Royal Oak sidewalk notice: $369 a square, or your own contractor.
The short answer
Royal Oak marks sidewalk squares for replacement in the fall and mails each owner an estimate in the spring; the 2025 letter, dated March 20, priced one 5 by 5 foot square at $369. City Code 650-5 makes the owner responsible. You may hire your own contractor instead, but they need an Engineering Permit and must finish before the city's contractor reaches your street.
- 2025 letter
- $369 per 5x5 square
- Remove
- $2.96 / sq ft
- 4" walk
- $11.80 / sq ft
- 6" or 8" at a drive
- $12.52 / sq ft
How it works in Royal Oak
The dot
Squares to be replaced were painted with a white dot in the fall.
The letter
An estimate, not a bill, arrives in spring. The 2025 letter is dated March 20.
Your own contractor
They must get an Engineering Permit and finish before the city's contractor reaches your street.
Or the city's bill
Billed early the following year, payable in 30 days, or by a payment plan the city commission approves.
What does Royal Oak's sidewalk letter say?
The 2025 letter lists the work at the address: remove existing walk at $2.96 a square foot, install 4 inch walk at $11.80, and 6 or 8 inch walk at a driveway at $12.52. One typical 5 by 5 foot square, 25 square feet, comes to $369. It is an estimate, re-inspected as the work goes, and a higher revised estimate is left on the door rather than mailed.
Can I hire my own contractor in Royal Oak?
Yes. The city's FAQ: the owner may replace the problem walk by hiring a contractor, who must obtain an Engineering Permit before starting and complete the work before the city's contractor arrives on that street. The program runs from early June to the end of October.
Can I grind the edge instead?
Only for a height difference of 1 inch or less, only once on a slab, and at an 8 percent slope: grinding a half-inch step has to run six inches into the slab.
Royal Oak notice
Send a photo of the notice. We price the same slabs.
- 2025 letter
- $369 per 5x5 square
- Remove
- $2.96 / sq ft
- 4" walk
- $11.80 / sq ft
- 6" or 8" at a drive
- $12.52 / sq ft
Questions
Royal Oak notices: questions.
Cited
- City of Royal Oak, sidewalks
- City of Royal Oak, Sidewalk Improvement Program FAQ
- Royal Oak 2025 Sidewalk Program letter, March 20 2025
$369 is a city contract price for 2025. It sizes the job; it does not price Lemus's.
Can driveway or approach work go on the city's contract?
No. Royal Oak says it cannot be added to the sidewalk contract and must be contracted directly. Your own contractor can do the walk and the approach together.
What if a tree lifted the walk?
The FAQ says the owner is responsible for the repair regardless of whose tree it is.
I disagree with the squares marked.
Meet the city's inspector through the engineering division; a written exemption request goes to the city engineer.
Can you price it from my letter?
Yes. Send a photo of the letter: the square footage on it is the scope we price.
Free lot walk · Dated photo report
Price your Royal Oak notice from a photo.
One property, one walk, one report you can forward to the owner: a photo of each problem, sorted into fix now, this year, and budget for next year.