Patios · Hutto, TX
Concrete patio contractors near me for Hutto backyards and patio covers
Paint the patio you have in mind on the grid. You get the area, the perimeter and the yardage at 4 in., and you can drop the sketch straight into a quote request.
Sketch your patio
Paint the shape of the patio you have in mind. Each square is 1 ft × 1 ft; the house wall is along the top.
- Area
- 192 sq ft
- Perimeter
- 56 ft
- Overall
- 16 × 12 ft
- Concrete at 4 in.
- 2.4 cu yd
A sketch, not a quote: volume is area × 4 in. ÷ 27, before the little extra any crew orders so a load never comes up short. Thickened edges, steps or a cover footing add to it; the site visit sets the real numbers.
Sizing
Concrete patios near me: sketch the size first
Most patio regrets are about size: one table too small, or too much hot slab nobody uses.
Start from what you'll put on it and how people walk across it, then let the house decide the edges. A patio that lines up with a window or a corner of the house looks planned. One that stops at a random spot looks like the builder's minimum, which is exactly what most new-build back yards in Hutto came with.
Three edges to check before we form anything:
- The back of the lot. Utility and drainage easements often run along it, and the UDC doesn't allow paving into them.
- Trees you're keeping or planting. No paving within 6 ft of a new tree's trunk, or its half critical root zone if that is bigger.
- Where the water goes. A patio changes how the yard drains. It needs a fall away from the house and somewhere to send that water besides the neighbor.
Pouring a driveway extension too? We often do both in one trip; see driveway work.
Orientation
Paved concrete patios and the afternoon sun
Which way your back yard faces decides whether the patio is usable at 5 pm in June. Check it before you pour.
Hutto's summer sun climbs almost straight overhead: about 83° above the horizon at noon in late June. The house throws almost no shade at midday then, so a patio's afternoon depends on its facing. A west-facing back yard has the house's shade only in the morning and sits in full sun through the afternoon. An east-facing one goes into the house's shade by mid-afternoon.
Winter flips it: the December noon sun stands only about 36° high, so a north-facing patio spends the whole day in the house's shadow, and a south-facing one is the warm spot. If your patio faces west, a cover or shade sail is what makes it usable, and a cover changes the slab you need: posts need footings.
Drag the sun across a Hutto back yard
Drag the sun around the plan (or focus the time control and use the arrow keys). Change the facing, the season, or add a cover.
0% of the patio in shade at 3:00 pm solar time; sun 50° above the horizon.
| Back faces | 9:00 am | 12:00 pm | 3:00 pm | 5:00 pm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| north | 0% | 17% | 0% | 0% |
| east | 0% | 0% | 100% | 100% |
| south | 0% | 0% | 0% | 52% |
| west | 100% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Back faces | 9:00 am | 12:00 pm | 3:00 pm | 5:00 pm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| north | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| east | 0% | 0% | 100% | 100% |
| south | 0% | 0% | 0% | 100% |
| west | 100% | 0% | 0% | 100% |
Geometry for Hutto's latitude (30.5° N): the noon sun stands about 83° high in late June and 36° in late December. Times are solar; clock time runs about 1½ hours later in summer (CDT). The house is modeled as a single-story box about 14 ft to the roof; trees, fences and two-story homes change the picture.
Finish
Pressed concrete patio or broom finish
Four finishes cover almost every patio we pour.
A broom finish is the honest default: grippy, cheap to place, easy to repair panel by panel. A pressed concrete patio (stamped, in most of Texas) costs more but buys a pattern and color. Exposed aggregate sits in between and hides dirt well.
If pattern is what you're after, the stamped and decorative page goes through textures, color and sealing in detail.
| Finish | Underfoot | Upkeep | Repairs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broom | Good grip, plain look | Rinse; reseal joints when the sealant splits | Easiest to patch or replace a panel |
| Smooth trowel | Slick when wet; better under a cover | Shows scuffs | Patches show |
| Exposed aggregate | Textured, hides dirt | Optional sealer | Hard to match stone |
| Pressed / stamped | Patterned; depends on texture and sealer | Reseal when the sheen wears | Color and pattern are hard to match |
Field notes: clay
What concrete patio installers do about shrink-swell soil
A patio is a big, thin slab on soil that cracks open in August. It needs a plan.
Houston Black clay, common around Hutto, is rated high shrink-swell and opens cracks up to 4 inches wide in dry spells. A back yard that was watered all spring and then left in August can move noticeably under a patio. We can't stop the clay, but we can keep it even.
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Even moisture before the pour
Dry clay under one half and irrigated clay under the other is how a patio cracks diagonally. We wet the subgrade evenly the day before, without puddles. -
Sprinklers aimed away from the slab edge
A sprinkler that soaks one edge every night keeps that strip swollen. Re-aim the heads or move the zone before we pour. -
Joints laid out square
Control joints break the slab into roughly square panels and run to inside corners, where cracks like to start. -
An isolation joint at the house
The patio meets the foundation with a joint, so the two can move separately on the same clay. -
Steel up in the slab
Rebar on concrete bricks, the way Hutto's code lists it, so it is mid-slab when the slab cracks.
Permits
Patio covers, permits and the 10–15 day review
Patio and patio cover both need a City permit. Plan the slab and the cover together.
The City of Hutto's permit list names "Building a patio cover or concrete patio." Applications go through the GovWell portal, and the City puts patio reviews at roughly 10 to 15 business days. Starting before approval risks a stop-work order and double permit fees, so we don't.
If a cover is in your future, pour for it now. Cover posts carry roof load into the slab; they need footings or a thickened edge where they land, which is cheap at pour time and expensive later.
HOAs in subdivisions like Star Ranch, Emory Crossing and Cottonwood Creek usually want an architectural submittal for a patio or cover. The City itself reminds residents to check HOA rules "even if a city permit is not required." We give you a dimensioned sketch and a finish description to send in.
Questions about the slab itself? We're a concrete contractor in Hutto who handles both the permit and the pour.
Decide it before the pour, or later?
Tap a card, then tap the bin you would put it in. Mouse users can drag.
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Our call: Before the pour. Cover posts need footings or a thickened edge where they land. Pouring them now is a few extra bags of concrete; cutting them into a finished slab later is a demolition job.
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Our call: Before the pour. An empty conduit or sleeve under the slab costs very little at forming time. Once the concrete is down, wiring goes around the patio or through a saw cut.
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Our call: Before the pour. Same as power: lay a sleeve under the slab now so a licensed plumber can pull the line through later without cutting concrete.
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Our call: Before the pour. A filled tub is a heavy point load. That corner gets a thicker slab, decided before the pour.
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Our call: Before the pour. Stamping only happens in fresh concrete, and integral color is mixed into the load. A stain can come later; a pattern can't.
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Our call: Before the pour. Move or re-aim them before we pour. A strip of clay soaked every night swells while the rest of the slab doesn't.
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Our call: Can wait. A broom patio doesn't need a film sealer, and nothing should go on before it has cured. Sealing the joints is what matters, and that can happen any time.
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Our call: Can wait. Stain colors a finished slab, so it can go on after the concrete has cured, this year or next.
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Our call: Can wait. About a week after the pour for furniture and grills; walking is fine after a day or two.
Our usual call for a backyard slab. Your plans can change the answer; tell us what's coming in the next few years.
Cost
Concrete patio cost drivers
The same square footage can price very differently. These are the reasons.
Concrete access to the back yard
A patio behind a fence usually means a pump or wheelbarrows. Gate width and what's between the street and the forms matter more than size.
Old slab or sod out first
Removing the builder's small slab, or sod and roots, comes before forms go in.
Slab size and shape
Rectangles are cheapest. Curves, steps down to the yard and wrap-arounds take more forming.
Cover footings
Thickened areas or footings for future posts add concrete and digging now.
Patio finish
Broom is the baseline; pressed concrete patio cost runs higher for the mats, color and sealer.
Yard drainage around the patio
If the patio blocks the yard's flow, the scope includes regrading or a path for the water.
Before you build
Patio questions before you build
Does a concrete patio need a permit in Hutto?
Yes. The City lists "Building a patio cover or concrete patio" among the projects that need a building permit, and it estimates patio and patio-cover review at about 10 to 15 business days. Your HOA may want its own approval on top.
Can a patio go all the way to my back fence?
No, not if there is an easement there. Many Hutto lots have a utility or drainage easement along the back, and the UDC prohibits encroaching into them. Your plat or survey shows where the easement line is; we stop the slab short of it.
Should the patio be attached to the house slab?
No, not rigidly. Your house slab and the patio sit on the same clay but move differently. We separate them with an isolation joint so the patio can ride the clay without pulling on the foundation; we only drill into a house slab after confirming it isn't post-tensioned.
How thick should a patio be?
4 inches is the usual patio build, and it is the reinforced-concrete option Hutto's code lists for patios (#3 rebar at 16 in. each way, up on concrete bricks). Under a hot tub, an outdoor kitchen or the posts of a cover, we thicken the slab or pour footings.
Is a broom finish too hot to walk on barefoot?
Yes, on an August afternoon any uncovered concrete gets hot. Lighter, plain gray concrete stays cooler than dark colored concrete, and shade is the real fix, which is why the sun drawing above matters more than the finish choice.
Start a quote
Ask about a patio
Use the sketch tool at the top of the page to drop your size in here, or just describe it. A photo of the back of the house and the gate helps us plan access.
- Call or text: (737) 201-1843
- Photos and plans: info@eliteconcretehutto.com