Concrete footings in Goleta CA - footings that carry the load without settling
Planning a wall, a deck post or an addition? We size and pour footings that carry the weight and keep it from sinking.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free estimates at your property.
- We respond within 1 business day.
What do concrete footings do, and what will yours need?
Concrete footings are concrete poured in a trench and reinforced with rebar, the steel bars inside that hold it together, to carry a wall, a post or a foundation. In Goleta, CA, we size and pour them so the weight above spreads into firm ground instead of settling, and they go in first, before anything is built on top.
Most people call me before a garden wall, a deck, a shade structure or a room addition, and the first thing I ask is what the footing has to carry. Whether it's a whole wall or a single post, and how soft the ground is under it, set most of the price. The schedule usually turns on whether your address needs a permit and inspections, and on whether a heavy load needs an engineer's look before we start. Your own figure comes from the estimate I write after walking your site.
Do you need concrete footings for your project?
Building a new wall
A garden or block wall needs something solid and level along its whole length so it won't lean.
Posts for a deck
Each post carries its own share of the deck or roof, so each one needs a pad underneath.
Adding a room or garage
An addition needs footings that carry its new walls down to firm ground beside the house.
Something old has sunk
A sinking post or tilting wall often sat on too little concrete, or none at all.
How we build concrete footings
I start by finding out what the footing has to carry, a whole wall or a single post, because that decides its shape and its size. When the load is heavy or the ground is weak, we want an engineer's input before we price it, since a guess at that point ends up buried under your wall. Then our crew digs the trench down to firm, undisturbed soil, sets the forms and the steel, and pours. We let it cure, the slow hardening wait, before anything goes on top, because a footing loaded too soon can crack.
Some jobs need other work before the dig. If a sinking slab or porch is why you called, foundation raising can bring it back up first, and if an old walk or patio sits where the new footing has to go, we use concrete cutting to open a clean trench through it instead of breaking up more than we need to. A footing for a concrete retaining wall gets planned together with the wall itself.
Continuous footings
These run the whole length of a wall or foundation and spread its weight along the way, so they suit walls, additions and garages. They take more digging and more concrete than pads, because they follow the wall from end to end.
Pad footings
A pad sits under one concentrated load, like a deck post, a pier or a column. It's the simpler choice when the weight comes down at a few points instead of along a line.
What happens when you call about footings in Goleta?
Call or send the form
You reach us at (805) 285-4985 or through the form, and we get back to you to set a time for me to come out. Tell us what you're building so I know what to look at.
I walk your site
I look at what the footing has to carry, where the water goes and which office covers your address. You get a written estimate with the footing type and size I'd use and the price, so you know the cost before anything is dug.
We dig, form and pour
In Goleta, the city's inspections are requested at least one business day ahead, so we plan the pour around them. I run the crew on site from the dig and the forms through the pour.
Clean up and walk it
When the footing is poured and finished, we clean up and walk it with you. You see the work while it's still out in the open, before anything is built on it.
How wide should concrete footings be?
Wide enough for your soil, not just your load.
Weaker soil needs a wider footing to spread the same weight over more ground, and the wider and larger a footing gets, the more it costs. That makes width the first thing people want to trim, and it's the one part you can't change once a wall or a room is standing on it.
My side of that trade-off is the footing. If money has to come out somewhere, I'd rather it come out of a finish you can redo later than out of concrete that's buried on day one with no do-over.
Examples of concrete work
Look through these examples of concrete work, from footings and walls to driveways, patios and steps, to get a feel for what's possible.
Get a footing estimate for your project
Tell us what you're building, what the footing will carry and anything you know about the soil, and we'll reply within one business day. I come out, walk the site and write a free estimate, with no pressure to book.
Why Goleta property owners call Goleta Concrete for footings
I walk every footing job
I come out to look at every job, write the estimate myself and run the crew on site through the pour and the finish. The person who sized your footing is the one standing over the trench when the truck shows up.
In business since 2013
We've been pouring concrete as a business since 2013, and I learned to finish on crews long before that. That's long enough to know that most of what goes wrong with a footing goes wrong before the pour.
Licensed and fully insured
We're licensed and fully insured. That matters on footing work, where the trench, the forms and the pour all happen on your property.
Planned for South Coast ground
We work in Goleta and the cities around it along the South Coast and beyond, where the ground can change from one part of a city to another. Call (805) 285-4985 or use the estimate form to set a time.
Questions about concrete footings
How much do concrete footings cost in Goleta?
Installed concrete footings across the US usually cost about $4 to $20 per linear foot, and that's the market's range, not our price. Where your job lands depends on whether it's a footing under a whole wall or pads under posts, and on how wide your soil makes it. Your own number comes from the estimate I write after seeing the site.
Which type of concrete footing does my project need?
The load decides it. A wall or foundation needs a footing that runs its whole length, while a post, pier or column gets its own pad. Tell me what you're building and I'll say which one fits.
How do I schedule a footing inspection in Goleta?
Once a Goleta building permit is issued, inspections are requested through the city's Inspection Request Line at (805) 961-7553. When we've handled the permit for your job, we make that request ourselves, so you don't have to track it.
Who is allowed to pour concrete footings in California?
In California, forming, pouring, placing and finishing concrete falls under the state licensing board's concrete contractor license. The state's exemption for minor work is $1,000, and it only applies when the work needs no permit and the unlicensed person employs no one.
What causes concrete footings to sink or settle?
Usually it's a footing that's too narrow for the soil under it, or ground that shifts as it gets wet and dries out. An engineering guide from outside California notes that hidden irrigation leaks and overwatering often add to foundation movement, so fixing leaks and watering with care helps protect what's been poured.
How long does a concrete footing job take?
The pour itself is the short part, and the schedule usually rests on the permit, the inspection and the curing wait before anything goes on top. A heavy load or weak ground adds an engineer's look at the start. I'll lay out the order of your job when I write the estimate.
Planning a wall, deck or addition?
Ask, and I'll come out to your property, walk the site with you and write up an estimate for the work.
Other work that goes with footings
Concrete footings and the ground in Goleta
Whether your footing needs a permit is a question for the office that covers your address, and I check that before I price anything. For homes inside Goleta, that's the city's building and safety office, which has the information on getting building permits and handouts on construction details. Elsewhere it may be another city, the county or the campus, and when your job needs a permit, we handle the application and set up the inspections.
The ground here isn't the same everywhere. The city's hazard plan shows parts of Goleta with low, moderate and high liquefaction severity, which is wet soil losing its strength when it shakes, and Santa Barbara County sits in a high seismic activity zone. The city's General Plan, in its 2006 text, also lists expansive, compressible and collapsible soils among the hazards known in the city. Since weaker soil calls for a wider footing, I look at the ground at your address instead of assuming, and we plan footings the same careful way on jobs in Isla Vista and Eastern Goleta Valley.