We are a concrete contractor working curbing and edging in Sandy Springs, and most of what we take on is replacement rather than first-time installation. A bed edge that cracked and rolled out of line. A curb beside a driveway that lost its shape a decade ago and has been chipping since. We come look at what is already there, then tell you what we would do about it. Some of that work is plain gray concrete. Some of it is stamped concrete or a colored border run against an existing slab.
Houses here started going up in the 1950s, then came the early-1960s boom that followed highway construction, then infill through the 1980s. So the edging we pull out is often the second or third generation on that property, and the ground around it has been graded, planted and replanted more than once. Lots run rolling and wooded. We read the fall of a yard before we set any forms, because an edge poured without regard for where the water goes will not hold its line long.
Most of what we get called about has already failed: a curb crumbling at the corner where tires cut it, an edge sunk below the mulch line, a sidewalk border shoved up by a root. None of that fixes itself. Patching a section that has lost its base underneath buys a season, maybe two, and then you are looking at the same crack. We would rather take it out and pour it once. Call for a free estimate and we will walk the line with you. We take work in Sandy Springs and Dunwoody.
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Poured concrete edging holds bed lines, tree rings and the soft shoulder of a sidewalk where mulch and turf keep migrating into each other. We form it on site rather than extruding it, usually four to six inches deep, with fiber in the mix and a short rebar pin through the joints. Finishes run from a plain broom to stamped concrete keyed to the house. What fails is edging poured thin over loose fill. It cracks into short pieces and lifts.
Curb and gutter is the heavier version: a formed barrier curb with an integral gutter pan that moves water to an inlet instead of sheeting it across a lot. Most of ours is commercial concrete at drive aprons, islands and parking bays, tied into a concrete sidewalk where the two meet. Any concrete contractor working curb starts at the subgrade. Poor compaction under the pan is what settles, ponds water and eventually breaks the back of the curb.
Most of the curbing and edging we set in metro Atlanta goes into yards that already have their shape. Suburban development here began in the 1950s, an early-1960s housing boom followed the highway construction, and infill kept going through the 1980s. We serve Sandy Springs, Atlanta, Dunwoody, Roswell and Brookhaven on the same terms. The ground is rolling and wooded, so a bed line that looked right on paper often has to be walked on site first. Almost none of this is new build.
Layout starts with what is already there: the driveway, the walk, the beds that have been in place since the house was young. Mature roots and old grading change where a curb can go, and we would rather move a line a few inches than fight a tree that will win. Forms get bent to the curve, the base gets compacted, and reinforcement goes in where a run crosses anything that moves. None of that is visible later. It shows up in whether the edge holds its line.
Old edging fails in ways you can read. Plastic and steel border heaves up out of the ground and never settles back. Poured concrete that was set thin, or set on loose fill, cracks in the same places every time: the corners, the low spots, the point where a driveway apron meets grass. On a wooded lot, roots finish the job. Replacing a failed edge is most of what we do, and the way it failed usually tells us what to build differently.
Getting it right takes time more than it takes anything clever. A curb that will outlast the flatwork it borders needs a real base, honest thickness, and joints placed where the concrete already wants to move. We match what is on the property when matching matters, whether that means a plain broom finish, exposed aggregate, or colored and stamped concrete running alongside a patio. Curbing is small work that frames expensive work, so we treat it that way. Call for a free estimate.
We walk the line the curb will follow and look at what is already there. Slope, drainage, where water sits after rain, how close tree roots run to the edge. Existing curbing tells us plenty: if it has heaved or cracked at the same spots, the base failed underneath. We measure runs, note tight radii around beds, and check whether trucks and mowers cross the line.
You get the scope in writing before anything starts: linear footage, curb profile, reinforcement, finish, and how the work stages around your driveway. Curbing that ties into a concrete driveway or public sidewalks may need approval, so we sort out what applies before demolition. Any changes you want get priced and written down rather than settled from memory later.
Old curbing comes out along with anything crumbling under it, and we haul the broken concrete off. Then the base gets built: compacted gravel, usually four inches, run over with a plate compactor in lifts rather than dumped and leveled once. Soft spots get dug deeper and filled. Most curbing that fails in a few years failed here, not in the concrete.
Forms are set to string line and staked tight, with flexible form material bent for curves around beds and islands. Rebar runs continuous through the curb and gets tied at laps, dowelled into adjacent slabs where the curb has to move with them. Concrete installation happens in one continuous pour per run, vibrated against the forms so faces come out solid instead of honeycombed.
Edges get tooled, the top is floated smooth or broomed for grip, and control joints go in at regular spacing so cracks land where we put them. Curing matters more than most people expect: we keep the surface damp or sealed for several days. Concrete that dries fast shrinks and crazes. Then we walk every run with you and stripping happens once it has set.
We price curbing off the site, not off a catalogue. Two houses on the same block come out different: one has an old brick border to break out, the other has bare bed edge. Here is what we look at on a walk-through.
| What changes the price | Which way | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Old brick or concrete edging already in the ground | Costs more | It gets broken out, loaded and hauled before we form anything. |
| A truck can reach the run within a chute's length | Costs less | We barrow or pump when the mixer cannot get close, and that adds hours. |
| Tree roots, sprinkler lines or shallow utilities on the line | Costs more | We hand dig around them instead of trenching straight through. |
| Depth and reinforcement the run calls for | Costs more | Curbing a car rides over takes more depth and rebar than a mulch bed edge does. |
| Ground that already drains away from the house | Costs less | The curb follows existing grade, with no regrading and no extra excavation. |
| Tight curves and short broken segments | Costs more | Forms bend and get staked one piece at a time. A long straight run forms fast. |
| Stamped or colored finish instead of plain gray | Costs more | Extra material at the pour, plus a sealer step after. |
| Soft or filled soil under the line | Costs more | We cut deeper and compact base so the curb does not settle and crack. |
Read competing bids line by line before you read the bottom. Check the depth, whether rebar or wire mesh is in the scope, who hauls the debris, how the base gets prepared, and what finish is quoted. A number tells you nothing until you know what is going under it.
Yes. We cut and pour against established beds regularly, and the planting stays where it is. The work happens in a narrow strip along the bed edge, so roots sitting inside the bed are left alone. Where a shrub crowds the line, we shift the curb an inch or two around it instead of digging it out. Low branches get tied back for the pour.
Most residential runs go in over a single day. Machine work takes a few hours; layout, edge prep and cleanup take the rest. Longer runs, several separate beds, or a lot with real grade change can push into a second day. Curing is a separate matter from installation. Where a job needs a permit, the City of Sandy Springs is who that goes through, and it sits ahead of the install.
Edging is the line itself: the cut, the separation between bed and turf, sometimes steel or plastic holding it. Curbing is poured concrete that turns that line into a continuous shape with real mass behind it. Plastic edging keeps grass out for a season or two. A concrete curb does the same job, holds mulch, takes a mower wheel, and does not lift out of the ground.
Yes, at the bed edge. A curb set high enough above grade keeps mulch from riding out across the lawn and driveway in heavy rain. Water still leaves over the top when a bed is mounded higher than the curb, so we set height against the finished mulch line, not the dirt. On rolling, wooded lots we also plan where the runoff goes.
Yes, some of it will, over enough time. Concrete follows the ground underneath it, and a long continuous curb will show that movement somewhere. What we control is where it shows. Joints get cut at intervals so the cracking follows a straight line you chose rather than wandering across the face. Base prep matters more than anything else: even, compacted, consistent under the whole run.
Straight runs, radiused curves, mowable slopes, square shoulders and rolled tops are the common profiles. Which one fits depends on your mower and the look you want. Color goes in through the mix or onto the surface, and stamped patterns add texture at the top face. On the 1950s and 1960s houses around here, muted color and a simple profile usually sit better than anything busy.