How Much Does It Cost to Remove and Replace a Concrete Driveway?

Please note that the price information in this article was based on data from 2018 and may now be outdated. 

If you are replacing a driveway and building the exact same driveway in the same spot, you will pay anywhere from $100 to $150 per square meter. This is a rough estimate that you get when you add up the costs of concrete slab removal and the cost of pouring a concrete slab for a new driveway.

Image from allsettconcretesolutions.com.au

This may sound like an interesting DIY project, but unless you have all the necessary tools, it is more than difficult to do. After all, you’ve seen the wild west movies. All those prisoners are punished by being forced to query rock. Why would you do that, if you can hire somebody to do it for you. To save money?

There are different ways to save money on driveway removal and concreting. Simply find a bargain concreter. With Service Seeking, this shouldn’t be a problem. Ask for quotes from different concreters and hire the one that sounds the most reasonable.

How Much Does It Cost to Remove Concrete Driveway?

You can expect to pay anywhere from $35 to $50 per m2 for a concrete driveway removal if you are going to hire a professional. This is the price for the non-recyclable concrete. The recycled options can be a bit cheaper.

If you are about to do this yourself, you are looking at renting a jackhammer, protective gear, steel cutters, possibly excavator and the truck for disposal.

Driveway disposal is done in just a couple of steps, but they are physically very demanding.

1. Use the jackhammer to break the concrete into smaller pieces. Some of it will come off easily, but some of those pieces will be stubborn. It is possible that you won’t be able to reach some of the concrete slab pieces, so you will have to break it down with a hammer and a crowbar.
2. Use the concrete and steel cutting equipment to cut out concrete slab into small pieces and to cut the steel reinforcements.
3. Make small chunks of concrete that are not larger than 60×60 cm because that is the size you can put into special waste bins.
4. Plan your disposal: renting bins, recycling concrete slabs and similar options.

Let’s look into these consts. A plain concrete slab driveway around 18 m2 with no reinforcements can cost anywhere from $600 up to remove. However, keep in mind that you need to rent a special bin for around half that price if you are going to do it yourself.

Do you have your own jackhammer? Reinforced wheelbarrow? If not, you will have to borrow them, buy them or rent them. The price doesn’t look so steep now, does it? All these costs don’t even take into account the heavy work you are about to do. You can always ask concreters about their own concrete removal prices. It truly pays off.

What Is the Average Cost to Replace a Concrete Driveway?

Now that you have your old driveway removed, there is a matter of pouring in a new one. This is paid as any other concrete driveway constructions. This means the minimum price per square metre is $65 for easy concreting with no slope.

Image from thinktdc.com.au

If the construction is more difficult, and there is more slope you are looking at additional charges and a price that can reach $95 per square meter.

Keep in mind that your driveway needs to be up to some standards that are required by law. If your old driveway didn’t comply to these, this is the right moment to have it done properly this time.

While the regulations tell you the dimensions and the thickness of your driveway, they don’t actually tell you that your driveway needs to be a dull, grey concrete slab. There are options to choose from if you want to add some design to your home.

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  Image from liquidlimestone4perth.com.au

  Coloured concrete slab. Your driveway can be coloured in two ways. The pigment can be mixed into the concrete before pouring or it can be added later while the concrete slab is still wet. There are also some latex paints that can be used to colour dry driveway.

• Polished concrete slab. You will pay somewhere from $100 to $150 per square metre to have your driveway polished so that the aggregates can be seen. If you really want to go over the top, opt for honed concrete. It looks great and shiny.
• Stenciled concrete slab. Stencils give you the option to use your concrete driveway and make it look like stones, bricks or anything else. Think of it as pressing patterns and colouring the concrete. It costs from $150 to $250 per square metre.
• Stamped concrete slab. This is something similar to stenciling, but it adds another dimension. More precisely, it adds texture. With stamps, your driveway won’t just look like it is made out of bricks or stone, it will feel like that, as well. The price moves up with the complexity of patterns. So, you can expect to pay from $85 to as much as $200 per square metre. This is a base price, without the GST.

If all this sounds a bit too much and a bit too much work, it is possible to simply fix the driveway that you have now and go with driveway resurfacing. In this way, you will cut the costs of the driveway removal and you will not have to pay the full price of the driveway concrete slab.

Still, keep in mind that not all concrete driveways can be fixed and fixing will depend on the severity of damage. Your best and the smartest option is to make the calculations for different types of project. Put it all down on paper.

Visit Service Seeking and show the concreters your ideas. Ask for quotes on different versions of your concreting project and pick the one you feel gives you the best value for your money. That is the surest way to be within your budget and still get what you want.