Concrete Parking Lot Building in Kalispell MT - a lot built from the ground up

Commercial concrete flatwork, parking lots included, usually runs about $6 to $14 per square foot across the US, and that's the market's range, not our price. Where a Kalispell lot lands in it mostly comes down to how much bad ground has to come out and whether the work is phased. Your own figure comes in the written estimate after I walk the site.

Usually yes inside the City of Kalispell, because Kalispell Public Works requires a construction stormwater permit for any work that disturbs more than 1,000 square feet of land or more than five cubic yards of material, and nearly any lot does both. New commercial construction also goes through the city's site review, which looks at parking lot design, landscaping and utilities, and once a job disturbs an acre or more, the state Department of Environmental Quality has to authorize it too. Before we set a date we find out what your address needs and take care of the permits for our part, and you can call Public Works at 406-758-7720 with your own questions.

Plan the whole lot before the first phase, because inside the city the storm sewer design standards apply once a site reaches 10,000 square feet of paved or other hard surface, and phases add up toward that line. In the city's own example, a lot replaced in three equal phases hits it in the third phase, and then the standards cover every surface on the site that sheds polluted runoff. We'll lay out the phases with you up front so the last one doesn't catch you off guard.

It can, but only with a plan to protect it, because fresh concrete freezes once its temperature falls below about 25°F, and frozen concrete can lose more than half its strength. The guidance is to keep it from freezing until about two days after it's placed. We'll talk that plan through with you before we pick a winter date.

The guidance for concrete that faces hard freezing and thawing is good quality air-entrained concrete, which has tiny air bubbles worked into it that give freezing water room to expand. Ask any contractor, us included, whether the mix they plan to order is air-entrained and suited to that exposure.

Skip deicing chemicals the first winter and use them in moderate amounts after that, so if we pour in the fall, plan another way to deal with ice that season. The same guidance suggests thinking about a commercial breathable sealer, which you can ask us about. If your site has its own stormwater management setup, the city also expects a yearly inspection signed by the owner at Public Works by October 1, and a report certified by an engineer every 5 years to renew the maintenance permit.