From $95 to $185 per m², supplied and laid, as a guide until the site is measured.
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. Done once and done properly, over a rebuilt base with steel and jointing that anticipates the clay, the new drive should see the house through, and it has to be built around rules that most of Melbourne never deals with.
Three finishes, one standard underneath
The construction under a Camberwell driveway never changes; only the surface does, and it is picked at the site measure where samples can be judged against the actual house.
- Plain concrete, finished with a broom for grip or a trowel for a smoother face: the budget surface, and still the right call for a side drive to a rear garage.
- Coloured concrete, with the oxide carried through the whole slab so wear can never expose grey underneath. Charcoal sets off a rendered renovation; sandstone and bone tones settle in beside Camberwell’s red brick.
- Exposed aggregate, stone brought up at the surface and sealed: the front-of-house finish of choice across 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
A Camberwell driveway prices between $95 and $185 per square metre depending on the surface chosen, and clearing the failed drive first adds $35 per m² with disposal in it. 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 smaller job rides on the bigger one’s mobilisation and prices accordingly.
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.