Cost to blacktop driveway

[RadioFanatic]

We have a gravel driveway now that is driving me crazy. I would like to blacktop it but (a) not sure of cost; and (b) want to make sure to not get someone who is going to rob me (I've heard a lot of horror stories!). The driveway is about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide. Any info would be appreciated.

 

[andrews_dad]

We have a gravel driveway now that is driving me crazy. I would like to blacktop it but (a) not sure of cost; and (b) want to make sure to not get someone who is going to rob me (I've heard a lot of horror stories!). The driveway is about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide. Any info would be appreciated.

Mis-read. Nevermind

 

[My3kiddos]

Right now blacktop is very expensive because the price of liquid asphalt went way up this year (at least here it did). The way I calculate it if you put down 4 inches of asphalt (base and surface) you would need about 25 ton. I'm not sure in your area what the norm is when laying the asphalt in respect to how many inches of base versus surface. Here 25 ton of surface would cost you $1450 plus haul and tax. This doesn't include the price of having it laid. You could call a local blacktopping company and ask them for a quote. Your local blacktop plant can give you the price of just the asphalt. Hope this helps you some.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

We were quoted $3800 the other day, but everyone around here is so desperate for work that they should come down.

 

[mamaLori05]

It's hard to say. I would get a couple quotes and go from there. We just got quotes for cement, and for about a 2,000 sq foot job (driveway and patio) it will cost about $3.50 a sq ft. The cost is lower the larger the job is, which ours is considered a big job. We got about 6 quotes ranging from 3.50-$6 a sq. foot.

 

[mamaLori05]

We were quoted $3800 the other day, but everyone around here is so desperate for work that they should come down.

I thought the same thing too, but so far it hasn't happened. Out of the 6 quotes we got on cement for our driveway, we did have 3 ask what other prices we were quoted when we mentioned we thought they were high. We actually brought out the other quotes for them to see physically (because they didn't believe us I guess), and flat out told them if they couldn't go lower than that quote, we weren't interested. We really thought they would try to go lower, but they didn't. They stuck with their prices. Their loss I guess. Oh, and as a side note, all the places were doing the same thickness, levels of churt, materials used to lay the cement, ect...

 

[DISdreamin']

We have a gravel driveway now that is driving me crazy. I would like to blacktop it but (a) not sure of cost; and (b) want to make sure to not get someone who is going to rob me (I've heard a lot of horror stories!). The driveway is about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide. Any info would be appreciated.

Our digout, substrate and base coat was done two years ago for about $1400 plus a topcoat last fall for $1200 for almost exactly the same size you are talking about (we have a 50 foot setback and the driveway is well over two cars wide (16 foot garage door plus about five additional feet).

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I thought the same thing too, but so far it hasn't happened. Out of the 6 quotes we got on cement for our driveway, we did have 3 ask what other prices we were quoted when we mentioned we thought they were high. We actually brought out the other quotes for them to see physically (because they didn't believe us I guess), and flat out told them if they couldn't go lower than that quote, we weren't interested. We really thought they would try to go lower, but they didn't. They stuck with their prices. Their loss I guess. Oh, and as a side note, all the places were doing the same thickness, levels of churt, materials used to lay the cement, ect...

We did the same thing with our new heater/AC last year. We got quotes from a couple of places, and then we waited... and waited. One of the places called us back with 3 different offers, all lower than before. When he called with his last estimate, he basically told us he bottomed out - he didn't care what we paid, he just wanted to find work for his staff. We got our new set up for an absolute steal.