patio covers, carports and decks that stand on posts rather than walls.
Thickened slab
The footing is poured as one piece with the floor slab instead of as a separate base, usually with the edge or a strip under a wall dug deeper. It suits garages and sheds where the floor and footing go in together and the plans allow it.
Get a written estimate for your footings
Send the form and we'll reply within one business day to set a time. I come out, look at the spot and any plans, and the estimate is free with no obligation.
Call (661) 776-8737- Based in
- Shafter, CA 93263
- Hours
- Mon–Fri: 6 AM–11 PM, Sat–Sun: 8 AM–9 PM
What happens after you call about footings in Shafter?
Here's how a footing job runs from your first call to the day you walk it with me, including where the city's permit and inspection fit in.
Call and set a visit
You call (661) 776-8737 or send the form, and I come out to look at the job, measure and ask how you'll use it. Have the project type, where it goes on the lot and any plans ready, because those set most of the answer.
Get a written estimate
You get a written estimate that says what's included, so you can see what the price covers before you decide. If something will only show up once we dig, I tell you that up front.
Sort the permit before digging
We sort out any permit before anybody digs, and the city asks for a call to 811 first so buried lines get marked. Shafter books residential inspections in a morning or afternoon window, and a busy day can move them without notice, so we plan the pour around the inspector.
Pour, cure and walk through
Our crew digs, sets the steel and pours with me on the job. When we're done I walk the footings with you, before anything gets built on top.
Why Shafter builders and homeowners call us for footings
I write every estimate myself
I come out to every job, look at what the footing will carry and write the estimate. You're dealing with the person who'll be standing at the trench on pour day, so nothing gets lost between the price and the work.
In Shafter since 2013
I started as a helper on a small crew, mixing and hauling until they let me near a trowel, and opened this business in Shafter in 2013. Thirteen years later, builders still call us for slabs and footings.
Licensed and insured in California
We're licensed and insured. Ask any contractor you're weighing for the same before the trench is dug, because footings are hard to redo once something's built on them.
Footings are the part nobody sees again, so they're worth getting right first. Ask for an estimate or call (661) 776-8737, and I'll come look at the ground.
Footings, patios and wall permits in Shafter
In Shafter, the Building Department issues permits for buildings and structures that are built, enlarged or altered. Its list names patios, decks and retaining walls but not footings on their own, and footings usually sit under exactly that kind of project, so whether yours needs a permit isn't settled by the list. We check with the building office for your address before we start, and if a permit is needed we handle the application and line up the inspections.
We're based in Shafter and work across Shafter, Bakersfield and the cities around them, including Wasco. The footing calls look much the same from one to the next, mostly patio covers, block walls, garages and additions going in beside an older house, where we dig carefully around what's already there.
Questions about concrete footings in Shafter
Call (661) 776-8737Do I need a permit for concrete footings in Shafter?
Check before you dig, because Shafter's permit list names projects like patios, decks and retaining walls rather than footings alone, so it turns on what the footing holds up. We make that check with the building office for your address and handle the permit if one is needed.
What is the best way to choose between continuous and pad footings?
Let the structure choose, with continuous footings under anything carrying a wall and pad footings under single posts or columns. Continuous footings cost more to put in than pads, so a patio cover on posts usually costs less to support than a wall, but swapping one for the other to save money just moves the problem underground.
Can I build my own footings in Shafter?
Yes, Shafter lets homeowners get a permit for work on their own home and draw their own plans, but you're then responsible for meeting the structural, energy, fire and safety codes. If you hire help, California lets an unlicensed person take a job up to $1,000 only when it needs no permit and they employ no one, so a footing job that needs a permit calls for a licensed contractor at any price. The city recommends a qualified professional in most cases and says licensed contractors must be bonded and carry their own workers' comp and liability insurance, so ask to see it.
How much do concrete footings cost in Shafter?
There's no fair flat price, because the type of footing, how wide the ground makes it and the size on your plans set the cost. I come out, measure and give you a free written estimate on site, with no obligation.
Why do footings cost more on some lots?
Weaker soil needs wider footings, and wider footings take more digging, steel and concrete, so the ground under your house shapes both the design and the price. Whoever draws your plans sets the width from that, and we build to it.
What causes concrete footings to crack or sink?
Most of the time it's the ground under them, not the concrete. Loose dirt left in the bottom of a trench, a footing too small for what it carries or water running toward it all let it settle, which is why I'd rather spend the extra time in the trench than explain a crack later.
Related services that often go with footings
Foundation raising
Pick this when your house is the problem, with sloping floors or sticking doors, and it needs lifting rather than a new base poured next to it.
Concrete cutting
Useful when a new post or wall has to land where a driveway, patio or garage floor already sits, so we open only the spot the footing needs.
Cities where we pour footings
Shafter Concrete is based in Shafter, California, and works in the 12 cities below, Bakersfield and Wasco among them. They're where we work most, not the only places we'll go, so call if yours isn't listed.
Shafter, CA
Get your footings priced before you build
Footings go in before anything else, so settling the price and the permit question early keeps the rest of your project from waiting on concrete.