Concrete, driveway - suggestions?

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Jase2985

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#2793371 11-Oct-2021 19:04

Hard to say, whats involved? remove old drive? flat section? coloured concrete? what finish? anything else involved?

My drive to be done in about 6 weeks is 132m2, on a flat section. Removing about 160sqm of old drive, and supplying fill for under the drive. Full rebar, the concrete has a slight colour to it, and it will be a broom finish (one of the simplest ones). Also includes 2 steps up to the side of the garage. that's about $23k and thats in Auckland.

So there must be something special in your drive to have it cost that much or someone is pulling your leg.

Also get 3 quotes then you know if they are taking you for a ride.

Fred99

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#2793377 11-Oct-2021 19:41

mattwnz: I poured my last concrete drive, as I had a concrete mixer. Not too difficult to do, and a lot cheaper. The material cost is actually very cheap. Largly just a truckload of aggregate and bags of cement, and human labour, and perhaps some reinforcing mesh under certain areas. Also a layer of compacted basecourse under it helps. No problems or cracking with the drive after 10 years. You can still get a very good finish.

This is what I did about half way between when you posted that and now.

I bought a concrete mixer and a new trailer ($3500). Driveway was sloped, IIRC about 100m2, trailer had a flat deck so a square-faced shovel scooped straight in to the mouth of the mixer, used heaps of cement and decent mesh. Each section of drive was about 2 scoops of builders mix, started at the lower end (slopes downhill toward the garage) and worked my way up. People pay good money to go to a gym for a workout like that. I got a free Kea trailer, concrete mixer, and as money saved isn't taxable, at least $5k tax free for a couple of weeks work. Came out pretty good, I broom finished it as sometimes winters in Chch on the hills can be a bit tricky. Not keen on exposed aggregate - hurts my feet.

Gotta love this DIY forum. Hint - DIY isn't phoning a contractor. (only kidding - but hey...)

NglButiLoveTechnolog

115 posts

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#2793484 11-Oct-2021 21:18

Jase2985:

Hard to say, whats involved? remove old drive? flat section? coloured concrete? what finish? anything else involved?

My drive to be done in about 6 weeks is 132m2, on a flat section. Removing about 160sqm of old drive, and supplying fill for under the drive. Full rebar, the concrete has a slight colour to it, and it will be a broom finish (one of the simplest ones). Also includes 2 steps up to the side of the garage. that's about $23k and thats in Auckland.

So there must be something special in your drive to have it cost that much or someone is pulling your leg.

Also get 3 quotes then you know if they are taking you for a ride.

Thanks for the reply Jase and for looking out for me. According to the quote description it says:

"TO REINSTATE NEW CONCRETE WITHOUT REMOVING ANY EXISTING CONCRETE FOOTPATHS AND ONLY WHERE DIRT AND GRASS SPOIL IS EXPOSED AS DISCUSSED AND CONCRETE TO THE SAME SPECIFICATIONS AS DESCRIBED"

But yeah, I'l try find more concrete companies to do quotes. I've contacted a lot so far but they're currently busy so I'l just have to wait for their time schedule to be available :D. Thanks Jase and everyone here for the help. Goodnight :D

Mehrts

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#2793730 12-Oct-2021 10:29

I had driveway concrete work done three years ago, approx 70 square metres of 100mm thickness with reinforcing wire throughout. Nothing special with regard to colour/exposed aggregate etc. Just plain old concrete. That also included a concrete nib along the side of approx 20 metres length.

I was quoted between $8-12k.

Went with the $8k guys, because there was absolutely zero difference in standards between the quotes & I verified all the details beforehand, plus they do a lot of work around the area & were a well-established company.

I'm based in Palmy, and obviously pricing will differ between areas & that was three years ago, so prices would have changed since then too, but that's a rough ballpark figure anyway.

NglButiLoveTechnolog

115 posts

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#2797122 18-Oct-2021 14:46

Update: so far have contacted 15+ concrete placing contractor company in Wellington regions and pretty much all responded saying they're too busy/don't service Whitby area :( . If anyone knows any contract company willing to do a concrete job for us, feel free to chime in their details :D .

thenine

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#2797201 18-Oct-2021 17:16

From that statement it looks like they're not planning on recompacting the existing base? That's something you should get done otherwise you'll likely end up with cracking in any soft spots. Fibre reinforcement is a good option also and fairly cheap.

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