Driveway Addition Estimate

[DonDavis]

Nearly all driveways in my neighborhood have the sidewalk cut for 3 cars wide.

For many homes, though, the driveway was only made 2 cars wide.

I want mine 3 wide. Oh, and all front yard plants in this pic are now gone.

The saguaro was dead at the bottom, took it down, saving the carcass for the wood.

The other cactus was transplanted to a buddy's place.



Here's the first quote I received. Is that fair for the work?

[Superman]

Construction is expensive. I can't say whether that price is fair, but I do not find it surprising. It will likely require a crew of about four. That's just a guess but there will be forming and tying rebar, and then placing and spreading and rodding, and then finishing. It looks like they plan for an adequate bit of rebar. Some outfits think it's okay to skip that or just use some wire mesh, and I disagree.

Will a section of two of sidewalk need to be redone? I am guessing the plan is to leave the sidewalk as it is.

[Superman]

If the slab will be 200 SF and 4" thick, you will need around 2.5 yards of concrete.

[fintstone]

Nice home! I know this was not the question, but for aesthetic reasons, I think I would put the additional drive area on the other side of the driveway instead of in front of the house if at all possible....and adjust the sidewalk on that side (if there is room). Also, that side appears to be a bit deeper due to the setback of the fence. Is that side wide enough to add enough gate to access the side back or extend the garage (or a carport) one more stall on the left in the future (if desired)?

[island911]

Quote looks reasonable to me, and it is great that the curb-cut is already there.

For aesthetics I would not pour, but rather use pavers in that area. Maybe with existing gravel in between the pavers.
I think that continuing the walkway off to the right and down to the sidewalk (next to the water meter cover) would nicely frame a paver section.
Also build a small short wall where the walkway would Tee. (in front of where it jogs left to the driveway)

[DonDavis]

Excellent replies!

I have a long list of crap I want to do with my home. I plan on retiring in late ‘24.

Reclaiming my garage is in progress and expanded parking has been a “want” for quite some time. I’m not in an HOA and plenty of cars park on the street. Doing my part to reduce what I can. I have 4 vehicles, one in in my back yard, another is in the pic, my minivan, then my son’s defunct Gen 1 Outback. But that’s for another thread.

I have RV gates on both sides of my home. And acually, there’s an RV in my yard now.



They leave next week.

Back on topic…

You guys are right, expanding to the right looks prolly awful. But I really like the paver, with cement walkway framing it.

But to the left is more aesthetically pleasing. There’s already an RV gate so makes sense.

I guess what it came down to it time/money.

Cement to the right means zero extra work. 2 days, DONE. Next project!

But to the left means 3x the cement, then sidewalk modification. Much more $$

Had not even considered the paver option.

And I agree the car parked right in front of the home would be weird, but several homes here do it. It’s no so bad, but it ain’t really that good.

[island911]

crude photochop



Imagine Pavers in the "frame"

or whatever

[Baz]

I like Fint's suggestion to go to the left side for drive expansion.

Going to the right would mess up the aesthetics of your home, Don. Big time. Just wouldn't look "right". Using pavers wouldn't change that except it'd be easier to remove, should the occasion arise.

If you add to the left and you have a gate to the back on that side it allows you to move your vehicles from front to back as needed.

Using pavers instead of concrete to the left would be even better!

[DonDavis]

Too late.

Queue up Sanford and Son…



But I agree, I need to rethink a few things. The simplicity was key, but that was lazy of me.

I’ll focus on garage and my new 10’x16’ Tuff Shed. More on that in another thread soon.

[908/930]

The one thing he does not say on the quote is how thick the concrete will be, if you are adding to the left side and driving your RV on it I would ask for min 5" thick, will likely end up with some sections at 4". On the quote he mentions discount removing base rock, rebar etc, make sure that the rebar is going to be placed in there.

[Rot 911]

I just got a quote for a tear out in repaving of part of my driveway. 10 feet wide by 70 feet long. $9000. Based on that, I would say your quote is not unreasonable.

[Arizona_928]

2.5 yrd is like 500 bucks from the cement truck.

Hire some hombres (south Phoenix home depot or cave creek/hatcher come to mind) to do the grunt work and set up good forms. Watch some YouTube on finishing work and profit the rest on some snow tires.


Btw where's your water meter? Dont want to cover that up the pad.

[dennisO]

Seems high to me. $5600 for 200 sq feet is $28/sq ft.

Before I sold my house in San Diego I had a new stamped, colored concrete driveway install. The driveway was big so ~2400 sq feet. I had it poured thick so it was 5.5" thick. I paid $18/sq foot. Which included demo and removal of old driveway, plus crushed granite base and rebar. The driveway was beautiful. The company was father/son team and did several homes in my neighborhood. The father had been pouring driveways for 30 years. Awesome guy.

[A930Rocket]

Seems high to me. I like the idea of pavers on the left side to break up the sea of concrete. Question is, will be RV be able to traverse it without damaging it?

[Alan A]

Quote seems cheap. But I’m in a different geo.
Moving the walkway like that though is hideous (imo). You sure you don’t want to pay the extra now and move it over to the other side?

[Cairo94507]

The only thing I did not see was to drill and insert rebar into existing concrete with epoxy to secure it. Then the thickness of the actual concrete - needs to be at least 4" of concrete with rebar rises on blocks to be in the middle of the pour. Color to match, 3,500 PSI concrete?

[DonDavis]

Back to why I was considering the right side for the expansion, the curb is already cut for it, and 10' goes right to where the up slope begins on the sidewalk. That photoshop ( while it's great! ) is way too far to the right.

And if I did pursue that side, I'd get blue stake out to see exactly where the water into my house goes.

I'll be shelving the driveway job till later. Need to focus on garage and shed.

[daepp]

$28/sq ft is high. Contractors have been slammed for years - perhaps in the dead of winter you'll find someone just as qualified but with a bigger appetite for the job.

I had my estimator spend 2 minutes on this - take it for what it cost you lol...

Concrete: 200 sq ft at 4" thick is about 3 yards. So that's around $400 to $500 in concrete
Rebar: 200 sq ft of #4 rebar 12" OCEW installed $250-$300
Dump fees: Maybe $350-$400
Tractor +man: $140/hr for 2-3 hours call it $400
Gen. labor: Two men two days, call it $500
Finishers: Two men, 4 hours, call it $600

So a contractor's costs would total around $2,500 - $3,000. For a job like this, if it was me, I'd expect to have to pay around a 30% markup for profit, overhead and the risks of unanticipated problems arising. So now we're talking $3,250 - $3,900. But $5,600 - that's nearly a 100% markup. I hope you can find a contractor who wants the job a little bit more than the first guy.
My $.02.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by daepp

$28/sq ft is high. Contractors have been slammed for years - perhaps in the dead of winter you'll find someone just as qualified but with a bigger appetite for the job.

I had my estimator spend 2 minutes on this - take it for what it cost you lol...

Concrete: 200 sq ft at 4" thick is about 3 yards. So that's around $400 to $500 in concrete
Rebar: 200 sq ft of #4 rebar 12" OCEW installed $250-$300
Dump fees: Maybe $350-$400
Tractor +man: $140/hr for 2-3 hours call it $400
Gen. labor: Two men two days, call it $500
Finishers: Two men, 4 hours, call it $600

So a contractor's costs would total around $2,500 - $3,000. For a job like this, if it was me, I'd expect to have to pay around a 30% markup for profit, overhead and the risks of unanticipated problems arising. So now we're talking $3,250 - $3,900. But $5,600 - that's nearly a 100% markup. I hope you can find a contractor who wants the job a little bit more than the first guy.
My $.02.

I'm in the wrong field...

[E Sully]

One thing I hate to bring up, Permits. Does the quote include getting the necessary permits and inspections for the work?
One of my friends wanted a small shed in the backyard. He poured a concrete floor for it. Town made him remove it. They said the shed was OK if he placed it on blocks, but pouring concrete made it a permanent structure and he needed permits before he poured, and it would be assessed and increase his property taxes. He went with a shed on blocks and no property tax increase.