Getting a Concrete Driveway Installed in Melton: How to Prepare and What Happens on Site

Most of the decisions about a new driveway are made at the quote stage: the finish, the thickness, the falls and whether the crossover is part of the job. But a surprising number of the problems on pour day come from things nobody thought about until the crew was standing in the street. A car that cannot be moved, a sprinkler line under the base, a concrete truck that cannot reach the pour because the neighbour has a skip on the nature strip.

This guide walks through how to get your Melton block ready, what happens on each day on site, and what to keep in mind once the finishers have gone. It applies to most of our concrete work, whether that is a new driveway in Cobblebank or Aintree, a replacement in Kurunjang, or a driveway with a new crossing out to the kerb.

Before anyone arrives: the paperwork

If the job includes a new or altered crossing, council's written approval has to be in place before work in the road reserve starts. Our Permit & Road Reserve Paperwork service covers the application, but the timing still matters to you. Allow around ten business days for council to assess a straightforward application, and treat the build date as provisional until the permit is issued.

If you are in a new estate, check whether your estate design guidelines have anything to say about driveway finish or colour, and make sure the builder's heavy vehicle movements are finished. A fresh slab is not the place for a scaffold truck or a landscaper's bobcat.

Clear the work area

The crew needs the whole driveway footprint and a working margin around it. In the days before the job, move cars, trailers, bins, pot plants, play equipment and anything stored along the side of the house. If the driveway runs past a side gate, think about whether the dog needs to be kept elsewhere for a couple of days, because gates will be open and fresh concrete and paws do not mix.

Tell us about anything buried in or near the driveway area that you know of: irrigation lines, garden lighting cables, a stormwater pit or a downpipe connection. Underground services in the road reserve are located as part of the crossover work, but private lines on your side of the boundary are often only known to the owner. It is much cheaper to protect or relocate a sprinkler line before excavation than to dig it back up through a new slab.

Truck access on pour day

Concrete arrives in a truck, and that truck needs to get close to the pour. On a standard estate block with a clear frontage this is rarely a problem. It becomes one when the driveway is long, runs down the side of the house, or the frontage is crowded with parked cars, bins on collection day or a neighbour's building works.

If the truck cannot reach, the concrete has to be pumped or barrowed, which adds time and cost and is something we price at quote stage rather than discover on the day. It helps to let neighbours know the date, so cars across the street are not blocking the truck's approach, and to keep the nature strip clear the evening before.

Day one: excavation and base

The first visit is usually the dirty one. The existing surface or topsoil comes out to the right depth, spoil is loaded and carted away, and a compacted crushed rock base goes down and is rolled in layers. Where the slab crosses service trenches, those are backfilled and compacted properly, because a soft trench is where a driveway sinks first. If an old slab needs breaking out, that happens now and is the noisiest part of the job.

Our Concrete Driveways page explains why this stage decides whether a driveway lasts on Melton's reactive clay. As the owner, the useful thing to do on day one is have a look at the levels once the formwork starts going in, particularly where the driveway meets the garage, the house wall and the kerb. Our guide to pouring a driveway against your house covers why the finished level next to the house matters so much.

Day two: formwork, reinforcement and the pour

Formwork sets the edges and the falls, mesh goes in on chairs, and then the concrete is placed, screeded and finished. Control joints are formed or cut so that cracking happens along straight lines rather than across the middle of the slab. Exposed aggregate finishes need an extra step to expose the stone, and timing on the day depends heavily on the weather.

Expect noise and a fair bit of activity for most of the day. You do not need to be home for the whole pour, but it is worth being reachable in case a question comes up about levels or the joint line at the boundary.

The first week

Once the finishers pack up, keep people, pets and vehicles off the slab and leave any barriers in place. Our guide to when you can drive on a new concrete driveway explains the timings properly and why Melton's hot, windy summers and cold winters both change them. Hold off on parking caravans, trailers or skip bins on it for considerably longer than a car.

Hairline shrinkage cracks along the control joints are normal. Wider cracks away from the joints, ponding against the house, or edges that look thin are worth raising early. Send us photos and we will come and look.

Ready to book

Most driveway jobs are two to three days on site, and from first call to parking on the new slab the whole process generally takes three to five weeks once permits are allowed for. If you would like a free written quote, we will look at access, levels, drainage and the crossing in one visit, and tell you plainly what the block needs before anything is booked.