Hi. I am hoping someone can help me. We are looking at putting an offer in on some land but there is a bitumen road going to it which is owned on community title. As such we would have to chip in for maintenance and repairs of the road. Does anyone know how much this is likely to be over the years. Its a new road so cant base it on previous years as there havent been any issues yet. Any one have any bitumen in their place they have had to maintain????

P.S. There are 6 houses which use it so not heaps of traffic.

Thanks in advance
Kristy

Kristy,

If it helps I obtained a quote from a company just the other day for some asphalt.
The cost was $42 per sqm. Bitumen was also mentioned and the chap said it
would be cheaper as they generally use it for longer runs.

This was a newly laid price on roadbase so a maintainance style bitumen
fixup you would think would be much cheaper. Work on that as an estimate
and you wont go too far wrong.

Ozz

Thanks for that. Thats a huge relief I was a bit scared it could be heaps.

we are thinking of doing the full driveway and roundabout (acreage) and I thought
the price was fairly reasonable. the asphalt apparently is a little better finish than
bitumen also.

Gives you an idea anyway.

Depends on where you are...

Bitumen for $25/m ans asphalt for $35/m....

Asphalt is the smoother surface, so generally better for residential environments...

chuth77,

Do you have a name for someone with those prices?
Seems better again..

Ozz

Where abouts in SE Qld are you though...

Brisbane !

When most ppl think of SEQ they go Gold Coast to Sunshine Coast
and out to Toowoomba.

Acreage Driveways... Angus or Craig...

On this topic, we are also looking at asphalting our driveway (on 1/2 acre and driveway around 180sqm). We have just been stuffed around by a guy who was impossible to get hold of, had an excuse for everything and whose quote changed from $27sqm to $63sqm over the course of an annoying 4 week quoting period! The increase in just under $5K to over $11K kind of defeated the cost-effective purpose of us going down this path instead of concreting.

We are in Melbourne NW outer suburbs - can anyone recommend a good and reliable asphalter for this area?

How did you go Princess? Did you find anyone?

I am in Doreen area (NE Melb) - can anyone recommend a good and reliable (and reasonably priced) asphalter for my area?

Thanks ...and oh, hi all.

Hey Clark

No luck so far unfortunately. We got a quote from someone who seemed ok from Ascot Vale, but he proved to be pretty tardy at getting back to us each and every time we had contact and then his quote incredibly jumped in price from about $4K to over $10K for no logical reason he could provide. Since then have been busy with other things and a bit over tradies, so giving it a rest for the moment - would still be interested in any recommendations because I will get back to looking soon.

Laying asphalt is around the $30-35/m² mark but there's also the base to install which would be on top of that, they usually use a stabilised or wet mix crushed rock for a firm base. Some contractors also have a minimum or daily fee for small jobs for the use of the machines, trucks, labour so still could be a few grand even for a smallish job

Not doubting you, but the guy who messed us around started at around that ($30-$35) when he first quoted - when we asked why it increased so much he said it just had.

Nothing annoys me more than tradies who waste your time.

A few of my mates are traddies and sometimes, when they don't want the job, they over quote as a polite way saying they dont want the job.
This could be because the job is too difficult, they are too busy, too messy or that they simply can't be bothered.

It's hard I know as we have been through it many times and about to do it again......

Yeah I realise overquoting happens as a means of knocking back a job. Entirely disagree that it is "polite" - it is a total and utter waste of my time and I abhor it. If they don't have the time or don't want the job then I would prefer they say so straight up. If it's too difficult, I would much rather hear that it was a tough job and they don't want it or they'll do it and charge accordingly.

In anycase I doubt very much it was the case with this guy - we can see a bit of a pattern with his behaviour from the start, now that we look back at it. I suspect he is not a very good 'business' person.

I am always pleased when I find a good, reliable and competitive tradie - unfortunately, it seems to happen all too rarely.

I try to quote all quotes on their merits. I know that it is frequently done by tradies to overquote should they be too busy or the job is hard, but in the long run you build up a better rapport with people if they know you are quoting normally but being honest as to when you can do the job.

Most times I have found, that if I come across as doing a competitive and honest quotation they will be prepared to wait for the job start. Usually we run with a lead time of 3-4 months of work ahead, but it also gives clients a chance to prepare better, choose pavers/materials, sort out finances etc and that time goes by pretty quick. That said, the cheapest quote isn't necessarily the best. There is a lot to be said about finding out about a company, their attitude, past job history and workmanship before committing to the service

Agree with all that.