Since we mostly DIY projects, we learned what we could about getting a concrete patio installed. One of the first things we learned that this huge of a project was not a DIY and that we would have to hire it out.

I read a lot and started another thread to learn as much as I could to talk intelligently to contractors giving me estimates. I went through contractor after contractor not finding ones that really knew what I was even asking half the time. As the months went on, I just got frustrated and decided to put the project on hold till this year.

My DB did help me narrow down how better to find someone...ask around for referrals (those are hard to get, since people don't usually have a lot of concrete work done twice). Anyway I've got a few. They seem better but I'm getting a lot of conflicting ways of doing it.

One says they need to do rebar, another just screening.

Another says wrap our deck post in plastic (these will be in the middle of the patio), another said expansion padding, another said they'd have to support the deck temporarily, add concrete to the existing footings so the supports sit on top of the new higher footings. One didn't know about step/riser ratios or correct slope ratios.

I've heard you don't need road base, 2" of road base", no road, and yet some on the patio but none on the steps.

I'M GOING AROUND IN CIRCLES.

Why am I getting so many conflicting ways to do the same project. I realize that there are multiple ways of doing things but shouldn't there be some best practices. So far we only have 1 bid that has come in. Last year the bids came in all over the board with the highest being 4x the low and others coming in all ranges in between.

All I can say is no wonder we DIY most projects. I am willing to pay the price it takes to get a good contractor in here, but finding a good contractor seems to be escaping me.

What have others done that have gone before me, especially those DIYers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Concrete 101