The starting point is plain gray
Every pour starts as the same gray concrete unless color goes in on purpose. That gray comes from the cement and the aggregate in the mix, not from anything added, and it is the finish on the majority of driveways, garage slabs and foundations, because plenty of concrete does not need color at all to do its job. Color is an extra step, added deliberately, not something concrete does on its own.
Integral color goes in at the truck
The first way to add color is integral, which means pigment is batched into the ready-mix before it ever reaches the site. That pigment runs the full depth of the slab, so a chipped edge or a worn spot shows the same color underneath rather than flashing gray. It is the more consistent of the two methods because the color is mixed through the whole load rather than applied as a surface layer, and it is the method most stamped work uses as its base color.
Broadcast color goes in at the finish
The second way is a broadcast color hardener, cast onto the surface after the concrete has been floated and worked into the top layer as the crew finishes it. That concentrates both the color and the hardness right where the slab takes traffic, which is one reason it shows up often on stamped work, since a release agent and the stamping pattern go on right after. Broadcast color and a stamped pattern together are what let a slab pick up the tonal contrast that reads as depth rather than a flat single shade.
The families you actually end up choosing from
Within either method, the practical range is earth tones rather than a paint chip wall. Lighter tans, grays and buff tones stay cooler underfoot in direct sun and read as neutral against most house colors. Deeper browns and charcoals read as stone or slate and absorb more heat where that matters, like a pool deck. None of these are exact named products we quote off a chart from a distance. They are families, and the exact shade a given batch lands on is something we set with you at the estimate, before anything gets formed.
What decides the final shade on pour day
Concrete is not paint and it does not behave like one. Every batch of ready-mix has its own personality, and the weather on pour day changes how a pigment pulls, so the same color choice can land a little differently from one pour to the next. That is why we show color families and set pattern and tone together before forming anything, and why we are straight about the range a job is likely to land in rather than promising an exact match to a chip or a photo.