The candidacy check happens before the price, not after it
Concrete Resurfacing in Pearland, TX
Concrete resurfacing bonds a new wearing surface onto the slab you already own, at $4 to $8 per square foot against $7 to $12 to replace a driveway outright. It is a surface product, so it only works over concrete that is structurally sound, at least 28 days old, and finished moving.
- The slab is sounded and the cracks checked before you get a number
- Old sealers and coatings ground off, never covered over
- You get two prices, resurfacing it and replacing it, so you can compare them
Tell us the rough size and what the surface is doing. Someone comes out, sounds the slab, and you get the number in writing.
Concrete resurfacing restores a surface — it does not level a slab
A bonded overlay is only ever as good as the concrete it is stuck to. Cementitious overlays are not crack-repair products and not leveling products: existing cracks and joints reflect straight through the new surface, so every joint has to be carried through it rather than buried under it.
We do not do foam lifting or mudjacking. A slab that has dropped, tilted or is still moving with the season needs repair or replacement before anything is bonded to it, and a house foundation is a foundation contractor's job rather than a flatwork crew's.
The cheap version of this job skips the check entirely: the slab is washed instead of ground, the old sealer stays where it is, and the overlay goes down over a live crack that reopens on the same line. We sound the slab, check whether the cracks are still moving, and price the honest option even when it is the one we would rather not quote.
No fee, no obligation.
How we resurface a slab: check, prep, overlay, seal
Four stages, and the first one decides whether the other three should happen. In the polymer-cement technical data, the most common overlay failure is improper surface preparation.
The candidacy check, calendar included
Before a price, we sound the slab for hollow and delaminating areas, check whether the cracks are still opening and closing, and ask how old the concrete is. Age is part of the specification, not a formality: concrete must be cured a minimum of 28 days prior to the application of any overlay, so a slab poured this month cannot take one yet. If the answer is that resurfacing is the wrong purchase, you are told at the estimate and you get the repair or replacement number instead.
Preparing the existing surface
Surface preparation is the removal of everything that stops an overlay bonding: laitance, old sealers and coatings, oil, and any concrete already coming away from the slab. We mechanically profile by grinding rather than washing and hoping, treat the cracks, and mark every existing joint so it can be carried through the new surface. Every resurfacing quote states the preparation method for your slab, because it is the line most quotes leave out and the line the job stands on.
The bonded overlay itself
A resurfacing is a polymer-modified cement overlay bonded to the prepared slab, not a coat of paint and not a new slab. We prime the surface, build the overlay in more than one pass, and take it out to the edges and joints so there is no feathered lip to catch a shovel. A broom-finished overlay is quoted per square foot at $4 to $8, with the joint layout carried through and drawn on the quote.
Finish, sealer and aftercare
The finish changes the price rather than the preparation. Broom is the standard restoration at $4 to $8 per square foot; the decorative finishes — splatter and knockdown textures, trowel-down textures, saw-scored patterns and integral color — run $8 to $14 and are quoted as their own line beside the surface work. We seal once the overlay has cured, and the quote names the sealer, the resealing interval, and the two things that shorten an overlay fastest: chemical de-icers and metal blades dragged across it.
If the cracks are still moving, the sequence starts with concrete repair rather than an overlay. Where the slab has to come out instead, that is a new concrete driveway, concrete patio, concrete slab or concrete pool deck. A pattern stamped into the overlay rather than broomed flat is stamped concrete, and the replacement arithmetic is set out on the concrete driveway cost page. Everything we pour and finish is on the concrete services hub.
The spec goes on the quote before you decide anything.
What the Gulf Coast does to a resurfaced slab
An overlay is a thin bonded layer asked to survive the same ground, heat and water as the slab beneath it.
Slab temperature, not air temperature
An overlay laid onto hot concrete loses its mixing water into the slab before it can bond or be finished. NRMCA CIP 11 makes the same point about the concrete underneath it: in hot weather a higher initial curing temperature gives rapid strength gain and lower ultimate strengths, and it recommends water curing to bring summer temperatures down.
So resurfacing here is early work on a damp-cooled slab. At the other end of the year the material goes down above 40°F or it waits.
The clay underneath keeps moving
The ground under most of Pearland is coastal-prairie clay, which shrinks back in a dry spell and swells again when the rain returns. The slab on top of it moves with the season, and an overlay does not stop that and was never meant to.
That is why the cracks are treated and the joints are carried through the new surface, and why a slab whose cracks are still live gets repaired rather than resurfaced.
The sealer nobody remembers applying
Plenty of driveways and patios here have been sealed at some point by a previous owner or a pressure-washing crew, and nobody still has the tin.
Sealers, coatings and laitance all have to come off completely before an overlay is placed, and washing will not remove them. On a slab like that the grinding is a real line on the quote rather than an afterthought, and pricing that skips it is pricing a delamination.
Water that sits where it lands
A slab that ponds does not stop ponding because it has a new surface on it. An overlay follows whatever fall the concrete underneath already has, so if water stands on your slab today it will stand on the overlay.
We say at the estimate where the water is standing and whether resurfacing changes anything about it. Where it does not, the drainage is the job to price first.
The site visit tells you which of these you have.
You get the walk-on and drive-on dates before you book
A bonded overlay runs on a shorter schedule than a poured slab, and all three dates go on your quote with the days filled in. They are the manufacturer schedules for polymer-cement overlays, not ours.
Temperature moves them both ways. The overlay goes down above 40°F, and a Gulf Coast summer is its own constraint — NRMCA CIP 11 notes that a higher initial curing temperature gives rapid strength gain and lower ultimate strengths, and that water curing and sprinkling can be used to achieve lower curing temperatures in summer.
Design strength is assessed at 28 days (NRMCA CIP 35); curing and hot-weather guidance from NRMCA CIP 11. The walk-on and drive-on dates are trade practice, and the ones for your pour are written on your quote.
What a resurfacing quote should state before you sign
Same slab, same overlay material. The difference is whether the quote names how the old surface is coming off and what happens to every joint in it.
| On the page | HTX Concrete Co. | The typical quote |
|---|---|---|
| Price | One number for the job as scoped | A per-foot range that moves on the day |
| Slab thickness | Stated in inches | Not mentioned |
| Reinforcement | Rebar or mesh, size and spacing | "Reinforced" — the entire line |
| Joint spacing | Planned and written | Cut wherever, if at all |
| Haul-off and clean-up | In the price | Added at the end |
Take our quote to any other contractor and compare it line by line.
Free, and it puts you under no obligation.
How much does concrete resurfacing cost in Pearland, TX?
Market ranges for 2026, with the specification each number assumes. Resurfacing is priced against replacement on purpose: over a sound slab it is roughly half the cost of a new driveway, and over an unsound one it is money spent twice.
| Work | What the number assumes | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| Resurfacing the slab you have | ||
| Resurfacing, broom finish | ground and primed, polymer-modified overlay, sealed | $4–$8 / sq ft |
| Decorative or stamped overlay | as above, stamped or scored, colored and sealed | $8–$14 / sq ft |
| Rout and seal a crack first | crack cut to a clean channel, backer rod, polyurethane sealant | $8–$18 / linear ft |
| Replace a failed panel first | saw-cut to the nearest joints, base rebuilt, dowelled and repoured | $8–$15 / sq ft |
| If the slab is not a candidate | ||
| Demolition and haul-off | existing 4–5in reinforced slab broken out and disposed of — national range, not a local quote | $3–$6 / sq ft |
| New driveway | 4in slab, 4,000 PSI, #3 rebar at 18in on center, broom finish | $7–$12 / sq ft |
| New patio | 4in slab, 3,000–3,500 PSI, mesh or #3 rebar, 4in base | $8–$13 / sq ft |
What moves a number inside its range: how much preparation the existing surface needs, whether there is an old sealer or coating to grind off, how many cracks and joints have to be treated first, and the finish. A slab that has never been sealed sits at the cheap end. The demolition and haul-off row is a national range rather than a Houston figure, and it is priced properly only once someone has seen the slab.
Free, and it puts you under no obligation.
How a resurfacing job runs
Four steps, and you can stop after the second one having paid nothing.
You call, we come out
We measure up, check the ground and the drainage, and tell you what the job needs.
You get the price in writing
One fixed price, with the thickness, the reinforcement and the joint spacing stated. The city does not ask for those on its driveway permit application — but it does send a building inspector to look at a concrete driveway, so you have them anyway.
We grind it back, prime it and bond the overlay
The slab is ground back to bare concrete, primed, then the overlay is built up and finished to the texture on your quote.
We seal it and the overlay cures
We seal it once it has cured and hand over the aftercare in writing, with the walk-on and drive-on dates already on the quote.
Foot 24h · heavy traffic 72h · vehicles 7 days
Step one costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Resurfacing questions people ask before they book
Who does concrete resurfacing near me in Pearland, TX?
How much does concrete resurfacing cost in Pearland?
Will resurfacing level a sunken slab or lift one?
How old does concrete have to be before it can be resurfaced?
Does Gulf Coast heat change how a resurfacing is done?
How long before I can walk and drive on a resurfaced slab?
Tell us what the job is. We'll price it in writing.
Send the rough size and what you want done. Someone comes out, measures, and you get one fixed number in writing — not a range that moves on the day. Nothing is owed if you don't go ahead.
On-site estimate is free · no obligation · the written quote is yours to keep.
- Free on-site estimate across Pearland and the south Houston ring
- Fixed price in writing before we start
- Reinforcement and thickness stated on the quote
- Clean-up and haul-off included