Most of the wait on a concrete job is paperwork, not concrete. Here is the whole calendar in order, so you know what is happening in Cherry Hill and when.
Homeowners call and ask how long a driveway takes. The honest answer is that the concrete part is quick. The waiting is in the permit, the markout and the curing.
This page lays the whole job out in order. It is the way Papaneri & Sons runs a Cherry Hill project, from the estimate visit to the day it gets sealed.
Each step below has its own page with the detail on it. Start at the top and follow it through, or jump to the step you are sitting on. The short version of the work itself is on our process.
Nothing starts until somebody measures the job in person. We come out, measure the area, look at how the water runs off it, and talk through the finish you want.
You get a written number for the work as it actually is. Call in the morning and we usually have somebody out within a few days, sooner in the slower months.
This is the point to look us up. New Jersey keeps a public register of home improvement contractors. We walk through how to read it on checking a Cherry Hill concrete contractor's registration. It takes about two minutes.
State law sets what goes in a home improvement contract in writing. The full list is on what a New Jersey concrete contract must include. It covers the total price, the start and finish dates, and the insurance certificate.
Once you sign, you have until the third business day to cancel in writing. That notice has to be printed on the contract itself. The contract page has the exact wording the state asks for.
Papaneri & Sons does not order material or pull a permit until that window has closed. It keeps everybody honest and it costs you nothing.
This is the longest wait on the calendar, and it is the one people never plan for. The township has to review the project before a shovel goes in the ground.
Cherry Hill's own reminder to homeowners says zoning permits typically take 10 business days for review and processing. Two full weeks, counting only weekdays, before the start date is real.
The township's zoning page lists driveway replacements and expansions, along with decks, patios and pools. A patio pad in the back yard counts the same as the driveway out front.
Zoning is only the first review. The township notes that construction permits are often needed as well, and that review runs on its own clock.
Denise in our office handles the township paperwork and the inspections. You are not standing in line at the municipal building. The full walkthrough is on Cherry Hill zoning permits for concrete driveways and patios.
Plan on the better part of a month between signing and digging, mostly because of this step. A job signed in early spring is the one that gets the good weather.
Once the permit is in hand the field work moves fast. Most of it lands inside one week, and on a straight residential job a lot of it lands in one day.
Nobody digs until the utility lines are painted on the ground. The notice has to go in at least three business days ahead. Who calls and what the colors mean is on calling 811 before a concrete project in Cherry Hill.
The old slab comes up and goes on the truck the same day. That is usually a morning for a driveway, longer if there are steps or a wall tied into it.
We grade for slope and compact a stone base under the whole pour. Where the water goes matters more than most people think. That is the subject of drainage and slope for Cherry Hill driveways and patios.
Forms go up, steel goes in where the job calls for it. Steps, pillars and foundations need a footing dug to the depth set out in frost depth for concrete footings in South Jersey. That adds a day.
You have a short list of your own the night before: cars moved, gates open, sprinkler heads marked. It is all on getting your property ready for pour day.
The trucks come early, the crew places and screeds the mix, then finishes the surface and tools the joints. A standard concrete driveway is one day of pouring. A bigger patio with a border can run into a second.
Weather moves this week, not the office. Hard rain or a cold snap pushes a pour, and a Papaneri & Sons crew would rather move it than fight it.
The slab looks finished the minute the crew packs up. It is not. Concrete keeps gaining strength for weeks after the surface goes hard.
We tape and cone the fresh work before we leave. The crew gives you the hour your slab can take foot traffic, because it moves with the weather and the finish.
Vehicles are the last thing back on. Our guide to curing concrete puts the curing period at seven days at a minimum. Full strength takes 14 to 28 days. That is the window your start date is measured against.
The exact waits for walking, parking and heavy trucks are laid out in when you can drive on new concrete.
We clean up, walk the finished job with you and give you the care instructions in plain words. The six steps we run every time are listed on our six step process.
New concrete gets sealed after it has cured, not on pour day. That is a separate trip out, and concrete sealing covers the sealer types and how long each one lasts here.
Sealer has its own short wait. We keep traffic off until it has fully cured. The sealing page puts that at 24 to 48 hours on most jobs.
Add it all up and a straightforward Cherry Hill driveway runs about four to six weeks. That is the day you sign to the day it is sealed. The permit is most of it.
About four to six weeks from signing to sealing, and only a day or two of that is pouring. The zoning review alone takes around 10 business days, and curing takes at least a week after the pour.
No, and no honest crew in Cherry Hill can. The township zoning review has to run first, and the utility markout needs at least three business days on top of that. Anyone promising a start next week is skipping one of them.
Later than you want to. Cars go back on last, once the slab has had its curing time. The crew gives you the date before they leave. Walking on it comes back first, driving on it comes back last.
Papaneri & Sons is a family crew pouring concrete across Cherry Hill, Marlton and Mount Laurel since 1987. We measure the job in person and file the township paperwork for you. You get the dates in writing before anything gets torn out.