From $90 to $130 per m², supplied and laid. Prices may vary with site conditions and variations.
Paths fail the same way driveways do, just faster, because they are poured thinner and closer to the fence line where the ground was never compacted. On a Boroondara block the side path is also the working corridor of the house, the one route from the street to the back yard, so when it lifts over roots or ponds against the wall it is felt every day.
The strip down the side of the house
The classic job in Camberwell, Hawthorn and Surrey Hills is the side strip on a period block: a narrow run between the house and the fence, cracked into plates, lifting at the joints and draining the wrong way. The old path comes out, the base is compacted, and the new path is poured at 75mm minimum, stepped up to 100mm where a vehicle crosses it, with the fall set away from the wall. Where the gap is too tight for a barrow, the concrete is pumped, and that is priced in the written quote rather than discovered on the day. Shared access between two homes is set out and agreed with both owners in writing first.
Front paths and porches
A front path through an established garden is as much setting out as concreting: it has to meet the porch and the gate at the right levels, clear mature root zones, and sit against original tiles or bluestone edges cleanly. Porch slabs and steps are formed to a safe rise and tread and finished to match the path. Broom finished plain concrete is the economical standard; coloured and exposed aggregate carry the driveway finish through so the whole frontage reads as one build.
What it costs
Paths run $90 to $130 per square metre supplied and laid. The honest advice is to pair them: a path poured on the same day as a driveway, a patio or a garage slab prices at the low end of the range, because the crew and the truck are already there. The cost guide shows worked examples, the calculator gives a quick range, and the specification page covers the build-up under the surface.
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.