House remodeling is a ...

My suggestion would be to go to a concrete plant and talk to dispatch/sales and get a top ten list of masons, go out and look at there work, once you have made your choice, talk to sales about what mix you are getting and the specs, masons are bad about "pissing up" the loads and basically turning good concrete into junk. Being from the hot south your mix should be pretty straight forward, you'll need a non-air exterior, a good 4000 psi, with a fly ash blend, a good one is a 520/95, which means 520 pounds of portland cement and 95 pounds of fly ash per yard, and to facilitate a nice finish at least 1300 pounds of sand per yard and 5 ounces of water reducing agent per 100 weight, I am assuming that it is strictly gravel in your area, which should be fine, but if you could get crushed stone, much better. hope this helps, pm me if I can help you more or if you feel some one is pulling the wool over your eyes.