Pad Site & Outlot Paving for Commercial Construction
Pad site development runs on a different clock than maintenance work. A QSR, coffee drive-thru, bank, or urgent-care outlot has a franchise opening date, a GC holding a schedule, and a paving scope that has to land between the utilities passing inspection and the striping crew painting opening-week layouts. Our pad site paving crews build new pavement for outlots and commercial pad sites across Chicagoland — self-performing from subgrade proofing through final stripe, on the GC’s schedule.
New Construction Paving: Subgrade Through Final Striping
Subgrade proof-roll and correction (undercut and stone where the proof-roll fails — cheaper now than a settling drive-thru lane later), aggregate base placed and compacted in lifts with density testing, curb and gutter, binder and surface asphalt courses matched to the traffic plan, and site concrete — dumpster enclosures, patio slabs, sidewalk, ADA ramps, and the drive-thru lane itself, which on most QSR prototypes is specified concrete because idling wheel loads destroy asphalt in exactly that path.
Drive-Thru Lane Paving and Concrete
Outlot paving lives and dies on the drive-thru: stacking-lane curves tight enough to fit the parcel but sweeping enough for the traffic study, order-point and pickup-window elevations that put car windows level with employees, positive drainage away from the window zones so winter ice doesn’t form where customers hand over cards. We build from the civil drawings and flag conflicts before pour day — because a mis-graded pickup window is the most expensive puddle in commercial construction.
Paving Subcontractor to General Contractors
We slot into construction schedules the way GCs need: submittals and mix designs delivered promptly, mobilization on the sequence date, coordination with the electrician’s site lighting bases and the plumber’s storm tie-ins, and punch-list turnaround measured in days. Opening-week striping — stalls, arrows, drive-thru guidance, ADA layouts — is scheduled tight to ribbon-cutting so the lot photographs new because it is.
Get a Pad Site Paving Bid
Send plans and spec sections and we’ll return an itemized bid — mixes named, thicknesses specified, testing protocol included. Use the form on this page or visit our free estimate page.
Coordinate pad-site paving with the complete development sequence
Outlot and pad-site paving depends on grading, utilities, drainage, curbs, building access and future tenant requirements. Final pavement should not be used as a construction road without an explicit protection and restoration plan.
Put these items in the written scope
- Confirm grading and drainage are ready for paving.
- Coordinate utilities and curb work before asphalt.
- Define subgrade, base and pavement sections.
- Protect finished work from construction traffic.
- Set tie-ins to shared drives and adjacent development.
Related planning resources
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you work as a subcontractor to general contractors?
Yes — most pad site work runs through the GC. We deliver submittals and mix designs promptly, hit sequence dates, coordinate with the site utilities and electrical trades, and turn punch lists in days.
Why are drive-thru lanes usually concrete instead of asphalt?
Idling and slow-rolling wheel loads in a fixed path rut and shove asphalt, especially in summer. Most QSR prototypes specify a concrete drive-thru lane for exactly that reason — it holds grade at the order point and pickup window for decades.
How late in the year can a new pad site be paved?
Base and binder can usually go down into late fall; surface course needs suitable temperatures for compaction — typically through early November in Chicagoland. Winter-opening projects often run binder in fall and surface in spring, and we schedule that split with the GC up front.
Get a Free Pad Site & Outlot Development Paving Estimate
Tell us about the property, pavement condition and operating constraints. We will review the request and coordinate the next step.