Reality Check: Carving a driveway

Ask anyone about their country house fantasy, and it usually opens with a driving scene: turn off the highway at a pair of gracious gates, wend your way up a tree-lined driveway and draw to a halt at a welcoming entrance.

As you begin planning your country house, think carefully about how you want family and guests to arrive at your spread. Unlike town driveways, a country house drive can be a major undertaking, with plenty of choices to be made.

Check your building platform If you are opening up a new property, most councils will expect your building permit applications to include an application for opening up a new entry from the road. Things start to get tricky under the Resource Management Act when you need to clear and excavate a lot of open ground, according to Gary Harris, of Jesmond Construction. If your driveway/building platform requires excavating more than 10,000cu m of soil, you may need permits. If you have to excavate, consider stockpiling soil to use for other landscaping, as disposal fees can add considerably to the cost of a project.

Know your bases There can be a lot of pitfalls in building a driveway and most of them are attributed to poor ground preparation. Harris, with 30 years' experience, says the key to a good driveway is a solid base. Do not be tempted to have a contractor simply seal the rough track formed for the builders to get access: it may not have been properly cleared, shaped or graded to form a good solid base.

When in doubt, get a geo-tech Sub-grade preparation depends on knowing the land. A geo-tech report lets you know any water run-off issues, whether the base has soft spots, vegetation or stumps. This makes the difference between a driveway lasting 30 years or falling apart after two or three. If there are a lot of bends or slopes of more than 30 degrees, it may pay to have an engineer check it out, too.

Budget for a good job Saving money by taking the cheapest quote is a false economy, says Harris. Costings are usually given per square metre (the average driveway is 2.7 to 3.5 m wide). Expect $22 to $28 per sq m for base course and preparation for hot mix, but costs vary widely depending on the preparation of the site, its size (smaller jobs are relatively more expensive due to one-off costs for earthmoving equipment and so on). Concrete can be anything from $62 to 84 per sq m, depending on the depth of concrete and amount of reinforcing steel required. Exposed aggregate or McCallum red chip costs more, as does hot mix. A two-coat chip seal (similar to that used on roads) is slightly cheaper. You can play with designs such as adding in pavers or blocks, kerb and channel edging. Ask your contractor to refer you to recent jobs they have done, get recommendations and good estimates before you start.

Think about the lawnmower Plan whether your driveway will be edged with a garden bed, left rough or have a mowed edge. Harris advises setting an edging strip flush with the driveway to make mowing a breeze.

Contact Gary Harris, Jesmond Construction, ph 09 294 8319.