A pre-pour inspection is the last walk before concrete is ordered: forms, steel, everything that has to be cast in, the ground underneath, and the people who must sign before the trucks are called. It is the cheapest inspection on a concrete job, because everything it finds can still be fixed with a hand tool. An hour later the same mistake needs a core drill, an engineer's letter or a jackhammer. This checklist asks only the questions that apply to the elements in this pour, records where every failed item is, and ends in a plain go or no-go. You can fill it in here and download a finished PDF without creating an account.
Why the walk matters more than the paperwork
Concrete is unforgiving in one particular way: it hides its own mistakes. A slab with two inches of cover where three were specified looks exactly like a correct one on the day it is finished. So does a footing missing its dowels, a deck with a conduit sitting on the bottom mat, or a wall with the waterstop folded over. Those show up years later as rust staining, a cut-and-epoxy repair, or a leaking basement — and by then the only evidence of what was in the forms is whatever somebody wrote down before the pour.
A good pre-pour record is therefore two things at once: a working list that gets defects fixed this morning, and a dated record, with photographs, of what was in the forms when the concrete went in.
Walk it in the order the concrete will meet it
Start underneath and work up. The ground or the deck first — bearing, compaction, water, the vapor retarder. Then the box that holds the concrete: dimensions, levels, bracing, shoring, tight joints, release agent. Then the steel inside it: sizes, spacing, laps, cover, supports, ties. Then everything else that will be buried: sleeves, conduits, anchor bolts, embeds, waterstops. Then the clean-out, the logistics and the weather, and finally the sign-offs.
The checklist follows that order and only shows what applies. Pick the elements in this pour at the top — a slab on grade and its thickened edges, say, or a wall and two columns — and the subgrade, shoring and vertical-form questions appear or disappear to match.
Cover is the check people skip, and the one that matters longest
Concrete cover — the distance from the bar to the nearest face — is what protects reinforcement from corrosion and fire. It is set on the drawings or in the code for each exposure: more against the ground, more outdoors, less inside. On site it is held by chairs, bolsters, blocks and spacers, and it is lost when those are missing, crushed, too short, or stepped on during the pour.
Measure it, do not estimate it. Check the bottom on slabs and beams, the sides on walls and columns, and the top where a slab is exposed. Write down the smallest reading you found and where, and replace anything that would not survive the crew walking on it.
Hold points, sign-offs and the go / no-go call
Most projects name pours as hold points: no concrete until the engineer of record, a special inspector, the building official or the owner's representative has seen the steel. Trades with work in the slab — plumbing, electrical, mechanical, low voltage — sign that their work is in, tested and secured. If a required sign-off is missing, this form flags it as a safety finding, whatever the rest of the score says.
The last question is a decision, not a score: go, go once named items are closed and checked, or no-go. If you choose the middle option, list the items, give each a name and a time, and check them before the first truck is called — not while it is backing up.
Speak while you walk, and the document writes itself: say "bay C4, cover to bottom mat about an inch and a half, two chairs missing" and the failed check, its location and the photograph land in the right place.
Common questions
What is checked in a pre-pour inspection?
The ground or deck the concrete sits on, the formwork and any shoring, the reinforcement — size, spacing, laps, cover, supports and ties — every embedded item such as anchor bolts, sleeves, conduits and waterstops, cleanliness of the forms, the logistics and weather for the pour, and the approvals the project requires before placing.
Who performs the pre-pour inspection?
Usually the contractor's superintendent or concrete foreman first, as a self-check. On many projects the engineer of record, a special inspector or the building official then inspects the reinforcement as a hold point, and the trades with work in the pour sign off their own items.
How long before the pour should it be done?
Early enough to fix what you find. Many crews walk it the afternoon before, fix overnight items first thing, and re-check just before the first truck is called. The final look on the morning of the pour catches what moved — chairs kicked over, debris blown in, water in the forms.
What is the minimum concrete cover for rebar?
It depends on the element, the exposure and the governing code or drawings, so check the structural notes. As a rough guide in US practice, concrete cast against earth commonly calls for about three inches, formed surfaces exposed to weather about one and a half to two inches, and interior slabs about three quarters of an inch. The drawings always win.
Should a failed check stop the pour?
Not every one — a scrap of tie wire is fixed in a minute. But anything structural, a missing required sign-off, or shoring that does not match its plan should stop the pour until it is put right and re-checked. That is why the form ends with a go or no-go decision rather than a score alone.
Can I re-check only the items that failed?
Yes. In the ReportWalk app, start a re-inspection from this walk and only the failed checks come back, each asking whether it is fixed, with a note and an after photo. Re-inspections are free and do not count toward your plan.