Concrete · Warranties

Concrete warranties

Most residential concrete workmanship warranties exclude cracking, and that exclusion is defensible: NRMCA states that all concrete has a tendency to crack and completely crack-free concrete is not possible. What a warranty should still cover is workmanship the industry treats as controllable — joint spacing and depth, the mix actually delivered, finishing practice, curing, and subgrade preparation.

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Read the exclusions first. A warranty that excludes cracking, discoloration, scaling, and "acts of nature" while promising "quality workmanship" is promising nothing measurable. The fix is not to demand a crack-free guarantee — no honest contractor will give one — but to get the controllable items specified in the scope of work, where a breach is a breach of contract regardless of what the warranty says.

Those items are documented in free industry guidance you can attach to a contract: joint spacing at 24 to 36 times slab thickness with a 15-foot maximum, joint depth of at least 1/4 the slab thickness, saw cutting within 4 to 12 hours of finishing, curing for 3 to 7 days starting immediately after finishing, 4,000 psi air-entrained mix for exterior slabs exposed to freezing and deicers, and no finishing while bleed water is present.

Warranties are also worth exactly as much as the business behind them. A ten-year promise from a two-year-old LLC is a marketing line. Ask how long the company has operated under its current name and license.

Never accept a warranty term you were told verbally. If it isn't in the signed document, it doesn't exist.

How to choose

Get the warranty document before you sign, not after: "We'll send it with the invoice" removes your leverage at exactly the moment you have it.
Specify the controllables in the scope of work: Mix, thickness, joint plan, curing. Then a failure to perform is a contract issue, not a warranty argument.
Expect cracking to be excluded — and say so out loud: Ask instead: what crack width or displacement would you consider a defect? A straight answer tells you a lot about who you're dealing with.
Ask what voids it: Deicer use, heavy vehicles, and early loading are common exclusions. NRMCA's own guidance supports waiting 7 days for cars and 28 for heavy vehicles, and avoiding deicers the first winter.
Check whether it is transferable: If you may sell within the warranty period, transferability is worth confirming in writing.
Verify the business, not just the paper: Confirm the legal entity name, license status with your state or local board, and how long they have traded under it.

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FAQ

Concrete warranties — common questions

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Should a warranty cover cracks?

A blanket no-cracks guarantee isn't realistic — NRMCA says crack-free concrete is not possible to produce. What is reasonable is a warranty that covers cracking caused by defective workmanship, such as missing or badly spaced joints, an unprepared subgrade, or no curing.

What should be in the contract instead of relying on a warranty?

Slab thickness, base material and depth, mix psi and air entrainment, reinforcement and cover, joint spacing and depth, finishing method, and curing method and duration. All of those have published industry recommendations you can reference.

My driveway scaled in year one. Is that covered?

It depends on the document, but scaling has documented causes: NRMCA attributes most of it to non-air-entrained concrete or too little air, low strength, excess water, over-finishing, and insufficient curing — alongside early deicer use. Whether it was your salt or their mix is the question, which is why the delivery ticket matters.

How long should a concrete warranty last?

There's no industry-standard term, and length matters less than scope and the company's staying power. A narrow two-year warranty from an established firm can be worth more than a ten-year one from a new entity.

Sources

Where these figures come from

NRMCA CIP 4 — Cracking Concrete Surfaces · retrieved 2026-07-25
NRMCA CIP 6 — Joints in Concrete Slabs on Grade · retrieved 2026-07-25
NRMCA CIP 2 — Scaling Concrete Surfaces · retrieved 2026-07-25
NRMCA CIP 11 — Curing In-Place Concrete · retrieved 2026-07-25
Concrete Network — How Long Before You Can Drive on New Concrete · retrieved 2026-07-25