New gravel driveway - What should this cost?

[Member]

Hi,

I'm soliciting bids for a new gravel driveway and I'm getting wildly different proposals. Attached is a diagram that details what I want and a materials spreadsheet that I believe reflects the required materials. I know a site visit would be required for an accurate proposal but what should the approximate cost be for something like this? Also, any suggestions as to my plan? Too much material? Not enough?

Thanks.

 

[EddieWalker]

Very impressive diagram. I'm in TX and can't offer anything because of the differences in material and labor costs. I am curious why you want a 16 foot wide driveway? Ten feet is plenty wide enough and 12 would be getting wasteful in extra material.

Something I've found with bidding jobs is that clients rarely understand how much work goes into preparing a site. Does the new driveway area need trenches dug on either side for drainage? Do you need any culverts added? Is there a natural crown to the proposed driveway site to allow drainage? Laying and compacting rock is easy, but getting the dirt right so it will last can be a lot of work and where the cost climbs dramatically. Is the guy with the low bid going to do the dirt work to make it right or just spread rock and disappear?

Eddie

 

[Member]

Very impressive diagram. I'm in TX and can't offer anything because of the differences in material and labor costs. I am curious why you want a 16 foot wide driveway? Ten feet is plenty wide enough and 12 would be getting wasteful in extra material.

Something I've found with bidding jobs is that clients rarely understand how much work goes into preparing a site. Does the new driveway area need trenches dug on either side for drainage? Do you need any culverts added? Is there a natural crown to the proposed driveway site to allow drainage? Laying and compacting rock is easy, but getting the dirt right so it will last can be a lot of work and where the cost climbs dramatically. Is the guy with the low bid going to do the dirt work to make it right or just spread rock and disappear?

Eddie

Thanks for your reply and the compliment on the diagram, I've had a little trouble getting bids and I have wondered whether the diagram said to potential contractors "this guy is going to be a pain in my ..." or if it's just late in the season here in Wisconsin.

16 feet was the recommendation of a friend. I just measured the portion that's existing and it's 12. I admit, I just took the friend's advice and didn't think about it but I've never felt like the existing driveway is too narrow so 12 feet wide is a good way to lower the cost.

There's definitely some excavating that has to occur. Drainage isn't a problem along where this is going so I don't think I need trenches. No culverts are necessary, the one along the highway is okay.

I think you're right on the low bid guy. I didn't really take his bid seriously as it didn't even cover the materials I believe are necessary.

What do you think about the thickness of the base and top coats?

The one quote that broke out the cost of materials is $14.10/ton. Is that reasonable?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[woodlandfarms]

You may want an initial clearance (grade) of 16 feet wide to remove trees and shrubs but I too would not put rock more than 12ft.

 

[paulharvey]

I also feel that 16 ft is too wide. A private drive is typically 10-12 geet wide. Also, I dont know your area, but here in Florida, 6" of road base (crushed limerick) is plenty. That size of job is plenty big enough to interest real site contractors I would think, but I didnt see if you mentioned your budget for it.

If contractor has to haul off all the grass strippings, ect, that adds to the costs.

I quickly came up with the following.
1. 2000 sq yards
2. Over 1200 tons of rock
3. $12,000 plus in material
4. At least $4000 in labor (no trucking)
5. 60 truck loads of rock, at $60/hr, so even if a round trip is only 1 hour (dump, get loaded, and get back) $3600 in trucking
Rough estimate =$20,000 plus 10-20% profit

Now, if they have to haul spoil material off, figure an additional $5000+

About material, around here $6/ton at mine is about what DOT road base runs, plus trucking; gravel (#57/67 stone is far more)

 

[Member]

I also feel that 16 ft is too wide. A private drive is typically 10-12 geet wide. Also, I dont know your area, but here in Florida, 6" of road base (crushed limerick) is plenty. That size of job is plenty big enough to interest real site contractors I would think, but I didnt see if you mentioned your budget for it.

If contractor has to haul off all the grass strippings, ect, that adds to the costs.

Is there extensive clearing needed?

I don't really have a budget, this is the second step (first step was rezoning) of my plan to build a house on this property. I'd like to do it once and I'm trying to figure out what that should cost. I'm sure I started like most people, without any knowledge of what it took I wanted it to cost about $10,000. I think now, based on the cost of materials and reducing to a 12 foot width, that the materials are around $15,500 delivered.

The current front runner wants around $7,000 for labor (excavating) so that's $22,500 total. There's no brush or anything to be cleared along the path, we're having them stop at the edge of our woods. The last 200 feet or so was a farm field so there is some black dirt that has to be removed there and other areas. There is a part where it has to be graded behind the pole building which involves blending that into the existing hill behind the building and allowing for the driveway to continue around the building for a sort of turnaround. I did ask for compaction of all of the material, I don't know if that's standard or just good practice but it seems like a good idea. The black dirt, etc. can be spread around on site but I do have a couple piles of muddy gravel and some boulders that I'd like removed from the site.

 

[paulharvey]

As a counter proposal, I would suggest 12 ft wide, 6" road base, primed, and 1.25" of sp 9.5 (S3) asphalt would be as cheap and you would be far happier.

Compaction and density are the most important part of a road. If you do Everything else right, and dont properly compact, the road will fall apart.

Asphalt is roughly $5-$7.50/square yard/inch of thickness.

 

[dodge man]

1.25" of asphalt wouldn't be enough, it would break up in the first year. I'd probably get everything built first before I even thought about paving it. I came up with about $16,000 in materials just going by what I've paid for rock in my area.

 

[paulharvey]

1.25" of asphalt wouldn't be enough, it would break up in the first year. I'd probably get everything built first before I even thought about paving it. I came up with about $16,000 in materials just going by what I've paid for rock in my area.

We have paved many county roads that get low traffic (100-1000 trips per day) on 8" of rock and 1.5" of asphalt. They general hold up well for the first 15-20 years.

 

[teejk]

Where in Wisconsin? It's a big state and the terrain/local materials vary a lot (i.e in west central Wisconsin our "base course" was granite breaker rock). Southern Wis uses mostly limestone. Figure +/- $100 hour for Bobcat work to level it. Material itself depends but plan on letting it settle for a year or two and then re-top it. You can probably figure about $100+ per load on a 14 yard dump truck but that's just a guess since I don't have my last bill handy.

620 ft??? That's a lot! You sure you need all that? If you aren't going to access the back of the property on a regular basis then you might want to do it in stages. And whatever you do, get any electrical/water/whatever to the other side.