Driveway Repair in Kansas City: Lift It, Don’t Replace It
Most people call us about a driveway before they call about anything else. Makes sense — it’s the concrete you actually drive on, the one that’s hard to ignore when there’s a gap by the garage door or a crack running toward the street. If that’s what’s brought you here, chances are you don’t need a new driveway. You need the old one lifted back to where it used to sit, and that’s a different job entirely — cheaper, faster, and a lot less disruptive than tearing it out.
First, a quick clarification. We repair concrete driveways, not asphalt. If yours is blacktop, we’re not your guys — but if it’s concrete and it’s sinking, uneven, or cracking near the garage or the street, keep reading.
Why it’s sinking
Kansas City clay does this to driveways more than people realize. It swells when the ground’s wet, shrinks when it dries out, and after a few years of that cycle, a gap opens up underneath the slab. The concrete doesn’t fail — the ground under it just isn’t there anymore to hold it level. Give it long enough, and that gap turns into a real problem: water finds its way in, the crack near the garage gets wider, and what started as a cosmetic issue starts working on your foundation.
A few things worth paying attention to if you’re not sure yet: a driveway that’s noticeably lower where it meets the garage slab, a crack that’s opened up more than it used to be, water sitting somewhere it never used to sit, or just a spot where the concrete feels like it’s shifted under your tires when you pull in. Any one of those is worth a call. None of them mean you need to replace the whole thing.
What it costs
We quote most driveway jobs between $1,100 and $2,800, and honestly, about 80% of what we do falls right in that range. Every so often — maybe 15% of the time — a driveway needs more foam than usual because the void underneath is bigger, and those run over $3,000. We won’t know which bucket yours falls into until we’ve actually looked at it, which is why we don’t quote sight-unseen over the phone. What we can tell you now: no deposit, ever, and the price we quote is the price you pay unless we end up using less material than expected, in which case you pay less.
For comparison, tearing out and repouring a driveway typically runs three to five times what foam jacking costs, and you’re looking at the better part of a week without use of your driveway while new concrete cures. If the slab itself is still solid — no major structural cracking, no crumbling — foam almost always makes more sense.
How the job actually goes
We show up with the injection equipment, not a jackhammer. The holes we drill are about the size of a penny, and we place them where they’ll do the most good, not just wherever’s convenient. Foam goes in, and it expands fast — most of its lift happens within the first fifteen seconds — so you can actually watch the slab come back up. Most driveways take three to six hours start to finish, and you’re driving on it again within a few hours after we’re done. No jackhammers, no dump trucks, no lawn torn up getting equipment back there.
Common questions we get about driveways specifically
Is a small gap between the driveway and garage actually worth fixing? Yes — small gaps let water in, and water is what causes the bigger problems down the road. Better to deal with it early.
My house isn’t old. Why is the driveway already sinking? Kansas City’s dry soil conditions can cause even a newer driveway to settle. Age isn’t really the factor — the soil underneath is.
What if you get out there and it turns out the driveway can’t be raised? Then we tell you that, and you’re not charged for the visit. It happens in roughly 5% of our estimates.
How long does the whole thing take? Most jobs wrap up in a few hours, same day.
We work all over the metro
Kansas City, Kearney, Overland Park, Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs, Liberty, Parkville, Excelsior Springs, Olathe, Independence — if you’re anywhere in that stretch and your driveway’s sinking, give us a call. If you want to know who we are, meet us here.
Getting a quote
Send a couple of photos through the contact form, or just call 816-419-8306 and describe what you’re seeing. We’ll usually need to come look at it in person before we can give you a firm number, but we can tell you right away whether it sounds like a driveway we can help with. If your driveway’s part of a bigger project — a sidewalk that’s also uneven, or a garage floor with the same issue — our sidewalk repair and garage floor repair pages cover those specifically, or just mention it when you call, and we’ll look at everything while we’re there.