What a concrete driveway costs in Melbourne

What drives the price

Area and finish do most of the work. Melbourne and Victorian guides put plain concrete at roughly $80 to $160 per square metre installed, coloured at $100 to $210, exposed aggregate at $120 to $210 and stencilled or stamped finishes at $120 to $210; the spread between guides is wide, which is why the estimator shows a range rather than a figure. A single car space is about 15 m²; a two-car driveway to the street is often 40 to 60 m².

What’s there now matters: breaking out and carting away an old slab runs about $30 to $105 per square metre, while a new driveway over grass needs excavation and a compacted base at $20 to $35. Slope adds formwork and levels, hard access can mean a concrete pump, and a driveway that will carry a caravan or truck wants a thicker slab and heavier mesh than cars do.

• Area, and the shape: curves and turning pads add formwork
• Finish: plain, coloured, exposed aggregate, stencilled or stamped
• Removal of old concrete or pavers, or excavation of a new area
• Slope, and access for the truck or a pump
• Drainage: falls, a grated drain at the garage, and where the water goes

The crossover is a council permit

The driveway is on your land; the vehicle crossing, or crossover, is the part between your boundary and the kerb, across the nature strip and footpath, and councils require a permit to build, widen, rebuild or remove one. They set how it’s built, usually inspect before the pour, and charge a fee that runs from about $260 to $770 depending on the council, sometimes with a bond; a heritage overlay or an arterial road can mean a planning permit first. One Victorian guide puts the crossover itself, built to council’s standard with its permit, at $2,000 to $5,000, which is the single published figure the estimator uses. Building one without a permit can mean rebuilding it. The driveway guide walks through it, and your council’s website has the form.

Permits and registration on your side of the boundary

The Building and Plumbing Commission says a building permit isn’t required to construct a driveway or lay paving. A driveway contracted on its own also isn’t domestic building work, so the concreter doesn’t legally need builder registration for it, even above $10,000; if it’s part of a bigger contract, such as a new garage, the registered-builder and major domestic building contract rules apply. Rainwater has to go to your legal point of discharge, not next door, so ask how the slab will fall. Use Before You Dig Australia before any excavation; it’s free.

What the quote should cover

• Removing and disposing of the old surface, or excavation and spoil removal
• Compacted base and its depth, and the slab thickness
• Steel reinforcement, and the concrete’s strength grade
• Formwork, control joints and the finish, with sealing for decorative finishes
• Drainage: falls, grates and connection to the stormwater system
• The crossover and the council permit, if included, and who applies
• When you can walk on it and when you can park on it

Example brief

“Replace a cracked 1980s concrete driveway in Keysborough, about 16 m long and 3 m wide, plus the crossover in the same position. Water pools at the garage door. Please quote removal and disposal, base and reinforcement, an exposed aggregate finish, a grated drain at the garage, the crossover built to council’s standard, and say who applies for the vehicle crossing permit.”

Before you ask for quotes

• Measure the length and width, and note any turning or parking area
• Decide the finish, and whether the crossover is part of the job
• Find your council’s vehicle crossing permit page and fee
• Think about where rainwater goes now and where it should go
• Compare quotes on slab thickness, mesh and base, not just the finish

The estimator’s Get quotes button carries your details into the job form as a draft. You can also start a job request from scratch, read the driveway guide, or compare the written quotes once they arrive. Availability depends on real postings, and registration must be enabled to submit.

How this estimate is built

Each line multiplies a per-unit range from the named sources by the quantity you entered, fixed items are added as their own lines, and the total is widened to round numbers. The sources were checked on 2 November 2026. It is an indicative range for comparing written quotes from a concreter who has seen the job, not a quote. See all cost guides for how the ranges are made.