Anyone know anything about concrete?

I would suggest you hire a pro to do your concrete work, you will be glad you did. Like someone has already said, you get one shot. The concrete will not wait around for you to learn as you go. When I built my garage I hired the pros to do it and it turned out beautiful. Your investing a lot of money, I'm sure, so hire a pro. I was working on a job one day and witnessed a cement truck empty his full load of concrete on someones front lawn because the guy wasn't ready when the truck arrived. Laying concrete is a skill and takes years to perfect. Just trying to help brother.