New Driveway Cost

Are you done with your old driveway and are planning to get a new one made? Well, it is a great idea, if you have decided to do so. Now you need to work out the financial factor, right? So how do you do it? Well, it is simple, cost of a new driveway basically depends on how big you want your yard to be, and what is the material that you are going to use. These are the fundamentals for constructing a new driveway. There are a few other aspects too and the details regarding the material and estimates which are going to be dealt within the text to come.

Cost of a New Driveway Depending on the Material

As mentioned earlier, what material and labor you use are the 2 major factors in determining the cost. Lets tackle the material issue.

Cobblestone, Bricks or Pavers
Well, if you are ready to shell a really handsome amount, this material is akin to Bill Gates of computing world. Bricks or pavers or even cobblestone looks awesome and graceful, but it comes with a hefty price tag. Moreover, it is extremely time-consuming which is one of the reasons for it being expensive. Imagine, you need to have 6,000 pieces and each of them costs around $3. So the amount needed just for the material would be $18,000, sans the design and the color of the piece. If it is intricately designed and richly colored, the cost goes up even further. Plus, the labor charges and other costs have to be calculated. Bricks and pavers though, are cheaper than their cobblestone counterparts. They can cost ranging from .50 cents to even $3, not to include the varieties. So, all in all, the price range for a square feet may easily be between $10 and $60. The durability though, after you pay such a sum, is worth it. 12x50 feet cobblestone driveway cost can range between $6,000 - $30,000 or more.

Concrete
The good old concrete is the best, if you are looking at endurance and durability. Concrete is a cheaper option as compared with the ones above. It costs between $3 and $10 for a square feet. Sealing, as it is prone to cracks and washing twice or thrice a year, is just what a concrete driveway needs. Concrete is not as time-consuming as the cobblestone or brick driveway, hence the charges are less. Typically $3,000 - $12,000 is the cost for a 12x50- foot concrete driveway.

Stone
Stone driveways perhaps may not be a very good option, but it is surely an option if you are looking for a cheap driveway with a lot of maintenance. Stone driveways, to start off, are a bit crude and they have a tendency to move and be unstable, which makes maintenance mandatory. However, if it is applied on a good solid gravel base, not more than 2 to 4 inches in depth. it might be less of a maintenance nightmare. This costs around $1 or $2, going up till $4 to $5 per square feet. A border or an edge is further required for a stone driveway. The cost can go drastically down, while constructing a stone driveway , but the constant maintenance might ensure that the money you saved will be spent anyway!

Asphalt
When you talk of how much does a driveway cost, you have to estimate and figure out the expenses. That is where the need to balance class, durability and cost comes in and when these 3 factors have to be balanced, you cannot ignore asphalt. Asphalt driveway is what maximum number of houses have! It is durable, easy to maintain, and doesn't make a huge dent in your pockets. The best part is that good old black asphalt can be applied over concrete or applied again over an existing layer of asphalt. However, it would act as the base and might crack if the layer below is cracked. It costs around $1 to $5 or $6 per square feet. So, an asphalt driveway would cost anything around $600 - $3,000 for 12x50-feet driveway.

There are further variations in asphalt and concrete which also are major determinants of the cost of installing a new driveway. Gravel driveways are even cheaper than the asphalt ones. Apart from this material, which will come in later, you need to decide the measurements and allied costs, like tearing off the earlier driveway and other oddities which might come along.

Eventually, just make sure that the contractor is giving you what you want and cross check all the heads under the cost estimate. You are on the right track then. All the best.