Concrete Slabs & Pads in St. Cloud, FL
The short version for St. Cloud
St. Cloud's larger lots are where we pour most of our RV pads, boat pads and workshop slabs: 6 inches of 4,000 psi with a #4 rebar grid on chairs for vehicles, 4 inches for sheds and equipment, all set 2 to 4 inches above grade on compacted limerock so they stay out of the summer water table. Pads run $9.00–$15.00 per sq ft (Q3 2026); a 12-by-40 RV pad lands around $6,500 to $9,500. Sheds are permitted structures; a free-standing pad outside setbacks generally is not.
Pads on St. Cloud lots
The half-acre and acre lots off Old Hickory Tree Road, Nova Road and toward Holopaw were bought for the boat, the camper and the workshop, and the county's soil is the reason pads fail: Smyrna and Myakka fine sand with a water table around 12 inches in summer, EauGallie and Basinger lower still toward the east. A pad flush with the lawn sits in water every June. We build up 2 to 4 inches on compacted base, slope the top ¼ inch per foot, and keep downspouts and sprinklers off it. Workshop slabs for a metal building get a thickened edge and the anchor-bolt layout from the building supplier before we form.
Access is the other check on a rural lot: a loaded mixer weighs 30-plus tons and will not cross a wet pasture or a culvert rated for a pickup. We look at the route on the site visit and price a pump or a buggy if the truck cannot reach the pad.
Permits and septic
In the city, sheds, garages and accessory structures need a permit from the Building Department (407-957-7300); the slab is inspected with the structure. In unincorporated Osceola the county publishes shed permit requirements and permits the shed, not the pad; a pad with nothing on it outside setbacks is generally not permitted separately, and HB 803's $7,500 exemption can apply to a stand-alone pad with a written request. A pad that connects to the street as a parking area becomes part of the driveway and needs the driveway permit and the 24-foot rule. Every rural pad is located clear of the septic tank and drainfield from the county record (Septic Drainfields and Driveways on Rural St. Cloud and Harmony Lots). Pages: City of St. Cloud, Unincorporated Osceola County.
A 30-by-40 workshop slab off Nova Road
1,200 square feet at 6 inches with a #4 grid and a thickened edge for a pre-engineered metal building, on a county lot with a well and septic. Drainfield located and flagged, subgrade proof-rolled, 6 inches of limerock compacted in two lifts, slab raised 3 inches above grade. About 24 cubic yards of 4,000 psi. Range at 6-inch rates, $11.50 to $17 per square foot: $13,800 to $20,400 for the slab; the building is permitted as an accessory structure. Not a quote.
Does an RV pad in St. Cloud need a permit?
A pad in the back or side yard, outside the setbacks and not connected to the street, generally does not need its own building permit in the county, and HB 803 covers most stand-alone pads under $7,500 with a written request. A pad that connects to the street becomes a driveway extension and needs the county driveway permit and has to fit the 24-foot width rule. Inside the city, confirm with the Building Department; we do before quoting.
Straight-line distance from downtown Kissimmee: 8.5 miles; drive estimate about 20 minutes. Source for distance: Census 2024 Gazetteer internal point.
Sizing a pad for what will actually park on it
The most common mistake on a St. Cloud pad is building it to the vehicle instead of to the vehicle plus the way it is used. A twenty-four foot travel trailer needs more than twenty-four feet of pad, because the tongue jack lands ahead of the box and the stabilizers land outside the wheel track. A bass boat on a tandem trailer needs room to swing the tow vehicle. A workshop slab has to hold the building, the anchor bolts, and a door apron that keeps rain out of the building.
Our starting sizes, which we adjust on site: travel trailer up to thirty feet, twelve by forty; fifth wheel or Class A, fourteen by fifty; bass boat and trailer, ten by thirty; a tandem-axle utility trailer, ten by twenty-four. All at six inches with a number four grid at eighteen inches on chairs, because the loads are point loads on jack feet and trailer tongues rather than spread loads.
Pad elevation and the wet season
Smyrna and Myakka fine sand in this part of Osceola County holds a wet-season water table about twelve inches down, and EauGallie and Basinger soils east of the city hold it higher. A pad poured flush with the lawn is a pad that stands in water from June to September, and a trailer parked on it is a trailer whose tires sit in standing water for a third of the year.
So we build up. Two to four inches above finished grade, on four to six inches of compacted limerock, with the top sloped a quarter inch per foot so rain runs off, and the downspouts and irrigation heads moved clear of the edge. On the lots near Alligator Lake and East Lake Toho where the map unit is Basinger, we bring fill and raise it further, and we say so in the proposal rather than discovering it on excavation day.
Sequencing a pad with a building on it
Where a pad is going under a metal building or a carport, the order of operations is fixed and getting it wrong is expensive. The building supplier's drawings come first, because they carry the anchor bolt layout and the reaction loads. The pad is then designed around those, with a thickened edge or a perimeter footing where the columns land. The slab is poured, the anchors are set to the template rather than drilled afterwards where the supplier allows it, and the building goes up on a cured slab.
Owners frequently order the building first and ask us to pour to it, which works, and sometimes order the pad first from a generic size, which does not. A slab poured to the wrong bolt pattern cannot be adjusted, and the building cannot be adjusted to the slab either.
Questions we get about this
How thick should a boat pad be?
Six inches of 4,000 psi with a #4 grid; the trailer's tongue jack and axles are point loads a 4-inch slab will crack under.
Can you pour a pad over my drainfield?
No. We locate it from the county record and keep the pad clear.
Will a mixer truck reach my back yard?
We check on the site visit; if not, a pump truck or a concrete buggy is priced in.
How high above grade?
Two to four inches on compacted base, so the pad stays dry in the wet season.
How big should an RV pad be for a fifth wheel?
Fourteen by fifty is our starting point, at six inches with a rebar grid. The extra length is for the tow vehicle and the jack feet, which land outside the box.
Can a pad be added to an existing driveway later?
Yes, doweled to the existing slab with an expansion joint at the seam. The new concrete will be lighter for about a year.
Get a written estimate for your project in St. Cloud
Tell us the size, the surface you have now and where the lot is. We visit, measure, check access and drainage, and send a written proposal. No pressure calls.
What changed in this update: 2026-09-11 — first published