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Serving Lafayette, LA and surrounding areas. (337) 483-1560
Lafayette Concrete Company is a licensed concrete contractor serving Houma, LA, including foundation installation, slab repair, and concrete driveway building for homeowners throughout Terrebonne Parish. We have served the area since 2022 and carry the Louisiana contractor licensing your project requires.
Houma sits at or below sea level, and the soft, saturated soil of Terrebonne Parish is one of the more demanding environments for poured concrete foundations in Louisiana. Soil that compresses under load and shifts with every wet-dry cycle requires a foundation design that accounts for those conditions from the ground up, not a generic slab plan copied from a drier market. After Hurricane Ida hit Houma in 2021, many homeowners discovered that foundations poured without adequate moisture barriers and base compaction had been compromised by prolonged flooding. We handle foundation installation in Houma with the site preparation and drainage detailing that Terrebonne Parish soil actually demands.
Houma driveways face the same soil challenges as any concrete flatwork in this part of Louisiana: soft ground, high moisture, and the cumulative stress of a climate that delivers about 60 inches of rain per year. Driveways poured during the postwar oilfield boom years, which make up a significant share of the housing stock here, are often well past their useful life. Replacing them means compacting the soft base material properly and grading the surface so water moves toward the street rather than pooling against the garage or house foundation.
New slab construction in Houma requires extra attention to moisture barriers because the water table sits close to the surface throughout Terrebonne Parish. A slab poured without a properly installed moisture barrier will wick ground water up through the concrete and into finished flooring within a few years. This is not a theoretical risk in Houma; it is a complaint we hear regularly from homeowners who purchased homes where that step was done poorly or skipped entirely.
Houma's mild winters allow outdoor living spaces to be used most of the year, and a concrete patio is one of the most durable surfaces in this climate when it is poured correctly. The challenge on Houma's flat, low-lying lots is drainage: a patio without a deliberate slope built in will pool water against the house rather than shedding it toward the yard. After a 60-inch annual rainfall, that pooling compounds quickly into foundation stress and moisture intrusion under the slab.
Properties near Bayou Terrebonne or along any of the drainage canals that run through Houma often need retaining walls to hold soil in place along lot boundaries and waterway edges. The high water table and frequent heavy rain in this area make drainage behind any retaining wall mandatory, not optional. A wall built without gravel backfill and a proper drainage outlet will accumulate hydrostatic pressure after every significant storm and eventually fail or crack.
Additions, covered structures, and outbuildings in Houma need footings designed for soft, wet soil, not the standard depth specifications written for areas with stable ground. Terrebonne Parish's high water table means that footings set too shallow will float or shift as the saturated soil beneath them compresses and recovers with each storm season. Getting the footing depth and reinforcement right from the start is what keeps attached structures plumb and connected over time in this area.
Houma is the parish seat of Terrebonne Parish, and the city's defining characteristic is its relationship with water. Much of the city sits at or below sea level, and Bayou Terrebonne runs right through the middle of it. Terrebonne Parish relies on an extensive network of levees and pumping stations to keep the populated areas dry. This is the daily reality for homeowners here, not a hypothetical risk, and it shapes every concrete decision on every property in the city. Soil that sits near sea level is almost always saturated, slow to drain, and soft enough to compress under load in ways that soil on higher ground does not.
The housing stock reinforces this dynamic. Most Houma homes were built between the 1950s and the 1990s during the offshore oil and gas industry's growth periods. Those ranch-style homes on slab foundations were poured at a time when base preparation and moisture barrier standards were different, and many of those slabs have been through decades of Terrebonne Parish soil movement. Hurricane Ida in 2021 was a direct hit on this area, and the widespread foundation and slab damage it caused revealed just how many homes here had been sitting on bases that had already been compromised by years of high water table and slow drainage. Many of those repairs are still in progress.
Houma averages about 60 inches of rain per year, nearly double the national average, and the area sits squarely in the Gulf hurricane zone. Permitted concrete work in Houma falls under Terrebonne Parish Public Works requirements. A contractor who understands what the ground here actually does, and who designs drainage into each job from the start, is not doing extra work. They are doing the minimum that this environment requires.
Lafayette Concrete Company has been pulling permits and completing concrete jobs in Houma since 2022, working with Terrebonne Parish on permitted foundation and flatwork projects throughout the city. The homes we work on here are different from those closer to Lafayette. Most are single-story ranch houses built on slabs, and the soil conditions beneath them vary by block depending on proximity to the bayous, drainage infrastructure, and how much fill was used during original construction. We arrive expecting to spend more time on base preparation here than on almost any other market we serve, because the ground demands it.
Most of our Houma work comes from neighborhoods spread across the city, from the older streets near the Terrebonne Parish Courthouse and the historic areas near Southdown Plantation to the ranch subdivisions that spread out along Highway 24 and Highway 182. The bayou-adjacent properties, particularly those near Bayou Terrebonne itself, require the most attention to drainage because the water table is closest to the surface on those lots. We also work in areas that were heavily affected by Hurricane Ida in 2021, where some foundation and slab repairs were not completed correctly the first time and need to be redone.
We also serve Lafayette and all the communities between, and we are familiar with the concrete challenges that change as you move from Houma's coastal terrain toward higher ground. If your property is in Houma or anywhere in Terrebonne Parish, call us to discuss your project and schedule a free site visit.
When you call, we ask about the type of work, the approximate size, and whether there is existing concrete or structure to remove. We do not quote foundation work over the phone because soil conditions vary too much in Terrebonne Parish to estimate accurately without seeing the lot. You will hear back within 1 business day to schedule a free site visit.
We walk your property, check drainage, probe the soil conditions, and measure the work area. For foundation work, we assess proximity to the bayou and the current condition of the ground. Your written estimate covers all materials, labor, permit costs, and any drainage work required, so you know the full number before we start.
We pull the required Terrebonne Parish permit before any excavation begins. For foundation work, the inspection checkpoint happens before framing, and we coordinate that with the parish inspector. We schedule around Houma's weather patterns, since pouring into incoming rain on saturated ground is a risk we manage rather than ignore.
After the pour and inspection, we walk through what was done, identify the drainage features installed, and explain what to watch for in the first 30 days. We tell you the minimum wait times before traffic or framing and give you a specific point of contact for any questions after we leave the site.
We serve all of Houma and Terrebonne Parish. Free on-site estimates, licensed contractor.
(337) 483-1560Houma is the parish seat of Terrebonne Parish and home to roughly 33,000 residents, with the broader parish reaching about 110,000 people. The city sits in the middle of Louisiana's bayou country, surrounded by water on nearly every side and defined by Bayou Terrebonne running through its center. Houma has long been one of the main onshore service hubs for Gulf of Mexico offshore oil and gas operations, and that industry has shaped the city's growth, its neighborhoods, and its housing stock. The city also has deep Cajun and indigenous roots, with the United Houma Nation's homeland nearby and a strong cultural identity that has persisted alongside the energy industry for generations.
Most of Houma's residential areas are postwar single-story neighborhoods spread across the flat terrain surrounding Bayou Terrebonne. Downtown Houma clusters around the Terrebonne Parish Courthouse Square, and the historic Southdown Plantation House sits in the middle of the city as one of its most recognized landmarks. Neighborhoods stretch outward along Highway 24, Highway 182, and the other corridors that radiate from downtown. Many homeowners here have lived on the same streets for decades, and the community's response to Hurricane Ida in 2021 showed the level of investment residents have in maintaining and rebuilding these homes.
We also serve Morgan City to the west, where similarly water-adjacent properties along the Atchafalaya River present concrete challenges that are closely related to what we see in Houma. If your project is in Houma, Terrebonne Parish, or the surrounding area, call us to schedule a site visit and discuss your options.
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Lafayette Concrete Company serves all of Terrebonne Parish. Call us today or submit your project details online for a free estimate.