Decorative Concrete in George — Stamped, Polished, Coloured & Exposed Finishes

Decorative concrete for patios, entertainment areas, pool decks and interior floors across George and the Garden Route — the strength of concrete with the look of stone, tile, or polished finish.

✓ NHBRC enrolled ✓ SANS 10400 compliant ✓ Workmanship guarantee ✓ Fully insured

Get a Free Quote →

Call 073 160 7619

What We Do

The four decorative finishes we install most often.

Stamped Concrete

Concrete stamped while wet to mimic pavers, natural stone, cobbles or timber decking. Pattern and colour chosen from the stamp library. Looks high-end, costs less than the material it imitates, no joint maintenance.

Polished Concrete

Interior polished concrete floors — ground, honed and polished to bring out the aggregate and produce a smooth, low-maintenance, hard-wearing surface. Popular for contemporary homes and commercial interiors.

Coloured & Integrally Dyed

Concrete coloured in the mix or topically with stains and dyes. Earth tones, terracottas, greys — you choose from samples and we match the colour in the pour. Ideal for large patios and pool decks.

Exposed Aggregate

Top paste washed off to reveal the stone — textured, slip-resistant, and very durable. Popular around pools and on driveways where appearance and grip both matter. Different stone selections give different looks.

How It Works

Design consultation. We walk through the finish options with you, show physical samples where possible, and match the look to your house, budget and the area where the concrete will live.
Sample pour (optional). For larger decorative jobs we can do a small test panel so you see the actual colour, texture and finish before committing to the main pour. Takes away the guesswork.
Sub-base and reinforcement. Same engineering rigour as a structural slab — proper sub-base, correct reinforcement, engineered thickness. Decorative finish only works on a structurally sound slab.
Pour and finish. Concrete placed, screeded, and worked — then the decorative treatment. Stamping while the concrete is at the right plasticity. Polishing starts after full cure.
Seal and handover. Decorative concrete is sealed to protect the finish and the colour. Handover with maintenance guidance and the written workmanship guarantee.

Exposed Aggregate Concrete

Exposed aggregate is the most-asked-for decorative finish we do, and it is the one that ages best outdoors on the Garden Route.

The finish is exactly what the name says: the concrete is placed and finished conventionally, then the surface layer of cement paste is removed while the concrete is still green, revealing the stone in the mix. What you end up with is a durable, textured, naturally non-slip surface where the decorative element is the aggregate itself rather than a coating that can wear off.

Why it suits this climate. There is no applied colour layer to fade under UV, no film to peel, and the texture gives real grip when wet — which matters on a pool surround or a sloping driveway in a place that gets rain across the whole year. It is also very hard to scuff or mark in a way that shows.

Where the look comes from. The stone. Aggregate size, colour and how deeply it is exposed are the three variables, and together they cover everything from a fine, almost sandy finish to a coarse river-stone look. The cement colour can be adjusted underneath to change how the stone reads.

What it needs from the contractor. Timing. The exposure has to happen in a window that depends on the mix, the weather and the surface retarder, and that window is not long. Too early and the aggregate is undermined; too late and the paste will not come off evenly. It is a finish where experience shows immediately.

Finish	How it is made	Best for	Ages by
Exposed aggregate	Surface paste removed to reveal stone	Driveways, pool surrounds, patios	Wearing very slowly; no film to fail
Stamped / patterned	Pattern mats pressed into fresh concrete	Patios, paths, feature areas	Colour hardener and sealer wear
Power float / burnished	Mechanically closed and polished surface	Interior floors, garages, workshops	Surface abrasion
Broom / brushed	Textured with a brush while green	Slopes, ramps, service areas	Effectively nothing to fail

Stamped, Polished and Brushed Finishes

Exposed aggregate is not the only option, and each of the alternatives has a situation where it is the better answer.

Stamped or patterned concrete presses a texture into the fresh surface, usually with a colour hardener worked in and a release agent between the mat and the concrete. It can convincingly imitate stone, slate or timber, and it is the cheapest way to get a patterned surface over a large area. The honest limitation is that both the colour and the protective sealer are surface layers, so a stamped surface outdoors needs re-sealing periodically to keep looking new.

Power-floated and burnished floors close the surface mechanically to a dense, hard, low-dust finish. This is the workhorse interior floor — garages, workshops, warehouses — and increasingly a deliberate architectural finish in houses. It depends entirely on the quality of the pour and the curing, because there is no covering to hide anything.

Brushed and broom finishes are the plainest option and frequently the right one. Textured while green, grippy when wet, nothing applied that can fail. On a steep driveway or a service area, function beats decoration.

In practice we often combine them — an exposed aggregate apron with a broom-finished slope, or a stamped patio against a floated stoep.

What Decides Whether a Decorative Slab Lasts

A decorative finish is still a concrete slab, and it fails for the same reasons any slab fails. The decoration just makes the failure more visible.

The base. Compacted layers, a stone base, proper thickness for the load. A driveway slab that cracks because the fill was placed in one lift is a cracked driveway whatever finish is on top of it.

Joints. Control joints at sensible centres, cut early enough to work, and isolation joints where the slab meets anything that moves independently. On a decorative slab the joint layout also has to be designed to look deliberate, which takes thinking about before the pour rather than after.

Curing. Concrete gains strength by hydrating, and a surface that dries out before curing is complete is weak and dusty under whatever finish it carries. On a windy George afternoon this happens faster than people expect, and it is the most common quality problem on decorative work.

Falls and drainage. Water must run off, and it must run away from the building. A decorative surface that ponds will show it — staining, algae and, on a stamped surface, sealer failure exactly where the water sits.

Sealer, where the finish needs one. Stamped and coloured surfaces need re-sealing on a cycle. Exposed aggregate and brushed finishes largely do not, which is the main reason we recommend them outdoors.

Common Questions

Can you match a specific colour?

Within reason, yes. We can match to samples or physical reference tiles. Concrete colour varies slightly with mix and curing conditions so small variations are normal and actually give the finish character.

Is stamped concrete slippery around a pool?

Depends on the stamp texture and the sealer. We use non-slip sealers around pools and pick stamp patterns with enough texture for safe wet use. Exposed aggregate is the most grippy if slip is a primary concern.

Can you resurface my existing concrete?

Often yes — we can apply a decorative overlay or micro-topping over sound existing concrete. The old concrete has to be structurally OK; cracked or settling slabs need to be replaced, not overlaid.

What is exposed aggregate concrete?

Concrete placed and finished conventionally, then washed or brushed back while still green to remove the surface cement paste and reveal the stone in the mix. The decorative element is the aggregate itself rather than an applied colour or coating, which is why it does not fade or peel. It is naturally textured and grippy when wet, which makes it a good choice for driveways, pool surrounds and patios.

Is exposed aggregate better than stamped concrete?

Outdoors here, usually. Exposed aggregate has no colour layer or film to fail, so it weathers rather than deteriorating, and its texture gives real slip resistance. Stamped concrete offers patterns exposed aggregate cannot, and it is the cheaper way to cover a large area decoratively — but the colour hardener and the sealer are surface layers, so it needs periodic re-sealing to keep looking new. The right answer depends on the look you want and how much maintenance you are prepared to do.

Is exposed aggregate slippery?

It is one of the less slippery concrete finishes, because the texture comes from the exposed stone rather than from a coating. That is precisely why it is a common choice around pools and on sloping driveways. Depth of exposure and aggregate size both affect grip, and both are choices made before the pour.

How long does decorative concrete last?

The slab itself lasts as long as any properly built slab — decades — and what varies is the finish. Exposed aggregate and brushed finishes have essentially nothing on the surface to fail, so they age very slowly. Stamped and coloured surfaces depend on their sealer, which needs renewing on a cycle to keep the colour and the sheen. What actually shortens the life of any of them is the same thing that shortens any slab: a poor base, missing joints, or curing cut short.

Can you resurface an existing concrete slab decoratively?

Sometimes. A bonded decorative overlay needs a sound, clean, mechanically prepared substrate, and any crack in the base slab that is still moving will reflect straight through within a season. Where the existing slab is delaminated, or the reinforcement is corroding, an overlay just adds weight over a problem. We would want to look at and sound out the existing slab before recommending it.

Does decorative concrete crack?

All concrete shrinks as it cures, and joints are how you decide in advance where that shows. A decorative slab with a properly designed joint layout, an adequate base and proper curing will craze and crack no more than any other — but because the surface is a feature, anything that does appear is more visible. That is an argument for getting the base, the joints and the curing right rather than an argument against the finish.