Next guideDoing It Yourself
Concrete Is the Worst Trade to Learn On
Plenty of jobs around a house reward having a go. Concrete punishes it, and the reason is that you cannot stop and come back tomorrow.
Driveways
Why Nobody Will Quote Your Driveway Over the Phone
Every concreter in Launceston gets the same first phone call, and it is always some version of the same question. What does a driveway cost. Below are our ranges, and then the honest part: what decides where inside them your job lands, and why the firm number still needs someone standing on your block.
The Short Version
- Our Launceston rates run $60 to $280 per square metre, depending on the finish
- A single driveway in plain concrete works out at $1,900 to $3,850
- A rate alone is not a price, which is why the firm number comes after a site visit
- Access is usually the single biggest swing on a residential job
- The cheap quote is almost always thinner slab or lighter preparation
- Get thickness, reinforcement, access method and finish in writing
- The free measure exists because the honest number needs a site visit
What a Concrete Driveway Costs With Us
You came here for a number, so here are ours, before we get to why the firm one still needs someone standing on your block.
A concrete driveway in Launceston runs from $60 to $120 per square metre for a plain broom finish up to $140 to $280 per square metre for stamped work, and the finish is what decides where inside that you land. Coloured through the mix is $75 to $150 per square metre. Exposed aggregate, the most asked for, is $100 to $180 per square metre.
In whole-job terms a single driveway of about 32 square metres in plain concrete comes to $1,900 to $3,850, and a double of about 60 square metres in exposed aggregate to $6,500 to $10,000. A council crossover, if yours needs one, is $800 to $2,000 on top, and sealing is $5 to $15 per square metre.
Our Launceston Rates, by Finish
Installed, per square metre. The spread inside each row is what a site visit settles.
What Whole Jobs Come To
The rate is only half the question. These are typical finished-job totals, and they are the numbers people actually budget against.
The Rate Per Square Metre Is the Problem, Not the Answer
A rate per square metre is the number everyone wants and it is the number that causes the most grief. It sounds like a price and it behaves like a deposit on an argument.
The reason is simple. A square metre of concrete on a flat, open, well drained front driveway and a square metre on a sloping back yard with a 900mm side gate are the same area and nothing else about them is the same. One is a morning with a truck at the kerb. The other is a pump, a crew barrowing, a day of preparation and a retaining detail at the low end.
Quote the same rate for both and one of two things happens. Either the hard job is priced like the easy one and the corners come out of the base, the thickness or the steel, or the easy job is priced like the hard one and you have overpaid for a simple pour. Neither is what you wanted when you asked.
What Actually Moves the Number
In rough order of how much difference each one makes on a typical Launceston job.
How the Concrete Gets There
This is the big one and it is the one nobody thinks about. A truck can chute about three metres from where it parks. If your pour is past that, the concrete is either pumped or barrowed, and barrowing is people, and people are hours. A front driveway the truck can reach and a back yard slab behind a narrow gate can differ by more than the concrete itself costs.
What Is Under It Now
Grass over firm ground is one job. Old concrete that has to come out, soft fill, a stump, a buried service line or an old septic is another. We do not know which you have until the topsoil comes off, which is exactly why the honest quote happens after we have looked.
Thickness and Steel
Set by what the slab has to carry, not by what you feel like paying for. A path you walk on and a driveway a loaded ute parks on are different builds. This is the line on a quote that is quietest and most expensive to get wrong.
The Fall and Where the Water Goes
Concrete has to shed water somewhere sensible, and on a flat block that somewhere has to be built. Sometimes that is a fall across the slab and nothing more. Sometimes it is a drain, a dish or a change of level, and that is real work with a real cost.
The Finish You Choose
A broom finish, exposed aggregate and a honed surface are three different days of work on the same slab. Colour through the mix is another. This is the part most people think of as the price and it is usually not the biggest part of it.
The Edges and What It Meets
A rectangle in the middle of a lawn is cheap to form. A driveway that has to meet an existing crossover, a garage threshold, a path and a garden bed has four junctions that all have to be right, and every one of them is set out by hand.
Why the Cheapest Quote Is Usually the Thinnest Slab
When three quotes come back and one is well under the others, the difference is almost never the concreter being kind. It is in the parts of the job you cannot see once it is finished.
Concrete is close to a commodity. The mix costs what it costs and every Launceston concreter buys it from the same handful of plants. What varies is how much of it goes down, what is underneath it, and how long a crew spends preparing and finishing. A slab poured 85mm thick instead of 100mm on a base that was levelled rather than compacted will look identical on the day it is finished and it will not look identical in five years.
So the useful question about a cheap quote is not whether the price is real. It is which line went missing to get there.
Where the Money Actually Goes
Rough proportions on a straightforward residential driveway, so you can see which lines are worth questioning.
What to Make a Quote Show You
A quote is a document you are going to hold someone to, so it is worth it saying something. Whoever you use, ours or otherwise, these are the things worth having in writing before you sign.
Ask for the slab thickness and the reinforcement, in millimetres and by name. Ask what the preparation includes and whether spoil removal is in the price or extra. Ask how the concrete is getting to the pour, and if the answer is a pump, whether the pump is in the number or a separate invoice. Ask what the finish is, and if it is decorative, whether sealing is included and when.
A quote that answers those in one page is a quote you can compare with another one. A quote that says driveway, one line, one number, is not a quote. It is a hope.
What This Means for Your Job
If your driveway is out the front, the truck can reach it, the ground is firm and you want a broom finish, it is one of the more predictable jobs in this trade and the quote will come back quickly and without much drama.
If it is behind the house, or the ground is soft, or the old slab has to come out, or you want exposed aggregate, then the number depends on things that have to be looked at. That is not a sales tactic. It is the reason we measure for free and give you one written price with the whole job in it, so there is nothing to reconcile afterwards.
And if what you actually need is a repair rather than a replacement, or the truck can chute straight in and you do not need the pump you were told about, we will tell you that too. It is a shorter invoice and a much better phone call.
Now You Know What to Ask
Send us the size and where it is. We will come out, measure the real thing and put a number in writing.
Get a Priceor call (03) 6724 3698Keep Reading
More Guides
Everything else we have written down, in the same spirit as this one. How the job actually works, what it costs, and where people get caught out.
All guidesNext guideThe Next Step
Get Your Job Priced
Send the size and where it is, or ring us. We come out and measure it properly, free either way.
What Happens After You Send It
- We come out and measure it, free, and look at the ground and the access.
- You get one written price for the whole job, not a rate per square metre.
- If you go ahead, you get a start date and the same crew from quote to pour.
Would rather talk it through? (03) 6724 3698, or send the details through the contact page.
Common Questions
Questions We Get Asked About Driveway Pricing
Can you give me a ballpark over the phone?
We can tell you which of the two kinds of job yours sounds like, and whether anything you have described is likely to make it expensive. What we will not do is give you a number that we would then have to walk back once we have seen it. That conversation helps nobody.
Why does access change the price so much?
Because it changes the method. A truck chuting straight onto a front driveway involves one machine and no extra labour. The same volume of concrete going to a back yard is a pump, or it is a crew with barrows for the whole pour, and concrete does not slow down to match you.
Is a thicker slab always better?
No. It is better up to the point it needs to be, and past that you are paying for concrete that does nothing. What matters is that the thickness and the reinforcement match what the slab carries, which is why they belong on the quote rather than in someone's head.
Does the finish change how long it lasts?
Less than people expect. What decides how long a driveway lasts is the ground under it, the thickness, the steel and where the water goes. The finish decides how it looks and how much grip it has. A beautiful finish on a poor base fails on the base's schedule.
Do you charge for the quote?
No. We come out, measure it, look at the access and the ground, and give you a written price for the whole job. If we think you should not do it, or should do something smaller, we say so then.
Free Measure, Fixed Price
Find Out What Your Job Costs
One call and we come out, measure the real thing and put a price in writing. It costs nothing and there is no salesman in it.
One call. We measure it and put a fixed price in writing. Costs nothing.
- We come and measure itOn site, tape out, so the price is for your job and not a guess off a photo.
- A fixed written priceOne number you can hold us to. Not a range, not a rate, not an estimate.
- The crew who quotes it pours itThe bloke standing in your driveway is the bloke who does the work. Who you are dealing with.
- Measured on site, not guessed
- Fixed written price, not a range
- The crew who quotes it pours it
Would rather type it out? Send the details instead