Most contractors sub out their concrete. We don't. MB General Contracting pours driveways, patios, slabs, sidewalks and shop floors in-house — the same crew that digs and grades your base also forms and finishes the pour, so it comes out flat, drains right and holds up for years on Phelps County ground.
When you hire a lot of general contractors for concrete, the actual pour gets handed to a subcontractor. That's where jobs go sideways — the base gets prepped by one company, the concrete gets poured by another, and when something cracks or ponds nobody wants to own it. MB General Contracting does it differently. Concrete is one of our core trades, and we keep it in-house from the first shovel of dirt to the final broom finish. One crew, one standard, one company you can call if you ever have a question.
That matters more than it sounds. Concrete is only as good as what's underneath it, and because we also run the excavation and grading ourselves, the base under your slab actually gets done right — dug to the correct depth, compacted, sloped to drain, and formed clean before a single yard of mud shows up. Whether you're a homeowner in St. James wanting a real patio, a builder needing a garage slab, or a business owner off the Rolla corridor who needs durable flatwork, you're getting concrete poured by people who've been doing it here for 15+ years.
We handle residential, agricultural and light commercial flatwork across Phelps County and the surrounding towns. If it's flat and it's concrete, it's in our wheelhouse:
Concrete cracks, settles and heaves when the base is wrong — not because the concrete was bad. Because we handle the excavation and grading too, your slab sits on a properly stripped, compacted, free-draining base cut to the right depth. Get the base right and the concrete lasts. Skip it and no finish in the world will save the pour.
Forming, setting grade, placing rebar or wire, pouring, finishing, jointing and cleanup — it's our crew the whole way. No coordinating two or three separate companies, no waiting on a sub's schedule, and no finger-pointing if there's ever a question. You call us, and we own the job.
Pouring good concrete around here isn't the same as pouring it on flat, sandy ground somewhere else. This is the Ozark plateau — hilly, and full of chert and rock. In Rolla especially, you'll hit rock ledges and cherty clay that have to be dealt with before you form anything; sometimes that means extra digging, sometimes it means bringing in and compacting proper base rock. Either way, our excavators and skid steers are already on the trailer, so we handle it in one shot instead of stopping the job to call somebody.
Missouri weather is the other half of it. We go through real freeze-thaw cycles out here, and water that gets under a slab and freezes is what lifts and cracks concrete over the winters. That's why drainage and slope get designed into the pour from the start — the pad has to shed water away from the house and off the surface, not trap it. On the rural acreage around St. James, Newburg and Salem, we're also pouring for long approaches, shop pads and barn slabs on ground that isn't level to begin with, which is exactly the kind of site prep our equipment is built for. Local ground, local weather, poured by people who work in it every week.
Concrete gives you warning before it fails outright. If you're seeing any of these, it's worth a free look:
Straightforward, no surprises. Here's what working with us looks like:
Tell us what you're thinking — a drive, a patio, a shop floor — and roughly where. We'll set up a time to come look.
Matthew comes out in person, walks the site, checks the ground and access, and gives you a clear, honest number.
We strip, grade and compact the base, set forms to the right slope, and place rebar or wire before the pour.
We pour, finish the surface, cut or tool the control joints, and haul off our mess so you're left with just the concrete.
Every pour is priced off the actual site — there's no honest flat rate for concrete. When Matthew comes out for your free estimate, these are the things that move the number:
There's plenty of people around here who'll pour a slab. Here's what you get with us:
Concrete is our trade, not a sub we hire. Because we also do the excavation, grading and drainage, the base under your slab is done right — and one company stands behind the whole job.
And because we already own the dozers, excavators and skid steers, we don't stop the job to rent equipment or wait on another crew when your site needs rock hauled, a pad cut, or a retaining wall to hold the grade. It all happens under one roof.
We pour it ourselves. Concrete is one of our in-house trades — the same MB crew that preps and grades your base forms and finishes the pour. You never get handed off to a subcontractor, and you've got one company accountable for the whole job.
Yes. We'll demo the old concrete, haul it off, re-prep and compact the base, reset forms to the right slope, and pour a new driveway or patio in its place — all with our own equipment and crew.
All concrete moves and every slab will eventually show some hairline cracking — that's normal and not a defect. What prevents the bad cracks (the wide, offset, heaving kind) is a properly compacted, well-draining base and control joints placed correctly. Because we handle the base ourselves, we control the biggest factor in whether concrete stays sound.
Control joints are the lines you see cut or tooled into a slab. They give the concrete a planned place to crack as it shrinks and moves, instead of cracking wherever it wants. We lay them out at the right spacing for the size and shape of your pour — they're a standard part of doing the job right, not an upgrade.
You can usually walk on it the next day. We generally recommend staying off it with vehicles for about a week so it can cure and gain strength — concrete keeps hardening for weeks after that. We'll give you the specifics for your pour and the weather when we finish, so you know exactly when to drive on it.
Because a slab is only as good as what's under it. Concrete doesn't crack and settle because the concrete was bad — it fails because the base was soft, uneven, or held water that froze. We strip, grade and compact the base and build in slope to drain it before we ever pour. That prep is the whole reason our concrete lasts, and it's why we insist on doing the dirt work ourselves.
We do — garage floors, shop floors, shed and barn pads, addition slabs and equipment pads are a big part of what we pour. We'll cut and level the pad, set the base, and finish the floor flat and hard enough to take vehicles, tools and traffic.
We work out of St. James and cover Rolla, Phelps County and the nearby towns — Newburg, Doolittle, Cuba, Salem and the Fort Leonard Wood area including St. Robert and Waynesville. If you're not sure whether we reach you, just call or text and ask.
Driveways, patios, sidewalks and flatwork — poured in-house by our own crew.
Free, in-person estimates on driveways, patios, slabs and flatwork across St. James, Rolla & Phelps County — poured in-house by MB.
