Decorative concrete in Franklin, TN - a slab that looks good and holds up
Tired of a plain gray or worn slab? We add color and texture, and we get the base and drainage right first.
- Licensed and insured.
- Free in-person estimates.
- We respond within 1 business day.
What does decorative concrete involve, and what drives the price?
Decorative concrete in Franklin, TN, is concrete finished with color, texture or a pattern, such as stain, stamped stone, exposed aggregate or a polished floor, so a patio, walk or driveway looks like more than a plain gray slab.
Most people call because the slab they have is plain or worn out, or because they're pouring new and want it to look like something. The price moves with the size, whether the old slab comes out or gets restyled in place, how much base work the ground needs, and how many colors and patterns go on top. The schedule turns on weather, curing and any permit, and the estimate puts all of it in writing for your slab. If you've already settled on a pattern, our stamped concrete page goes deeper.
How do you know your patio or slab is ready for a new look?
A plain gray slab
The patio or walk is flat and solid but looks like every other slab on the street. That usually makes it a good candidate for color or an overlay, and waiting costs little while it stays sound, but once it starts cracking or sinking you're looking at a new pour instead.
Faded color, dull surface
The color looks washed out, or water soaks in instead of beading up. That usually means the sealer has worn through, and the longer the surface sits bare, the more weather and foot traffic wear into the finish itself.
Cracks or sunken sections
A crack that keeps widening or a corner that's dropped usually points to the base underneath, not the surface. No coating fixes that, and water working into the gap makes it worse, so the repair grows the longer it waits.
How we build decorative concrete in Franklin
I start with the water and the ground, not the color. We check where rain runs so the finished slab falls away from your house, then dig out and pack the subgrade, the soil and gravel the slab sits on, because a base that's only raked level settles with the dirt and takes your pattern with it. We set rebar, the steel inside the slab that keeps cracks from pulling apart, where the job calls for it, pour early in the day instead of in midday heat that leaves a weak, dusty top, and work the color and texture in while the concrete is still soft. Control joints get cut on time, the slab cures, and we add grit to the last sealer coat so the surface isn't slick when it's wet. If the budget gets tight, I'd rather keep the base and pick a simpler pattern, because you can restyle a surface later but you can't fix a bad base without tearing everything out. I'll also tell you straight that any sealed finish needs resealing over the years.
Decorative work often sits next to other jobs. A patio cut into a slope may need concrete retaining walls to hold the bank, and a stained or polished floor indoors starts with a flat new slab from our concrete floor installation work.
New pour with color and pattern
This suits bare ground, or an old slab that's too cracked or sunken to keep, because we build the base fresh. You pick the finish, whether that's a stamped pattern, a stain, exposed stone or a broom finish, the light brushed texture that gives your feet grip.
Overlay on a sound slab
If your slab is flat and solid, I may suggest restyling it with an overlay, a cement-based mix laid over the concrete you already have, instead of tearing it out. It won't fix a slab that's sinking, because that problem lives underneath.
Get a written estimate for your decorative slab
Send the form and we'll reply within one business day to set a time for a free in-person estimate. There's no obligation to go ahead once you've seen it.
Call (615) 716-3053- Based in
- Franklin, TN 37064
- Hours
- Mon–Fri: 7 AM–10 PM, Sat–Sun: 6 AM–11 PM
What happens when you call about decorative concrete in Franklin?
From the first call to the final walk-through, here's who you'll deal with and what you'll have in hand at each step.
Call or send the form
Tell us the slab's rough size, what it's used for and whether your property sits in a historic overlay. We'll set a time for me to come out.
I check ground and drainage
I look at the ground, where the water goes and how the job fits your property before we talk about color. You get a written estimate that spells out what's included and what isn't, and we sort out the permit side with the right local office.
We build it and walk it
I lead the crew through the base, the pour, the finish and the sealer. When it's done, I walk the finished job with you and go over how to care for it.
Why Franklin homeowners call Superior Franklin Concrete for decorative work
The owner prices and leads it
I come out to look at every job, write the estimate myself and lead the crew that does the work. The person who explained why we picked your base and finish is the one standing there on pour day.
Our own business since 2021
We've run this business around Franklin since 2021, and I learned concrete on other people's crews before that. Five years of our own jobs means I know which shortcuts show up later and why we don't take them.
Licensed and insured, permit questions answered
We're licensed and insured. The City of Franklin lets someone who isn't a licensed contractor pull a permit for work under $25,000, but over $25,000 a State of Tennessee licensed contractor has to pull it, so ask anyone you hire whose name goes on yours.
If you've got a slab you're thinking about dressing up or replacing, call or send the form and I'll come look at what's under it.
Decorative concrete permits and street work in Franklin
Franklin requires a building permit for all new construction, renovations and most repair work, but its list names decks and pools and not decorative concrete, so the list alone doesn't settle whether your job needs one. We find out which local office covers your address and handle the permit paperwork that's ours to pull, and if part of the job belongs to another trade or needs an engineer, I'll tell you who that is. A few other city rules come up on this work. Anything that blocks the street, a sidewalk or the grass strip needs a right-of-way permit, and the city's Streets Department helps with those. Bigger projects that disturb a lot of ground need a stormwater and grading permit through the Engineering Department, and I'll check your plan against that. If your property is in a Historic Preservation Overlay, the city's Historic Preservation Planner has to be contacted before any construction permit can be issued.
Around Franklin we see plenty of patios and walks on sloped lots, and older slabs that are still sound underneath, which is why I check grade and water before anyone talks about stamping or overlaying. We run into the same mix on decorative jobs in Brentwood and Nolensville.
Questions about decorative concrete in Franklin
Call (615) 716-3053Stamped concrete patios in the Nashville area usually cost about $7 to $15 per square foot. The same cost guide puts reinforced concrete at a higher price per square foot than unreinforced. That's the market's range, not our price, so your written estimate gives the number for your own slab.
Color hardener is the common pick for driveways, according to one field guide, because it forms a harder skin on the surface. The catch is that its color lives only in the top layer, so a deep chip shows gray underneath. Integral color runs through the whole slab, so chips and cuts match and it ages without pale scars, and I steer people toward it when they'd rather have a forgiving finish than the brightest tone.
Plan on resealing about every 2 to 3 years, which is what one field guide advises for stamped concrete. Treat it as a repeat job over the life of the slab, the same way you'd plan on repainting trim.
Skip the deicing salt that first winter. One concrete maker's guidance says salt speeds up scaling, the surface flaking off, on new concrete, and that sand gives you traction without harming the surface.
The work itself is usually the short part, and most of the wait is curing, the time new concrete needs to gain strength before it takes weight. You can walk on it well before you can drive on it, and an overlay on a sound slab usually gets you back on it sooner than a tear-out and new pour. I'll go over the wait for your job when I come out.
Any slab can crack, so the real goal is deciding where. We cut control joints, shallow grooves that give the slab a straight line to crack along, on time instead of late or not at all, and the packed base described above keeps the slab from settling with the dirt.
Other concrete work that goes with decorative finishes
Concrete retaining walls
When a patio or walk sits against a slope, a concrete retaining wall holds the soil back so the decorative slab in front stays put.
Concrete floor installation
Planning a stained or polished floor in a basement, shop or addition? It starts with a new interior slab poured flat and cured properly before any finish.
Service areas for decorative concrete around Franklin
Superior Franklin Concrete is based in Franklin, Tennessee, and does decorative concrete across the cities around it, including Spring Hill and Columbia. The seven cities below have their own pages, and we work in plenty of places in between.
Franklin, TN
Get a price on your decorative slab
Call (615) 716-3053 or send the form with the slab's size and what it's used for, so the visit starts with your real numbers.