Concrete driveways in Albury

A new concrete driveway in Albury needs a licensed concreter once the job passes 5,000 dollars, and the strip between your front boundary and the kerb needs AlburyCity approval before it is poured. A published national guide puts a plain driveway at $65 to $85 per sqm, with coloured and decorative finishes costing more.

Albury Concreting takes your driveway details and passes them to independent local concreters, who inspect, quote and pour. The about page sets out how that referral works.

When does a driveway need replacing instead of patching?

Small hairline cracks are normal in concrete and rarely mean the slab has failed. These signs usually point to replacement, or at least a proper assessment:

• one side of a crack sits higher than the other and catches shoes or mower wheels
• a section has sunk near a downpipe, garden bed or tap, which often means water is getting under the slab
• the edges have broken away where cars turn in from the street
• water lies against the garage door or the house wall after rain
• tree roots have lifted whole panels
• the surface is flaking or powdery over a wide area

The usual causes are a base that was never compacted properly, no control joints, stormwater soaking the ground underneath, roots, and loads heavier than the slab was built for, such as a loaded caravan or a delivery truck. If the old slab has to go, read the page on concrete removal and driveway replacement before asking for quotes.

Which finish suits your driveway?

Finish	What you get	Published price guide	Things to weigh up
Plain broom finish	Grey concrete brushed for grip	$65 to $85 per sqm	Lowest cost; shows oil drips and tyre marks
Coloured	Oxide mixed through the concrete	$75 to $95 per sqm	Colour runs through the slab, so small chips are less obvious than on paint
Exposed aggregate	Top layer washed back to show the stones	$125 to $160 per sqm	Hides marks well; more steps on pour day
Stencilled	A pattern pressed in with a stencil	$120 to $170 per sqm	Ask how often the seal needs renewing

The two plain and coloured driveway bands come from hipages’ driveway guide, last updated in January 2026. The exposed aggregate and stencilled bands come from the same publisher’s broader concreting guide, updated in September 2026, which also gives $80 to $135 per sqm for plain or reinforced work. The gap between those plain figures is a reminder that online bands are a starting point only. Our Albury concreting cost guide explains what pushes a quote up or down, and the exposed aggregate and coloured concrete page covers decorative work in more detail.

What will a concreter check before quoting?

Expect a provider to want a site visit, or at least good photos and measurements. They will usually look at:

1. The length, width and fall of the driveway, and the levels at the garage, the house and the kerb.
2. Where the stormwater will go: downpipes, pits, grates and the low point of the block.
3. What is under the surface now: old concrete, gravel, clay or tree roots.
4. Truck access, whether a concrete pump is needed, and any overhead power lines.
5. Whether the existing crossing and kerb can stay or must be rebuilt.
6. What vehicles will use it, so the thickness and reinforcement suit the load.

What does the work involve?

1. Approvals are lodged, including the crossing application if the work reaches the road reserve.
2. The old surface is broken out and taken away, and the ground is dug to the design depth.
3. A crushed rock base is spread and compacted in layers.
4. Formwork is set to the planned falls, and reinforcement is placed on bar chairs so it sits inside the slab rather than on the ground.
5. Concrete is placed, screeded, floated and finished.
6. Control joints are tooled or saw cut so cracking happens along planned lines.
7. The slab is cured and kept free of cars until the concreter says it is ready.

Which rules apply in Albury?

Licence. In NSW, concrete laying, formwork, reinforcement fixing, stencilling, stamped work and exposed aggregate all fall under the general concreting licence class. A licence is needed when the work is valued at more than 5,000 dollars in labour and materials, GST included. The licence system is managed by Building Commission NSW, and you can look a concreter up on the Service NSW licence check.

Contract and insurance. Above 5,000 dollars the concreter must give you a written contract, and the deposit is capped at 10 percent. A combined job, for example a driveway plus paths plus a shed slab, can pass 20,000 dollars, and then Home Building Compensation cover is required before any money is taken. These obligations sit under the Home Building Act 1989.

Your land. A driveway on private land may be exempt development under the Codes SEPP if it meets the state standards for driveways and paving. Those include building it to AS/NZS 2890.1, draining run-off to the existing stormwater system, and the land not being in a heritage conservation area.

The crossing. AlburyCity requires a Section 138 approval under the Roads Act 1993 for a new or modified vehicle crossing, and it must be in hand before works start. Across the river the rules are different again; see the Wodonga page.

What will a careful concreter refuse to do?

• Pour the crossing before the council approval is issued.
• Lay concrete straight onto loose fill or old topsoil.
• Run the falls toward the house or the garage door.
• Leave out control joints to save an hour.
• Pour on a very hot, windy afternoon or ahead of a frosty night without a plan to protect the slab.
• Ask for more than a 10 percent deposit.

A note on Albury homes

At the 2021 Census, 80.5 percent of occupied dwellings in the Albury local government area were separate houses, according to the ABS QuickStats for Albury. That makes the single-house driveway the most common job in town. Older streets bring replacement work, and where a builder’s contract in the growth area around Thurgoona left out the driveway, the owner arranges it after handover.

What to do next

Measure the driveway roughly, take a few photos from the street and from the garage, and note what vehicles use it. Then send your driveway details and a local concreter can come back to you about a site visit and a written quote.

Send a job enquiry