Pouring concrete right: how to read a driveway or slab quote
Why site prep is the hidden half of the job, what the finish does to the price, and the slab spec where cheap quotes cut corners.
Concrete looks simple — a grey slab, poured and floated flat. But the part you can see is the easy half. The preparation underneath and the reinforcement inside are where a driveway either lasts thirty years or cracks in three.
That's why two quotes for the same driveway can differ by thousands. The gap is rarely the concrete itself; it's the base, the mesh and the finish, and knowing what to look for is how you compare them fairly.
What the job involves
Concreters price by the square metre, and the finish is the most visible lever. Plain grey concrete is the budget option, coloured concrete sits a little higher, and decorative finishes like exposed aggregate or stencilled patterns cost the most. But the finish is only what you see on top.
Site preparation is the hidden half of the job. Excavating, removing an old slab, building up and compacting a base, and forming the edges all take time before any concrete arrives, and on a poor site that prep can rival the cost of the pour itself. Reinforcement is the other quiet cost — driveways need thicker slabs and heavier mesh than paths, especially where cars or trucks will run, and it's exactly where a cheap quote quietly saves money.
Access matters too: if the truck can't reach the pour, a concrete pump adds several hundred dollars, and falls, drains and step-downs add formwork and finishing time.
How the cost works
A small shed slab or path on easy ground sits at the bottom of the range, a standard plain driveway with mesh and control joints lands in the middle, and a large exposed-aggregate driveway including old-slab removal reaches the top. The estimate on this page adjusts for area, finish and site preparation, so treat any figure as a guide rather than a fixed price.
Area sets the baseline, but the finish and the site prep are what pull two quotes apart. Decorative finishes add a clear premium per square metre, and a site that needs excavation or an old slab removed carries a real prep cost that a clear, level block doesn't. The honest comparison is to check each quote states the slab thickness and mesh specification, because that's the number cheap quotes leave vague.
Verifying the concreter
Whether concreting needs a licence depends on your state and the value of the work — some states require a licence for structural or higher-value concreting, others don't for basic flatwork. Check your state's building authority rather than assuming, and where a licence applies, verify it and the ABN before work starts.
The bigger protection is the written spec. Get the slab thickness and mesh specification in the quote, not just the price, so you can see where a cheap number is cutting corners. Ask where the saw-cut control joints will go — they're normal and stop random cracking — and confirm curing time, because keeping cars off a new driveway for at least a week is what stops it cracking before it has hardened.
Mistakes to avoid
Concreting regrets usually trace to a thin slab, skipped prep, or an impatient return to a fresh pour.
- Accepting a quote that doesn't state slab thickness and mesh specification
- Overlooking site prep — excavation and old-slab removal can rival the pour itself
- Driving onto a new driveway before it has cured for at least a week
- Assuming decorative finishes cost the same as plain grey — they carry a clear premium
- Not asking where control joints go, then blaming random cracks on bad concrete
- Skipping the licence check in states where structural concreting requires one
Indicative range only, not a quote — see the full guide for worked scenarios and what moves the price.
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