News
How to avoid stormwater drainage problems on your property
If you’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest for any length of time, you know how wet things can get during the winter — well, to be honest, for most of the year. All that rain, of course, can lead to many potential drainage problems. Heavy rains, melting snow, pockets of...
Deicers can wreak havoc on concrete
Most deicers are terrible for concrete. With winter weather approaching here in Whatcom County, homeowners should be careful to limit, as much as possible, the use of deicing chemicals on concrete. This is especially true of new concrete, but all concrete is...
Is pervious concrete more expensive?
Over its lifetime, pervious concrete can be a much more inexpensive option than traditional concrete, even though the installation cost of pervious is typically higher than that of traditional concrete. The money savings are because pervious concrete can lower the...
Project feature: Whidbey roundabout project in the books
This photo and the photo above show Custom Concrete crews installing a different roundabout in 2016. This summer, drivers on Whidbey Island in Island County began using a new roundabout at the intersection of State Route 20, Banta Road and Northgate Drive. Custom...
Concrete 101: How to ensure quality concrete in cooler weather
Fall has arrived, and that means that here in the Pacific Northwest, as we know, cold winter weather is not far behind. You probably wouldn’t be surprised to hear that cold weather changes how we pour concrete here at Custom Concrete Contracting. As it should. But...
Workforce development: One path to building a great team
When businesses are in a hiring mode, it’s often not very likely that they’ll easily be able to find the highly trained workforce they’re looking for. Those workers either already have jobs or, if we’re talking about careers in the trades, there just aren’t that many...
Project feature: Hilly driveway, off-street parking in Bellingham
To do concrete flatwork well requires experience and expertise. Especially in challenging situations, both can come in quite handy. Consider this residential driveway we installed not too long ago in Sudden Valley near Lake Whatcom. Because it was on a hill with a...
Concrete 101: all about rebar
Rebar, or reinforcing bar, is a common feature of many concrete applications. Its primary purpose is to increase the tensile strength of the concrete, helping it resist cracking and breaking. With greater tensile strength, concrete is better able to resist breaking...
Four reasons to work in concrete this summer
Looking for summer work? Custom Concrete has positions open with hands-on training and good pay and that can lead to wonderful careers. For more information, check out our job listings on the CCC website and on the new YES Whatcom job board, which is working to...
Concrete 101: Joints
If you have concrete, you have cracks. They are inevitable features of the medium. While cracking can be minimized through proper timing and technique, there’s nothing that can be done to prevent it completely. Cracking occurs because concrete naturally expands and...
Concrete laborers: What do they do?
Custom Concrete Contracting is hiring people who want a job with a future. What do we mean by that? Simply put, our goal is to help people make a career of concrete. Whether you start with CCC as a supervisor or a laborer, you’re joining as part of our family, and our...
Seven things to know when having concrete work done
Here at Custom Concrete Contracting, most of the work we do is on commercial and government jobs, with a handful of residential work thrown in. It’s fun, challenging work, and we strive every day to “do it right the first time,” because a good deal of future work...
Roundabouts help improve safety, traffic flow
Far and away, roundabouts are much better than stop signs and traffic lights at guiding vehicles safely through intersections. That, at least, is the conclusion of a study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which concluded that roundabouts reduce injury...
Custom Concrete is UDBE and MBE certified
To help ensure that certain businesses — those owned by women and minorities, to be specific — get a fair shake in applying for contracts, certain federal and state rules are in place. Custom Concrete Contracting is one such business. We are certified with the federal...
Project Feature: Hope House
Another heartwarming community-building project is in the books! Hope House, an outreach program of Catholic Community Services on the grounds of Assumption Parish in Bellingham, recently opened the doors of its brand-new facility. Working as a subcontractor for RAM...
Pervious concrete in the Pacific Northwest
You may been hearing more and more about pervious concrete lately. This environmentally friendly paving surface is being embraced more and more as folks all over the region — from Bellingham homeowners to Monroe city managers — experience its benefits. Pervious...
At Custom Concrete Contracting, our team is our family
Every company has a philosophy. They focus on money, efficiency, social responsibility, employee training or some combination of these and many other values. At Custom Concrete Contracting, our main philosophy is person-focused. We aim to support our employees,...
Project feature: Broom-finished replacement driveway tucks beautifully into existing space
Here at Custom Concrete Contracting, we recently completed a driveway installation in Bellingham that’s a pretty good example of the type of customer-centered, detail-oriented work we like to do. This broom-finished driveway was a replacement of the customer’s...
All about pervious concrete: Answers to common questions
Because pervious concrete acts so differently than traditional pavement, it can spur a lot of questions. Is it durable? What happens to oil from cars? Does it get clogged by leaves and debris? The aim of this post is to answer some of those questions. At Custom...
Five reasons to consider a career in the trades
America has an employment problem. And if you’re looking for work, or if you’re looking to change careers, it’s a great problem to have: There just aren’t enough workers for the many high-paying, family-wage jobs in the trades that exist here in Whatcom County and...
Concrete Q&A: Answers to common questions
Our Whatcom County concrete installation team occasionally gets asked questions about concrete. In no particular order, here are a few recent questions and answers. What is the difference between concrete and cement? The two terms are often conflated, but cement is...