Architectural concrete for Sarasota's modern houses
Honed, board-formed and cast finishes where the concrete is the design, specified for salt air and Sarasota light.
- Uses
- Entries, steps, benches, planters, board-formed walls, honed patios
- Spec
- Low water-cement mix, tight joints, form liners, penetrating sealer
- Time on site
- 1 to 3 weeks
- Planning range
- $18 to $30 per sq ft honed; $90 to $180 per sq ft board-formed face
What does architectural concrete cost in Sarasota?
Planning ranges compiled on September 10, 2026 from regional decorative-concrete pricing put honed or integrally colored flatwork at roughly $18 to $30 per square foot and board-formed walls at $90 to $180 per square foot of wall face, with cast steps and benches priced per piece. These are wider ranges than flatwork because forms, liners and finishing vary with the design.
Published Sarasota-area pricing read on September 10, 2026 (see data and methods). Planning ranges, not quotes.
How long does it take?
One to three weeks. Forms and liners take days to build, pours are staged so each element cures before the next is formed against it, and honing happens after 7 days. The design conversation before the estimate is longer than for any other concrete service.
What it's used for here
Sarasota's modern houses, from the Sarasota School of the 1950s through today's infill on the keys and west of the Trail, use concrete as a visible material: cantilevered entry steps, board-formed garden walls, planters cast in place, honed slabs that run from the lanai into the living room. Architectural concrete is that work: the surface is the finish, so the mix, the forms and the finishing are specified for how they'll look, not just how they'll hold.
Finishes
- Honed: the slab is ground to a matte grit that reveals a little aggregate and takes a penetrating sealer.
- Board-formed: cedar or fir form liners leave the wood grain in a wall or a step riser.
- Integrally colored with mineral pigments, in light tones that keep surface temperature down.
- Cast elements: benches, planters, steps and caps poured in place or precast on site.
Spec and salt
Same coastal rules: a low water-cement ratio, 2 inches of cover over steel in walls that face the water, cure protection, and a penetrating rather than film sealer. Joints are laid out in the design so they read as lines, not cracks.
Comparisons
Three architectural jobs and what each one needed
- A Sapphire Shores entry with cantilevered steps. Board-formed cheek walls in cedar liners, honed treads, 2 inches of cover over the steel because the bay is a block away.
- A honed lanai floor that continues the living room. Integral light pigment, tight joints laid out in the design, ground to a matte 400 grit and sealed with a penetrating product.
- Cast planters along a Lido Key motor court. Poured in place with the driveway base, salt-mix, and a drainage weep at the bottom of each.
Day by day
- Week 1: design confirmed, form liners and forms built on site.
- Week 2: staged pours, each element cured before the next is formed against it.
- Week 3: honing after 7 days, sealing, cleanup.
Questions we get about this
What is architectural concrete?
Concrete where the surface is the finish: honed and polished slabs, board-formed walls and planters that show the wood grain, cast steps and benches, and integrally colored flatwork with tight joints. It's the concrete you see in Sarasota School houses and their modern descendants.
Is honed concrete slippery?
Honed to a matte 200 to 400 grit with a penetrating sealer it is not; polished to a gloss it is, and doesn't belong outdoors. Entries get the matte finish.
Does board-formed concrete work in salt air?
Yes, with the same low water-cement mix and cover over steel as any coastal concrete. The form liner leaves a texture that hides minor surface change better than a smooth wall.
What does architectural concrete cost?
More than flatwork and less than stone: honed slabs run roughly $18 to $30 per square foot and board-formed walls $90 to $180 per square foot of face as planning ranges, because forming and finishing take longer.
Is this available in Sarasota County?
It's in the provider's catalog through its Orlando work. Capacity for Suncoast projects is confirmed at estimate time, and the page says so rather than promising a crew that isn't scheduled.
Send a sketch or a photo of what you're after; capacity is confirmed with the estimate.
How this work fails here, and what a warranty should cover
A written workmanship warranty is only useful if both sides know what it covers before anything is signed. These are the failure modes this trade sees on the Suncoast for this service, what prevents each one, and which side of the line each normally falls on.
| Failure | Cause | What prevents it | Workmanship warranty? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour variation across a wall | Forms stripped at different ages, or mix from two loads | Single-load pours where possible; consistent stripping time | Yes |
| Form-liner texture lost at the joint | Liner seams not sealed | Seams sealed and staggered by design | Yes |
| A honed slab that etched | Acid cleaner used on a decorative surface | Neutral-pH cleaning specified on the care sheet | No; this is a maintenance error |
The pattern across every row is the same: the cause is upstream of the symptom, so a repair that treats the symptom is a repair you pay for twice. The general terms are on the warranty page.
Last reviewed September 10, 2026 by the Sarasota Concrete editorial team (author name pending owner input).