A dock door is only as good as the apron outside it. When a loaded trailer backs into a dock position, the slab beneath it takes the weight of the landing gear, the shock of the arrival and the daily repetition of dozens of trailers, and any settlement, cracking or poor drainage shows up as a leveler that will not seat, a seal that will not close or a trailer that tilts. We build the aprons and loading zones that keep those problems away from your dock.
The work includes the heavy concrete apron in front of the doors, the approach slabs and transitions to the yard, dock pits and leveler pits, dock bumper and guard anchorage, trench drains, bollards, striping, wheel guides and the grading that gets water away from the doors. Dock work sits at the junction between the building and the yard, so it is where two sets of drawings meet and where small coordination misses become expensive.
Every loading zone is a specific machine for moving freight. The number of doors, the spacing, the depth of the apron, the use of drive-in ramps or at-grade doors, the need for cross-dock layouts or refrigerated seals all depend on how your freight moves. We start with that flow and build backward to the slab.
Freight volume in the Albuquerque area is large and varied. The Sunport reported 83,355,710 pounds of cargo in 2025, and a business park project on about 75 acres northeast of the terminal was planned in phases. A multi-level fulfillment center of about 465,000 square feet was announced for the Westside near I-40 and Double Eagle Airport, with a county incentive grant for street extensions, curbs, lighting and paving. Each of those facilities depends on docks that work all day.
Rail-served industrial land in the south part of the metro adds another dimension. The Central New Mexico Rail Park offers transload and industry spurs, which means truck and rail docks may share a site. Where a project involves both, the loading zone design has to reflect the different heights, speeds and equipment of each.
The apron is typically thick, reinforced concrete with dowelled joints, built to handle repeated heavy point loads and the braking forces of trailers. Dock pits for levelers and the surrounding slab are formed precisely, because a pit that is out of square or at the wrong depth will not accept the equipment. We coordinate dimensions with the dock equipment supplier's shop drawings before forming.
Where trailers meet the building, we address drainage and grade. The apron slopes away from the doors, trench drains catch water at the dock face and the transition into the yard is smooth enough for low-clearance trailers. A truck court and trailer yard design that works with the apron makes the whole site operate more cleanly.
Aprons and dock pits are concrete scopes, and concrete is something we manage closely. Forming, reinforcing, placing, finishing and curing are done by trade partners who know what a tolerance for a leveler pit means in practice. Managing the work closely lets us change a pour sequence when the weather shifts and keeps one party accountable for the geometry.
Finish and flatness matter at the dock door. A heavy apron is often finished to a specified flatness, with the transition to the interior slab carefully detailed. Joints are laid out to avoid the wheel paths of forklifts and trailers where possible, and joint fill is selected for the traffic.
Curing is the part that gets rushed. A fresh apron in a dry, windy climate loses surface moisture quickly, which can craze the top and weaken the wearing surface exactly where the wheels will roll. We use curing compound or wet cure as the conditions call for, protect the edges and keep traffic off until the concrete has reached its design strength, even when the dock schedule is pushing.
Cold storage and food-related facilities need docks that seal tightly and keep the thermal envelope intact. Insulated slab edges, heated slabs under freezer docks and special seal details are part of that package. For cold storage owners, the dock is often where the efficiency of the building is won or lost.
Retrofitting an existing building's docks requires cutting into a working slab, relocating utilities and keeping doors usable during the work. Our phased approach on occupied sites keeps part of the dock line open while we rebuild the rest. The same method applies when an older building is adding doors for increased throughput.
Dock aprons are usually placed after the building slab and before the final yard paving, with pits and embeds set before the slab pour. Dock equipment orders carry lead times, and its shop drawings determine pit sizes, so we pull that procurement forward. Missing a dimension here means breaking out new concrete.
We also set a clear order of operations at the building face: embeds and pit forms before the interior slab, apron reinforcing before the last interior trades block access, and bollards and guards after the apron has cured, not before. Written down, the order looks obvious. Left unwritten, it is the reason pits get poured twice.
On a program with several sites, we standardize dock details so that crews and suppliers repeat the same work, a benefit described under programmatic multi-site rollouts. For airfield-adjacent work near Double Eagle II Airport, we also check height and access limits before cranes or lifts come to the site.
Share the door count, trailer types and site plan and we will return an apron design approach, pricing options and a sequence that fits your build.
That follows from your throughput, shift patterns and how long trailers stay at the door. A planner can estimate it from trailer turns per door per day, and we can help test the layout against the site and budget. Building extra doors is cheaper during initial construction than adding them later, so we usually recommend leaving room for expansion.
Yes, in nearly every case. Concrete resists the loads and fuel drips that deteriorate asphalt at dock positions. We design the thickness and joints for the expected trailer loads and tie the apron into the building slab or foundation in a way that tolerates movement.
Usually water and weak subgrade. Poor drainage softens the base, settlement lets the apron drop away from the building and leveler pits fill with water and debris. Good compaction, drainage and joint detailing prevent most of it, and we spend our effort there.
Yes, depending on the structure and the floor. We cut the wall, build the pit and apron, install headers and tie the new work into the slab. The sequence is planned so that adjacent doors remain usable and the building stays secure and weathertight.
We do. Their shop drawings control pit geometry, anchorage and power, and we review them against the structure before forming. We also coordinate delivery and installation so that levelers and seals are set as soon as the concrete has cured.
Tell us about the property, the building and the schedule.
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