We're looking at doing a 14'x20' patio extension on a 1 year old home (South CC off of OSO bay). We were discussing with first contractor this would be pretty basic. 4" thick and anchored into current foundation with just a brushed finish. Being told it would require engineering design/approval (which I'm ok with since were in a HOA and they will likely require anyways). He just came back with $6500 (~$21.10 x sqft). I'm a little sticker shocked. Looking for additional quotes, but curious on the knowledge of texags is this insane or to be expected? Anyone happen to have any references for people I should be reaching out to in the CC area?

Seems fair if that includes grubbing up grass, setting forms, moving sprinkler heads, etc.

A landscaper I know here in Ft Worth charges $18/sf. That covers all the above plus any footers or piers the engineer may require.

Oh, brother
You just sent in invatation to storm chasers all over Texas to come make a bundle
.... IF an open reif.conc patio no pergola above.

You want perimeter beams to prevent #1 select fill compacted as supprt - erosion under escaping
5" ref. conc, #4s @ 16" ocew in top 1/3 of slab w/slab saver supports
chemical cure
dowels an engineer with soil samples on hand to spec .. and inspect .. from what I am reading (beware)


Blessings & good luck
if all else fails
DIY with dig-select fill/gravel - compact - Home Depot pavers ... negotiate either price/delivery w/Manager only

As for old me, phone a design/build land.arch/designer w/hungry crew & be amazed with a beer in hand

I'm no help with recs in the corpus area but that seems higher than a kite to me. I'm in Houston and replaced a 80' long driveway, tapers from 10' wide at the curb to 16' at the garage, and a 33' by 15' back patio for less than $10,000 last year. That included breaking out the existing driveway and hauling off the concrete. Now, the crew left a lot to be desired. They drank the beer from my garage fridge and tried their best to bury some concrete rather than haul it off but I think it came out to less than $7/sf when I penciled it. For reference, another quote I got was around $11/sf

Another thing, it sounds like what you're describing is flatwork no different than a sidewalk. Can't hurt to beef it up a little but if you're not doing a serious structure on it you're kinda pouring money on the ground for little benefit. Who's saying you'll need a structural engineer for that? That seems nutty in itself.

Appreciate the feed back. Sorry for not being clear. I was specifically looking for flatwork as this was just going to house a couple chairs and grills. Luckily thru coworkers have gotten in touch with an ex-inspector at the plant that runs a construction company as a side gig. Fortunately thru our conversations he is in agreement this was way over the top. Hell, he even said with a little more effort and planning we could preemptively look ahead and do caged footings incase we ever wanted a roof over it and it would still be cheaper.

I tried getting getting clarity from the first guy on if perhaps there was a misunderstanding and the "engineer" he was talking with was thinking we were doing an actual foundation extension with forms and trenches dug, but he claims that was not the case.

Now will be the fun part. I've reached out to HOA mgmt company to see what exactly they will require for approval. From neighbors headaches I've heard there's a sense this could get interesting. Challenge is the neighborhood is still being built and developer still manages/holds all seats on the HOA. He runs it thru a third party but people think he's playing politics and shooting down project approvals to get work back to his crews (and pocket). I already went thru one battle with them during closing about our fence when we pulled out and did it ourselves. At the last minute they were asking for an increase in cost due to their misunderstanding of what was in our contract and where the fence was going to be (they were cutting it inside our back property line by 40 ft due to a "no build" line. Said line was referencing a setback from the street in the front yard.