Concrete companies in Chicago: 589 locations, 107 ready-mix plants and where the work shows up in permits

This report is for Chicago-area owners, builders and property managers choosing a concrete contractor or ready-mix supplier, and for B2B sellers whose customers are concrete firms: admixture and cement suppliers, truck dealers, testing labs, forming and pump suppliers, insurers and software vendors.

The market in Census data

Figures for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area (CBSA 16980), combining NAICS 238110 (Poured Concrete Foundation and Structure Contractors) and NAICS 327320 (Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing). Source: US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023.

The combined 100-or-more figure is the total less the smaller bands; the Census Bureau doesn't publish the 1,000-or-more cell here. By code, five contractor locations have 100 to 249 employees and three have 250 to 499, and the published ready-mix classes already add up to all 107, so no plant has 100 or more.

Where they are

Kane's combined employee total was published but flagged as high-noise (confidentiality noise changed it by 5% or more), so we leave it out. Cook County has a third of the locations but only a quarter of the jobs: its contractors average 7.0 employees, against 20.4 in DuPage. The bigger crews sit in the collar counties.

These are establishments with paid employees, not companies. A producer with a dozen plants counts a dozen times; an owner who finishes alone isn't counted.

The public company with its operations here

The data file's search for SEC-registered concrete companies with a Chicago business address comes up empty, because the largest one lists Switzerland. Amrize (NYSE and SIX: AMRZ), spun off from Holcim in 2025, gives its principal executive office as Zug and says in its 2025 10-K that it has "operational headquarters in Chicago." It reported 2025 revenue of $11.815 billion and a footprint of 18 cement plants, 143 terminals and 273 ready-mix plants across the United States and Canada.

Another listed producer supplies the region's cement: Eagle Materials' Illinois Cement Company plant in LaSalle serves Illinois, Michigan and southern Wisconsin, with terminals in Ottawa and South Beloit, Illinois, and Hartland, Wisconsin (10-K for the year to 31 March 2026).

What "IDOT-approved" means for a plant

The Illinois Department of Transportation approves concrete plants and delivery trucks under its Bureau of Materials policy memorandum on plant and truck approval, backed by an annual inspection certification for each plant and for its trucks, and a model quality control plan for concrete production. If a supplier says it's IDOT-approved, ask for the current annual plant certification. IDOT's qualified product lists cover admixtures, grouts and fibers rather than plants.

Where the work shows up in city permits

Chicago publishes every building permit. Of 32,032 issued in 2025, 493 mention concrete in the work description: 240 under the express permit program, 157 renovations or alterations, 93 new construction and 3 demolitions. Reading them, the city's concrete work leans toward repair: porches, balconies, front stoops, garage slabs and parking structures. Flatwork that needs no building permit doesn't show up, so this undercounts driveways and patios.

Illinois has no state concrete license. Chicago's licensed contractor search covers general, mason, electrical, plumbing and elevator contractors; there's no concrete category, so check that whoever pulls the permit holds the city license it calls for.

Worked example: splitting the metro into sales territories

Illustrative example. The territory plan is invented; the counts are from the county table above and Census county files.

A seller with three reps wants territories with similar numbers of concrete locations.

The south territory has fewer locations but 25 ready-mix plants in Will and Lake (Indiana) counties alone, so a seller to plants should weight it up; a seller to large contractors should weight DuPage and Kane, where crews are biggest.

Selling to Chicago concrete firms

Plants here buy admixtures, cementitious materials, trucks and drivers, and the 107 locations are enough to justify a dedicated plant-side rep. Contractors split into two markets: small repair and restoration crews in Cook County, and larger commercial and residential crews in the collar counties. For the step from company to person, see how to find decision makers. Bebop can find concrete firms that match a description like this and research each account.

Illustrative example. An admixture distributor (lakeshoreadmix.example) targets the 107 ready-mix locations through their quality control and plant managers, about 140 contacts after removing duplicate companies. At a 10% reply rate that's 14 conversations; two producers switching their winter accelerator at $120,000 a year each is $240,000.

Subject: Winter accelerator trial for [plant]

Hi [first name],

[Company]'s [plant] batches for a lot of December and January pours, when set times decide whether finishers go home on time.

We supply a non-chloride accelerator and will run side-by-side cylinders at your plant against your current mix, with results in two weeks.

Would a trial before the first cold snap be useful?

[Your name]

Local sources

Next step: for the general contractors these crews work for, read the report on construction companies in Chicago.