Concrete Footings in Antioch CA - firm support for what you build on top
A leaning post or a new deck on Antioch clay? We lay out, dig and pour footings that carry the weight down into the ground.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free on-site estimates.
- Replies within 1 business day.
What do concrete footings do, and does your project need them?
Concrete footings are the blocks of concrete under posts, columns and walls that carry the weight of what sits on top down into the soil, and Excel Antioch Concrete Company digs and pours them for homeowners in Antioch and the cities around it.
Most footing calls start with a project that's already planned, like a deck, a patio cover, a shed or a concrete retaining wall, and the plans call for concrete under it. The price moves with how many footings you need, how wide and deep they go, what the soil is like and how hard it is to dig and get concrete to each spot, while the schedule turns mostly on the permit and the weather. I don't quote footings over the phone, so your real number comes on the written estimate after I've seen your yard.
How can you tell your footings aren't holding up?
A post that leans
You see a deck post or a patio cover column tipping, or a beam that dips over one post. Usually the footing under it was too small or too shallow, or it's sitting in soft, wet ground, and the longer it goes the more weight shifts onto the other posts and the framing.
Water pooling around posts
After a rain, puddles sit at the base of your posts and take days to dry out. That usually means the ground slopes toward them, and clay that keeps getting soaked and drying out will work a footing loose over a few seasons.
Cracks in the dry ground
In summer you see gaps open in the dirt around a post or a crack across the old pad under it. That's often clay shrinking as it dries, and when the rains swell it again the footing moves with it, a little more each year.
How we build concrete footings
Before we dig, we call 811 so the utility lines get marked, set each footing spot clear of them and look at where the water runs, because a footing sitting in a wet low spot is the one that moves. If you're on clay, we'll talk through whether a deeper design makes sense for your project before anything gets poured. Then we dig each hole to the size and depth on the plans, clean out the loose dirt so the concrete sits on firm ground, set the forms and the rebar, which is the steel that keeps concrete from pulling apart, and pour. Last comes curing, the wait while the concrete gains strength, and we tell you when it's ready to take a post. If you're trimming the budget, don't trim the hole, because nobody sees a footing once the deck is on it, and that's exactly why it has to be right.
Sometimes a footing job turns up a bigger problem. If it's the house itself that's settling, not a deck post, that's a job for foundation raising, and when a footing has to go through an existing patio or slab, we use concrete cutting to open a clean square instead of breaking out more than we need.
Pad footings for posts and columns
These are single blocks of concrete under deck posts, patio covers and pergolas, and they suit most backyard projects because each one carries one post's weight straight down. We set them where the plans put each post, so the layout needs to be settled before we dig.
Continuous footings under walls
A long footing under a garden wall, a low block wall or a small addition spreads the weight along the whole length of the wall. It suits anything that sits on the ground in a line instead of on a few posts.
Deeper designs for clay ground
On soil that swells when wet and shrinks when dry, a footing that reaches past the clay can move less than a shallow one. It costs more, so it's worth working out with whoever drew your plans when your soil and your project call for it.
Get a written price for your footings
Tell us the project and where the footings go, and we'll reply within one business day. I come out, measure and send a written estimate, free and with no pressure to book.
Call (925) 503-1201- Based in
- Antioch, CA 94509
- Hours
- Mon–Sun: 6 AM–11 PM
What happens after you call about footings in Antioch?
Here's how a footing job runs with us, from your first message to the walk-through on your property once the concrete is in.
Call or send us a message
Phone (925) 503-1201 or use the form, and tell us what you're building, where the footings go on the lot and whether you have plans. We get back to you and set a time for me to come out.
I look at the site
I come out myself and check the ground, what's around the footing spots and how we'll get concrete back there, since a tight side yard changes the job. Then you get a written estimate that lays out the work and the price, so you're not guessing at the total.
We handle permits and pour
Once you say go, we sort out anything the city or county needs, and the permit is usually what sets the start date. Then we get the lines marked, dig, set forms, pour and finish.
Walk the finished job together
Before we leave, I walk the footings with you so you can see where each one sits. The crew cleans up, and the concrete gets its cure before any framing goes on.
Why Antioch homeowners call Excel Antioch Concrete Company for footings
I give every estimate myself
I come out to look at the job and price it, and then my crew and I do the work. The person who measured your footing spots is the same one standing there when we dig them.
Started in Antioch in 2023
I learned concrete on my dad's jobs from the time I could push a wheelbarrow, and after years pouring next to him I started this business here three years ago. You get a small crew that still pays the most attention to the ground under the concrete.
Licensed and fully insured
That matters on footings because we're digging in your yard near lines and structures. California also requires every active concrete contractor to carry workers' compensation or a valid self-insurance certificate, employees or not, so ask about that coverage when you compare bids.
With footings, the part that counts is in the ground before any concrete shows, so tell us about your project and I'll come take a look.
Footings, permits and clay soil in Antioch
In Antioch, building permits come from the city's Building Services Division, which reviews the plans and inspects the work. Its list of work that can skip a permit names flatwork and retaining walls three feet tall or less, but it doesn't name footings, so don't count on yours being exempt. Before we start, we check with the city or county office that handles your address, and if a permit is needed we apply for it as your contractor or help you through it if you'd rather file it yourself.
Soil is the other thing that shapes footing work here. One county-wide soil summary rates the shrink-swell of Contra Costa County's soil as high, which tells you how much of the ground is clay that grows when wet and shrinks when dry. That's a county figure, not a test of your lot, so we look at your site and plan depth and drainage around what we find, the same way we do on footing jobs in Pittsburg and Oakley.
Questions about concrete footings in Antioch
Call (925) 503-1201It may, so check before anyone digs, because the city's list of permit-exempt work doesn't include footings. The Building Division takes project questions at (925) 779-7065 before you apply, and on our jobs we make that check for you.
Clay swells and shrinks with water, and shallow footings are typically among the foundations most easily damaged on that kind of ground. One way around it is a deeper foundation that goes past the clay, and with so much of the county rated high for shrink-swell, it's worth asking whether a deeper design suits your project.
A contractor licensed by California's Contractors State License Board, which licenses C-8 Concrete contractors to form, pour, place, finish and install concrete. The state requires a license even for minor work under $1,000 when that work needs a permit of any kind, and the same goes when an unlicensed person hires helpers.
Call 811 so the local utilities can mark their lines, then pick footing spots clear of them. A national deck building guide also says to keep footings clear of septic systems, leach fields and enclosed meters, and that call and layout are the first step on our footing jobs.
The price comes down to how many footings you need, how big and deep each one is, and how hard it is to dig and get concrete to them. Clay that calls for a deeper design, a slab that has to be cut through and permit work all add to it, while an open yard with easy truck access keeps it down. I walk the job and send a written price, so you're comparing real numbers.
Usually water and soil, when the ground slopes toward a post and keeps the clay under it wet, or when the footing was too small or too shallow for the load. General foundation guidance says to keep all water away from the soil around foundations, starting with ground that slopes away from the structure, so we look at the grade along with the footing.
Related services that go with footing work
Foundation raising
When doors stick and cracks run up the walls because the house has settled, raising the foundation deals with the house itself, not just one post.
Concrete cutting
When a post has to land on an existing patio or slab, cutting opens a clean, square hole and leaves the rest of the concrete in one piece.
Service areas for concrete footings around Antioch
Excel Antioch Concrete Company is based in Antioch, CA, and we build footings in the cities around it, from Concord out to Discovery Bay. The 12 cities below each have their own page, and we work in plenty of places in between.
Antioch, CA
Get your footings planned before you build
If you have plans or a sketch of where the posts go, send them along so the estimate matches what you're actually building.