Anyone do driveways or had one done recently?

Pakrat · Apr 15, 2008

I have been putting off redoing mine for years, it was poorly done in the late 80's and looks like a roller coaster, it's just really bad. Two homes are having it done now in my neighborhood by the same guy (4th generation paver) and seeing how bad ours is he came by and offered us a deal if we want it done at the same time. I don't have time for a second estimate since I am away from home all week but I just want to gauge the price somehow before just saying yes so I thought someone could ballpark it for me.

Here's what I can give for info, I would say (total guess) my driveway is about 100' long and 12' wide. He would tear all of it out and widen the top section to 24' about half way down then taper to the 12' at the street. Lay down an all new foundation with 3" of new asphalt on top. He will also remove my brick walkway (an "L" shape about 4' wide X 12' long X 5' long) and pave that the same way. Price quote is $3500, does that sound reasonable?

RFMustangGT · Apr 15, 2008

Sounds like a good deal to me. I have a friend who majored in concrete management a few years ago from MTSU and he said if you want any work done don't put it off cause the prices are going to steadily increase every year.

Pakrat · Apr 15, 2008

That's what I'm mostly afraid of, especially something based on petroleum type products. But maybe this has a chance of going down in the near future too, who knows. What bothers me the most is the market right now and it seems that something like this retains less value than my new roof or windows for example. If we do have to move in the next year which is possible I don't want to lose my shirt but unless it was in the winter any prospects I'm sure would balk at the bumpy driveway.

iapexl8r · Apr 15, 2008

dude jump on that!!! I did mine 5 years ago, I did it my self, with the help of 2 finishers I hired for the pour and it costed me about 3500.oo. I was quoted 6500 to do the job. my driveway is approx 100' with 40'of it 10' wide and the rest 20' wide. The one regret is the approach from the sterrt is steeper than I would pefer
I was looking at the angle to the top of the curb on the set up. good luck chris

Pakrat · Apr 15, 2008

iapexl8r said:
dude jump on that!!! I did mine 5 years ago, I did it my self, with the help of 2 finishers I hired for the pour and it costed me about 3500.oo. I was quoted 6500 to do the job. my driveway is approx 100' with 40'of it 10' wide and the rest 20' wide. The one regret is the approach from the sterrt is steeper than I would pefer
I was looking at the angle to the top of the curb on the set up. good luck chris

Ok, that's good news then, thanks. Usually when everyone says it's a good deal I get nervous for the opposite reason and am afraid I spend too little instead of too much and then barely get what I paid for and have to redo it too soon. My wife just sent me a pic of one of the neighbors driveways they just finsihed and it looks great. I called the neighbor too and he told me he was very happy, he watched the whole thing and they did not cut any corners, he said the level grading is perfect and they did the full 3" thick even at the curb and the street.

Realmongo · Apr 15, 2008

Sounds good to me, you need to send him down here to Mass to do mine when I get back!

GNGREN · Apr 16, 2008

You might want to clarify the thickness. I wanted a three inch coat and that is what I agreed on with the paver that did mine about 5 years ago. Problem was a 3" coat after compaction is half that thickness. I wanted 3 after compaction. My drive way already looks 15 years old with all the cracks from cars parking on it. It was a good price at the time $2600.00 but I should have gone with someone else and not the guy my builder recomended. Mine is 130' long witha 30' x 32' pad at the garage, 13' wide to the road and tapers out to 21' where it conates to the road.

Pakrat · Apr 16, 2008

Thanks folks for the reply's all, sounds like a go.

When he gave me the estimate he did mention that they only like to compact 2" at a time and that 3" was the finished depth so they make a couple passes I guess.

edgars23 · Apr 16, 2008

3500 is a very good deal

Platonic Solid · Apr 17, 2008

Sounds too good to be true. I'm also not a big fan of paved walkways on residential properties (I tore mine out). I payed $1,200 last year for a 15' x 15' apron with 20' of curbing and that was the lowest price of 3 quotes.

You can see what I got on this page here: Driveway

Pakrat · Apr 17, 2008

I'll bet it was all the curbing that ran your price up. I know I can attribute some of the low price to the fact that he is doing three or four now on the same street at the same time, plus I am probably over stating the actual size of my driveway in my estimate. I also drove around and took a look at some he did over the last 5 years the other night, except for the varied fading in color they all look great still, some were very wide and I couldn't even see seams.

I found an pld pic from 02' online, it's small but all I have access too right now. I am standing probably 20' from the curb so you tell me how long you think it is.

So I can see why you tore yours up as the new path makes way more sense than the old one did but why pave only the end at the road? I can't stand crushed stone, especially in NH where I have to plow it 1-3 times a week. My path is currently pavers and it looks nice but it gets alot of frost heaves in the winter and if my wife has to replace one more pair of outrageously priced shoes because she breaks a heel in a crack I'm going to kill someone. Besides I'm sick of pulling weeds and brushing in new sand every year. I could have done cement I guess but I just want it over with.

Platonic Solid · Apr 17, 2008

Tough to guess with the snow and all, but your driveway does look shorter than 100'.

Pakrat said:
So I can see why you tore yours up as the new path makes way more sense than the old one did but why pave only the end at the road? I can't stand crushed stone, especially in NH where I have to plow it 1-3 times a week. My path is currently pavers and it looks nice but it gets alot of frost heaves in the winter and if my wife has to replace one more pair of outrageously priced shoes because she breaks a heel in a crack I'm going to kill someone. Besides I'm sick of pulling weeds and brushing in new sand every year. I could have done cement I guess but I just want it over with.

I only paved the apron and curb cause the town required it. I have no great love for crushed stone either, but the driveway relocation is only the first step in a large garage addition. There is substantially more excavating in my future which would surely trash a paved driveway. The entire driveway will be paved after the garage is built. I don't even want to think about how much that will cost

Pakrat said:
I also drove around and took a look at some he did over the last 5 years the other night, except for the varied fading in color they all look great still, some were very wide and I couldn't even see seams.

Sounds like you've got a winner send him down to CT in about a 2 years.

Pakrat · Apr 17, 2008

New garage, you lucky bastard. I only have single and shares the space with tools. As soon as I get the new driveway in though I can finally put in a shed at least.

Well, the work you have done on your home looks great so far, I went thru most of the pics.

Platonic Solid · Apr 17, 2008

Thanks, it's been quite an experience. I started the project without a permit and got myself into all sorts of hot water. A week after I brought in the first 1,200 yards of fill I had a “cease and desist” letter from the town hall in my mailbox. I learned the hard way that the maximum amount of fill you can bring in per year without a permit is 200 yards. I also learned that one of my neighbors is on the town zoning board.

I got a killer deal on the fill from a nearby construction project. Even so, dirt isn’t cheap – not to overlook the incredible mess 70 tri-axle dump trucks leave on the road just from the dirt falling out of the tire treads.

Here is a pdf of my ultimate goal: Garage.pdf. I’m already working on separating the second lower driveway so that it connects to the street rather than the “Y” split.

Anyone do driveways or had one done recently?

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Platonic Solid

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