From $95 to $185 per m², supplied and laid. Prices may vary with site conditions and variations.
Driveway work in Boroondara is mostly replacement and it is rarely straightforward. The suburb’s original drives were poured narrow, thin and unreinforced, many of them shared between two period homes, and decades of clay movement and street tree roots show in the cracking and the drop at the kerb. A driveway poured properly, on a compacted base with steel mesh and control joints, is the last one the house should need, and it has to be built around rules that most of Melbourne never deals with.
Three finishes, one standard underneath
Every driveway gets the same preparation, steel and drainage. The finish is the choice you make at the site measure, with sample boards against your house in daylight.
- Plain concrete, broom finished for grip or steel trowelled for a smoother look. The most economical surface, and a legitimate choice for a side drive to a rear garage.
- Coloured concrete, oxide pigment through the full depth of the slab so the colour cannot wear off. Charcoal frames a rendered renovation; softer sandstone and bone tones sit comfortably against Camberwell’s red brick.
- Exposed aggregate, decorative stone revealed at the surface and sealed for colour and grip. The most specified street-facing finish in the municipality. The exposed aggregate page covers stone and base colour selection for period frontages in detail.
Heritage overlays and crossovers
A large share of Camberwell, Canterbury, Kew and Hawthorn sits inside a heritage overlay, and the overlay reaches the driveway. The City of Boroondara requires a vehicle crossing permit before any crossover is built, widened, moved or removed, and where an overlay applies, a planning permit can be required as well. Crossings are built to the council’s standard drawings, inspected before and after the pour, and on bluestone kerbed streets the kerb and channel are reinstated to the council’s bluestone drawings so the street edge reads as it did. Street trees are protected, and council will not approve a crossing that crowds one. None of this is a reason to avoid the work; it is a reason to have it quoted by someone who prices the permit path into the job from the start. The Boroondara permit process is set out in full on each suburb page.
Narrow frontages and shared drives
The classic Boroondara block gives a driveway one narrow run down the side of the house, sometimes shared with the neighbour, with the house wall on one side and a fence on the other. Access is assessed at the site measure: where a truck cannot reach the pour, concrete is pumped or barrowed and the quote says so up front rather than as a variation on the day. Shared drives are set out and agreed with both owners in writing before anything is cut.
What it costs
Driveway rates run from $95 to $185 per square metre by finish, supplied and laid. Removing the old surface adds $35 per m² including disposal. The cost guide sets out what moves the price, the calculator gives a range for your size and finish in ten seconds, and the specification page records what sits underneath. Where a driveway pour can be paired with paths or a garage slab, the rate for the smaller job comes down because the crew and the truck are already on site.
Where we do this work
Balwyn, Balwyn North, Camberwell, Canterbury, Glen Iris, Hawthorn, Hawthorn East, Kew, Kew East, Surrey Hills and the wider City of Boroondara.