If the sidewalk in front of your home is buckled, cracking, or otherwise in poor shape, then you may want to do something about it. Usually, this means contacting a concrete contractor and arranging to have them pour a new concrete sidewalk for you. Since this is not something most people do on a regular basis, you may benefit from the following tips, which are intended to guide you.

Make sure it's actually your responsibility to have the sidewalk paved

In many towns and cities, it is the responsibility of the homeowner to maintain the stretch of sidewalk in front of their home. However, there are municipalities in which this is not the case. Repairing or replacing the damaged sidewalk might be the responsibility of your town. Or, it may be the responsibility of the homeowner's association in your area. So, before you hire someone to repair your sidewalk, you should make two phone calls. Call your town, and call your HOA. Check to ensure they won't be taking care of the repairs before you pay to have them made yourself.

Get a couple of quotes

There are a lot of concrete pouring companies, and they tend to have different specialties. One company may do a lot of smaller projects like sidewalks, while another may only do really big jobs like foundations. A company that does sidewalks a lot generally has equipment that is better suited to these smaller projects. As such, they can often give you a better rate. For this reason, you should get estimates from a couple of different concrete companies before choosing one to replace your sidewalk.

Check with your neighbors

If the sidewalk in front of any of your neighbors' properties is also in poor shape, check with those neighbors before you hire a concrete contractor. If those neighbors also want their stretches of sidewalk replaced, the company will likely be able to do all the work at once. They can generally give you all a better rate since they won't have to travel several times and since they can mix up all the concrete together. Plus, you and your neighbors will only need to work around wet sidewalks once if you have all the work done at once.

If your sidewalk is your responsibility to maintain, then you'll need to arrange to have it repaired when it's damaged. Follow the tips above as you look into sidewalk concrete paving repair.