Commercial Paving in Houston Requires a Reputable Contractor

At first glance, Houston looks like a concrete and asphalt jungle. The Bayou City, of course, is a rich tapestry of neighborhoods, but that rich tapestry is built on a pavement foundation. One that’s expanding all the time.

Commercial paving companies in Houston have their hands full keeping up with new projects springing up all over the city – as well as maintaining the commercial pavement already in place. Here along the Gulf Coast, large-scale pavement projects frequently come with significant challenges that inexperienced contractors typically have trouble with. The result is substandard work that ends up costing the client more in the long run.

Searching for a contractor for your commercial paving project? Working with a reputable Houston company ensures your new pavement will provide decades of reliable performance.

Why Are Commercial Pavement Projects Difficult to Manage in Houston?

Every part of the U.S. has its own hurdles where pavement installation is concerned. Houston is no different.

Houston soils consist of unsettled sediments extending hundreds, sometimes thousands of feet below the surface. In other words, there isn’t a bedrock-like foundation for pavement to sit on.

Even worse, large parts of the Houston area sit on expansive clays – clays that shrink and crack when they’re dry and swell when they’re exposed to rain. As Houston’s weather seems to vacillate between drought and flooding, it’s common for these expansive clays to rapidly shrink and swell with unusual frequency.

As those clays shrink and swell, they create miniature fault lines that develop under the pavement, each one exerting high levels of tension on the concrete or asphalt. Eventually, those stresses cause pavement to fail early. In Houston, when commercial pavement fails in this way, it’s usually because the contractor didn’t take the underlying soils into account.

There are additional challenges, of course. The heat and rain can delay project timelines. Houston’s heavy traffic can make it difficult to set up site access or traffic control. In the end, these challenges are best met by an experienced team.

What to Look for in a Houston Commercial Pavement Team

The best way to avoid early pavement failure (and its accompanying expense) is to work with a reputable crew from the outset. Here’s what to look for in a contractor:

• Extensive Houston-area experience – Experience isn’t enough – it has to be experience with projects in your locality. Houston’s gumbo soils are difficult for inexperienced contractors to deal with, and as a result, low quality work is unfortunately common.There’s only one way to know for sure if a pavement team is up to the task – they have examples of successful Houston-area projects they can point to. A reputable contractor will have no problem providing information about previous projects, including addresses where the work can be verified in person.

   

• Engineering expertise on staff – Pavement should never be installed by “feel,” and “close enough” isn’t good enough in Houston. Engineering tolerances are necessary to ensure the pavement holds up under loading stresses and is properly sloped for drainage purposes. An engineer will also verify that the project is safely feasible and will ensure all proper precautions are taken to ensure safety is a priority throughout. 
• Start-to-finish capabilities – Some pavement contractors can do more than pavement. They can also provide site clearing, demolition, and a variety of dirt work services. There are several advantages to working with such a contractor, including better timeliness, better cost efficiency, and higher quality work. 
• Impressive equipment and manpower resources – Commercial-scale pavement projects require extensive equipment and manpower resources. That equipment includes milling machines, paving machines, sweepers, dump trucks, extractors, dozers, and compactors. On top of that, it takes plenty of manpower to operate everything and keep the project on track. Without sufficient resources, delays are inevitable.

A reputable contractor should provide all of the above, at a minimum, as each is essential to project success. Without Houston-area experience, the crew is unlikely to do a thorough soil analysis and perform soil stabilization. Without engineering expertise, it will be impossible to install the pavement within desired tolerances. Without site development experience, the crew will have trouble spotting potential drainage issues. Without enough equipment and manpower, delays are inevitable.

The commercial paving contractor you choose should be defined by its commitment to excellent service.

What Commercial Paving Services in Houston Should Include

Reputable pavement contractors can provide a range of services that include the following:

• Initial site analysis and planning
• Demolition
• Land clearing and grubbing
• Soil analysis
• Subgrade stabilization
• Base installation
• Concrete forming, pouring and finishing
• Concrete slab installation
• Asphalt surface installation
• Striping
• Concrete or asphalt maintenance

Once the pavement is installed, an experienced contractor can also provide on-time preventative maintenance, such as sealcoating and surface treatments, like overlaying or chip sealing. A pavement contractor can also provide full-depth pavement removal and replacement, including concrete slab replacement.

Commercial pavement services cover an array of projects, including:

• Commercial foundations
• Parking lots and garages
• Streets and access roads
• Interstates and highways
• Sidewalks and walkways
• Drainage structures like culverts, curbs, storm drains, catch basins
• Retention and detention ponds

Clearly, a Houston pavement contractor has to be versatile and experienced in many forms of construction.

Every Commercial Paving Project in Houston has Challenges, but a Reputable Contractor can Solve Them

Houston is growing and commercial development is sprouting up along with it. That includes commercial pavement projects, which can be a challenge due to the city’s soil, weather, and topography.

For an expert contractor with Houston-area project experience, those challenges can be overcome. If your organization is about to embark on its own pavement project, choosing such a contractor should be considered a top priority. That way, the job will be done on time, on budget, and with impressive attention to detail.