Concrete Contractor in Lake Hollingsworth, Lakeland

One lake, three different sets of rules around its shore

Within a few blocks of the Lake Hollingsworth loop there are three kinds of ground, at least as far as paperwork goes. On the north shore sits the Florida Southern College campus, part of the South Lake Morton historic district, with the Lake Morton blocks above it. A few blocks to the northeast, east of Ingraham Avenue, west of Hollingsworth Road and north of Frank Lloyd Wright Way, is the Biltmore-Cumberland historic district. On the golf course side you're in Cleveland Heights, which isn't one of the city's seven local historic districts at all.

So two houses a few hundred yards apart can need very different approvals for the same driveway. One goes through staff review before the permit. The other goes straight to the city's driveway permit. A third backs onto the water, and any work at the bank needs a city shoreline permit. We work that out from your address before we draw anything, and the sections below cover each case. If you want the whole city picture, our Lakeland service area page has it.

City or county? Settling who permits a lot near the water

Here's the quirk. The Polk County Water Atlas lists the lake itself under unincorporated Polk County, while the neighborhood around it is part of Lakeland. That listing is about the water body. It doesn't decide who permits your driveway, so don't let a county label send you to the wrong counter.

For a house on a city parcel, residential driveways are processed by the city's Building Inspection Division and inspected by Public Works Engineering, and plans go in through the city's iMS ePlan system. If there's any doubt about your parcel, ask Building Inspection to confirm it before the estimate is final. It takes one question and saves a resubmittal.

The apron where your driveway meets the street is city right-of-way and needs its own permit. Rather than repeat the full list here, our Lakeland concrete permit guide walks through the right-of-way permit, the Notice of Commencement and the newer exemption rules in order. What matters on this page is the first step: confirm the office, then plan the job to its rules.

What It Costs

Our ranges for work around the lake. On historic blocks a ten foot tandem driveway can come in under a typical two-car pad of 500 to 700 sq ft, simply because it holds less concrete.

A single carport driveway 10 feet wide and 40 feet long is 400 sq ft, which works out near $3,200 at our low rate and $5,600 at our high one before any tear-out. Ranges are not a quote. We give a free written estimate after we see the site.

Biltmore-Cumberland carports and streets without sidewalks

The blocks between Ingraham Avenue and Hollingsworth Road came later than the Lake Morton streets. The city dates Biltmore-Cumberland to the years after Florida Southern opened in 1922, through 1953, and describes it as more suburban than the Lake Morton districts, with Masonry Vernacular construction predominant. Two details from the city's district narrative shape concrete work here.

First, some 1940s and 1950s homes have a single-width carport or garage facing the street. If you want the driveway wider, know that the historic guidelines say driveways usually run no wider than ten feet and list wider ones as not acceptable, but they accept tandem parking along the side of the house for up to two cars. So the way to fit a second car is length, not width. Measure from the carport back toward the rear of the lot before you call.

Second, sidewalks aren't common on many of these streets. A new front walk then runs from the porch toward the street with no public walk to tie into. The guidelines say front walks average three to four feet wide with a generally smooth surface, so that is what we plan, and remember that the last few feet near the street are in the right-of-way. Our sidewalk and walkway page covers joints and thickness for the walk itself.

North shore blocks below the Florida Southern campus

West of Ingraham, the blocks between Lake Morton and the north shore of Lake Hollingsworth are the South and East Lake Morton districts. The city calls them Lakeland's first-generation suburbs, with most houses built from 1920 to 1926, narrow lots, alleys and many brick streets. Any new or replacement paving there is a Minor Review item, a staff sign-off filed in iMS before the building permit.

For a homeowner near the lake, that changes three things. The driveway stays at ten feet or less. If the street is brick, the curb cut can't alter it. And the review comes before the pour date, so we book the pour after approval, not before. The step-by-step filing, the accepted materials and the ribbon-strip option are all in our historic district driveway guide, and the South Lake Morton page covers the blocks nearest the campus in more depth.

If your house is on one of these streets, tell us when you call. We take the measurements at the free visit, and they cover what the review site plan has to show: the house and where the new paving goes.

How Your Job Goes

1. Address check

   Before we visit, we look up whether your lot sits in Biltmore-Cumberland, the Lake Morton districts or neither, so we know which approvals to plan for.

2. Free site visit

   We measure the carport, the run to the street and the fall toward the lake, and we note roots and wet spots.

3. Written quote

   The quote lists thickness, base, joints, the apron and the approvals your block needs, in writing.

4. Approvals, then the pour

   Minor Review and the permit come first where they apply. We set the pour date once they're in hand.

5. Cure and handover

   We keep the slab moist and covered while it cures and tell you when it can take foot traffic and then cars.

Back yards that slope toward a four foot deep lake

Lake Hollingsworth covers 354 acres but averages only about 4 feet deep, 14 at its deepest, per the Water Atlas. On a lakefront lot, the question for a patio or a slab isn't how deep the water is. It's where the rain off your new concrete goes.

A slab sheds water fast. Pitch it toward the house and you've built a gutter against your foundation. Pitch it straight at the lake with nothing in between and you send yard runoff into the water. We set the fall so water leaves the slab and spreads across grass or a planted strip before it reaches the shore. That's also why we stop a concrete patio on a lake lot short of the water's edge.

Anything that touches the shoreline is a separate job. The city says permits are required for shoreline projects on its lakes and that other local, state and federal agencies may also require them. Check with the city's Lakes and Stormwater lakeshore page before planning any concrete at the bank. If a big shade oak stands near the work, removing it takes a city Tree Removal Permit, so we route a walk or patio around the roots wherever we can.

What to measure before we walk your lakeside lot

• Your street address, so we can check whether it falls in Biltmore-Cumberland, the Lake Morton districts or neither.
• The width of your carport or garage opening, and the distance from it to the back of the lot if you want tandem parking.
• How far the planned patio or slab would sit from the water, if you're on the lake.
• Where water stands after a summer storm. A phone photo the next morning beats a guess.
• Whether your street has a public sidewalk to meet, or the walk runs to the street edge.
• Any oak within reach of the work and whether you'd consider removing it.

Send those with your call to (863) 400-2934 or through the contact page, and the visit goes faster.