You’re prepping for a pour. The crew’s on-site, the timeline’s tight, and the last thing you need is forms that shift, stakes that won’t drive, or a rebar hazard that sidelines someone before the truck rolls in. For contractors working with concrete supply companies in Marin County and across the North Bay, having the right hand tools on the truck isn’t optional, it’s what keeps the job moving and the crew safe.
These 7 tools cover the full workflow: layout, stake driving, securing, and site safety. All of them are available at Stevenson Supply & Tractor Co.
Form stakes are the foundation of accurate concrete work.
Stevenson Supply carries both steel and iron concrete form stakes in common sizes for flatwork, including sidewalks, slabs, curbs, and driveways. They’re available in bundle quantities for contractor pickup, so you can grab what you need and load up without waiting.
What to keep in mind on-site:
Pro Tip: Steel stakes drive cleaner and pull cleaner than wood. On repeat-use jobs, steel pays for itself quickly.
Stevenson carries sledgehammers sized for stake installation work. The right weight lets you drive efficiently without overswinging, which protects both the stake and the form board it’s backing up against.
How to drive stakes without damaging form boards:
Heads Up: A sledgehammer that’s too light makes the job take longer. Too heavy and you’re fighting the tool. Match the weight to the stake gauge and soil type.
Stevenson carries digging bars with both breaker and tamper ends. The breaker end fractures hard ground ahead of the stake. The tamper end compacts loose fill in the same workflow.
Where the digging bar earns its place:
Pro Tip: A 60-second pass with the digging bar in tough spots saves you from bent stakes, split boards, and a layout that needs to be reset mid-job.
String line is how you keep forms straight across long runs. A form board that looks right by eye can be off by a quarter inch over 20 feet, and that shows up in the finished slab edge. String line catches it before the stakes go in.
Stevenson’s nylon string line is durable and weather-resistant, which matters on early-morning setups when dew is on everything and cheap string goes slack. Use it to establish your reference line first, then set forms to it.
How to use string line effectively on form work:
Heads Up: Nylon holds tension better than cotton string in wet conditions. On jobs where you’re leaving layout overnight, nylon is the right call.
Lumber crayons and markers are the low-tech tool that keeps the whole layout readable, on rough lumber, on metal stake faces, on concrete subgrade, and on form boards that have already been through a few pours.
Stevenson carries lumber crayons and markers that write on wood, metal, and concrete surfaces. They’re available in multiple colors, which matters when you’re marking different grades, offsets, or form stages on a busy job.
Where this tool saves time:
Pro Tip: Mark your stake intervals on the string line or on the ground before the crew spreads out. It cuts the back-and-forth on large pours significantly.
Tie wire is what holds rebar chairs, wire mesh laps, and form hardware together through a pour. Concrete moves and anything that isn’t properly tied has a chance of shifting before it sets.
Stevenson carries tie wire for rebar and formwork applications. It’s a standard restocking item for most crews, but it’s also the one that tends to run out mid-job because it gets used faster than anyone planned.
How tie wire is used in concrete form work:
Heads Up: Twisted wire connections hold tighter than looped ones. A wire twister or tie wire pliers speeds this up considerably on large rebar mats.
On any site where rebar is exposed above the ground or above form height, they’re required, OSHA mandates mushroom-style cap tips on all exposed vertical rebar to prevent impalement injuries.
Beyond the regulatory requirement, they’re cheap insurance. A crew member taking a fall onto uncapped rebar is a worst-case scenario that a few dollars’ worth of cap tips prevents entirely.
Stevenson carries rebar guard cap tips as a jobsite essential. They’re the kind of item that should be in every truck stock, restocked before every concrete job, and checked before any crew walks the site.
What to know about rebar cap requirements:
Pro Tip: Walk the site and cap rebar before the first crew member steps onto the deck. It takes a few minutes and removes a serious liability from the job.
Stevenson Supply & Tractor Co. has been serving general contractors, construction crews, and municipal agencies across the North Bay since 1908.
What Stevenson carries for concrete form work:
Both locations open early, which matters when you’re loading up before a morning pour. Santa Rosa opens at 6:30 AM. Vallejo opens at 5:30 AM.
Your forms are only as good as the tools you set them with. As one of the trusted, long-standing concrete supply companies in Marin County and the broader North Bay area, we’re here to help you get what you needto do the job right.
Reach out to Stevenson Supply & Tractor Co today!
📞 Call us: (707) 575-3335
String line and form stakes work together as the accuracy pairing. String line establishes the reference, get that off, and every stake and board that follows it is off too. Set your string line first, pull it tight, and check it for sag before anything else goes down.
Use a digging bar to break and clear the drive path before you swing the sledgehammer. A breaker-end digging bar fractures compacted soil and works around subsurface rock, giving the stake a clean path to follow. Driving stakes into undisturbed hardpan with a sledgehammer alone bends stakes and splits boards.
Mushroom-style rebar caps are the standard for impalement protection under OSHA 1926.701(b). Flat plastic caps don’t provide the same protection. Stevenson Supply carries rebar guard cap tips, ask the counter team to confirm the style when you pick them up.
President/CEO
Kent Stevenson is the owner and president of Stevenson Supply & Tractor Co., a family-owned equipment and supply company serving Sonoma County and the North Bay agricultural community since 1967. Under Kent’s leadership, the company has expanded from a small tractor dealership into a trusted regional provider of agricultural equipment, hardware, fencing, and repair services.
Kent is known for his deep agricultural knowledge, hands-on approach, and commitment to serving the local farming and vineyard community. His business philosophy blends old-fashioned service with modern efficiency, ensuring every customer—from homeowners to commercial growers—receives honest guidance and reliable equipment solutions.
Stevenson Supply continues to reflect the values Kent grew up with: hard work, integrity, and dedication to supporting the people who keep Sonoma County growing.
