Central Alberta · Shop foundations
A shop foundation built for what you actually run.
40×60. 50×80. Custom sizes. Farm shops. Hobby shops. Mechanic’s bays. Quonsets. Machinery storage. Poured with proper frost footings, real rebar grid, and the thickness the machinery calls for. Not a shortcut in sight.
10+
Years pouring concrete
6″
Standard shop slab
BBB
Accredited business
Shop foundations, done right
The foundation decides everything after.
A shop is a long-term investment. You spend money on a good kit, good doors, good insulation — and then all of it sits on the concrete for the next 40 years. If the foundation is undersized, under-reinforced, or the frost footings don’t reach frost depth, you’ll live with cracked slabs, heaved corners, doors that don’t close square, and repair bills that keep coming.
JFK Surfaces pours shop foundations across Central Alberta — farm shops, mechanic’s bays, hobby shops, quonset floors, machinery storage. We size the slab and the rebar to what’s going in the shop, not a one-size-fits-all number. Combines and loaded trucks get different specs than side-by-sides and tools.
We come look at every site before we quote. Free. Because you can’t spec a shop foundation from a phone call — grade, soil, access, and what you’re building all matter.
What we pour for shops
Every kind of shop foundation.
01
Farm shops
40×60, 50×80, 60×100. Frost footings, 6" slab with rebar grid, apron slab at overhead doors. Built for tractors, combines, and skid-steers.
02
Hobby shops
The smaller weekend-warrior shop for vehicles, welders, woodworking, side-by-sides. Usually 5" slab with rebar or heavy mesh.
03
Mechanic's shops
Heavy-duty slabs for lifts, tire changers, and repair bays. Extra reinforcement in lift zones. Sometimes engineered when the loads warrant.
04
Quonset floors
Slabs poured inside existing quonsets. Perimeter detail for the arch anchoring system. Full-depth pour for machinery use.
05
Machinery storage pads
Cold-storage sheds and drive-through machinery pads. Sometimes standalone concrete pads without a building, for winter equipment parking.
06
Post-frame shop slabs
Poured after posts and roof are up. Perimeter detail against posts, control joints planned around lift points and load paths.
What we spec for
Frost. Load. Rebar. Cure.
Frost footings. Every perimeter wall footing goes below Alberta frost depth — 4 to 6+ feet depending on the site. Anything less heaves in spring. Non-negotiable and code-required.
Slab thickness. Sized to the load. 5\" for hobby-scale shops. 6\" for standard farm shops with tractors and pickups. 6-8\" for combine-holding and heavy-machinery shops, sometimes with thickened wheel-path bands.
Rebar grid. #4 rebar on 16-18\" centres both directions, tied and chaired to sit in the middle of the slab. Heavier shops get #5 rebar or tighter spacing. Wire mesh alone doesn’t cut it for shops that hold machinery.
Base & compaction. 6-12\" of compacted road crush under the slab depending on subgrade. Poor subgrade gets geotextile fabric and extra base. Compaction in lifts, not one dump-and-hope pass.
32 MPa air-entrained mix. The Alberta exterior standard. Handles freeze-thaw cycles without spalling. Air-entrainment is what gives concrete its freeze-thaw resistance — skipping it in this climate is a mistake we’ve seen sub-par contractors make.
Control joints. Saw-cut on a grid to control where the slab cracks. Concrete will crack — the question is where. We put the joints where they belong.
Cure protocol. Curing compound sprayed on the fresh pour. Blankets for cool weather. Full 28-day cure before heavy machinery. This is where impatience destroys otherwise good foundations.
How we work
Simple. No shortcuts.
01
Call or text
Tell us shop size and what's going in it. Photos of the site help.
02
Site visit
Free. We look at grade, subgrade, access, layout, permits.
03
Written quote
Real number in writing. Footings, base, slab, rebar, timeline.
04
Poured right
Excavation, footings, base, forms, rebar, pour, cure. Ready for build.
Who’s pouring your shop
Local. Licensed. Built for it.
JFK Surfaces is Fabien Joseph Quesnel and Kyla Peters — a Central Alberta family-run contractor established October 2018, based on Highway 2A in Red Deer County. Fabien has 10+ years of trade experience.
Licensed. Insured. WCB covered. BBB accredited. Every shop foundation is quoted, prepped, poured, and finished by our crew — not subbed out to whoever’s cheapest that week.
“Built a 50×80 shop for the combine and a couple of tractors. Fabien’s foundation is dead flat, no cracks after two Alberta winters, and the frost footings sit deeper than the last contractor I called was going to pour.”
Common questions
What shop owners ask us most.
How thick should a shop foundation be in Alberta?
+
Depends entirely on what's going in the shop. Light hobby shop with vehicles and light equipment: 5 inches of concrete with wire mesh or light rebar. Standard farm shop holding pickups, tractors, and skid-steers: 6 inches with #4 rebar on 16-18 inch centres. Heavy machinery shop for combines, larger tractors, or a mechanic's lift: 6-8 inches with heavier #5 rebar grid. Frost footings underneath the perimeter walls regardless, poured below Alberta frost depth (4-6+ feet).
How deep do frost footings need to go for an Alberta shop?
+
Alberta Building Code requires footings to sit below the local frost depth. Across Central Alberta that's typically 4 feet minimum, and we go to 5-6 feet on exposed sites without insulating snow cover. Any foundation element that stops short of frost depth will heave in spring and telegraph cracks up through the slab or shop walls. Non-negotiable.
What rebar spec do you use for shop foundations?
+
Baseline is #4 (1/2 inch) rebar on 16-18 inch centres both directions, tied in a grid, sitting on chairs so it lands in the middle third of the slab. Heavier shops get #5 rebar or tighter spacing (12-inch centres) in the wheel paths. Wall footings get horizontal #4 or #5 bars per code and any local engineering. If the shop is engineered, we build to the engineer's stamped spec exactly.
How long does the concrete need to cure before I can drive machinery on it?
+
Foot traffic 24-48 hours. Light vehicles 7 days. Heavy machinery, combines, loaded trucks: 28 days minimum for full design strength. This is not a suggestion — driving a combine onto a 10-day-old shop floor cracks it. We flag and stake every fresh pour and hand off cure timelines in writing so nobody guesses.
Do you pour concrete for post-frame shops and quonsets?
+
Yes to both. Post-frame shops usually need a slab poured after the posts and roof are in — we pour inside the finished structure with clean access. Quonsets typically get a slab or perimeter curb depending on the anchoring system. We work with the builders on both to sequence the pour correctly. Bring us in early so we can flag any frost-footing or perimeter-detail issues before you buy the kit.
Do I need a permit for a shop foundation in Central Alberta?
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Yes — any shop or accessory building over 10 sq metres (about 108 sq ft) in Alberta typically requires a Development Permit and a Building Permit through your local municipality (town, city, or county). The foundation is inspected before the pour and again before backfill. We work with the permits in place and coordinate with the inspector so the pour goes ahead on schedule.
Can you pour a shop foundation in the shoulder seasons?
+
Yes, with cold-weather protocol. Hot water in the mix, insulated blankets over the fresh pour, extended cure time. We do shop foundations well into October, sometimes early November if the weather cooperates. Once overnight lows are consistently below freezing we stop — the cure is compromised and the concrete's long-term strength suffers. Better to schedule a spring pour than to gamble.
Farming? See our farm & acreage concrete page for grain bin pads, silage bases, and feed pads. Or see the full concrete services overview.
Shop foundation quote
Come look at the site. Free.
Every shop foundation is different — size, load, grade, permits. Call Fabien or text a photo of the pad location and we’ll come out this week.