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Our driveway needs to be sealed, and we’d like it expanded.
We got three bids, all these are for sealing the existing 500 square feet, and adding an additional 450 square feet:
All of them have given me a 1 year guarantee–if any cracking occurs, they’ll come back and fix it, no charge for me.
Guy 1 insisted that 2+ of base would be enough for us, the others both insisted I needed 3+ inches. Accordingly, Guy 1’s bid is significantly less than Guy 2 and Guy 3.
I’m hoping that 2 inches of base and 2 inches of blacktop will be enough to last us 5 years, I imagine we’ll be out of this house by then–hopefully much sooner. As long as it will last us 5 years, we can just leave it to the next guy to pay and have it done to whatever standards he wants to have it done.
I found that the “Asphalt Institute” says you need 6-8 inches of base? None of these three guys has said anything about that… what’s up? It seems unlikely that all three of them are trying to give me a lousy job. They’ve done a lot of work in my area, and Guy 2 actually is the one that paved all the driveways in our neighborhood initially–and I can look around and see that, 8 years later, none of the driveways are having problems.
Link to document from Asphalt Institute: http://www.asphaltinstitute.org/ai_pages/FAQs/PDFs/ABCs_Driveways_OHMPA.pdf
Bottom line for us is that we’re either going to go with the $1500 bid, or not do it at all–the other bids are too high for us to afford for a house that we’re not sure how much longer we’ll be in. So we need to make an informed decision about whether or not the 2 inch base and 2 inches of blacktop are going to work for us for a year years, or whether we should just leave the driveway as is. We’d likely just seal it ourselves, live with it for however much longer we’re here, then it’s up to the next guy to expand it–if he wants to pay for it.
-Josh
Josh — You’ve come to the right place. We have tons of paving professionals that visit the site regularly. I am not a contractor myself but have been in the industry for many years. I would suggest going with 3 inches of base. 2 doesn’t sound like enough to me. If you have neighbors that have used guy 2 before and their driveways still look great, I would feel good about going with him. The best proof is in the final product and how long it lasts. If you would really like to go with guy #1, I would have him provide some job references for driveways he’s paved 5 or more years ago. Same with guy number 3 if your really trying to be thorough. ALSO – if they have a web site go check there credentials… how long they’ve been in business, if they do work for larger companies also, etc. See who looks the most professional. These things can be a good indicator of the type of work they do. In short, make sure the company is well established, is professional in all they do, and can show you work that has stood the test of time. Sometimes this costs a little more, but will be well worth it. Best of luck. Maybe someone else will have something to say about it too.
How would something like this sound, for the thicknesses?
3″ base
2″ blacktopI could get both Guy 1 and Guy 2 to requote the job for me based on those numbers. Guy 2 was saying 3-4 inches of blacktop, but I’m wondering if I we’d be ok with just two inches, as long as the base is good, and then we could save some on asphalt. Remember, we’re talking about a short driveway, not something that’s going to get a lot of traffic.
On the other hand, we will be parking our Suburban on it at times–and that’s not exactly on the lighter side of the vehicle weight spectrum.
-Josh
Update: I talked with Guy 2, and asked him if he could quote me on 2″ base and blacktop, and he said he wasn’t comfortable doing that because he “has to stand behind his work” and he’s concerned if he does less than 3″ on the base and 3″ on the blacktop, it could wind up wearing early and will negatively affect his reputation.
Seems reasonable enough. What he was willing to do, though, was drop the price down to $2100, so he could be closer to the $1500 estimate I got from Guy 1.
-Josh
I would have to agree with Guy #2. Less than 3″ of blacktop would not be a good idea. His price sounds reasonable enough too… and the fact that he was concerned about the lasting quality of the job says something. He seems like a pretty safe bet and having seen his past work you can feel good about how well it will hold up. Who know’s, if this economy doesn’t shape up you may be in that house longer than you think :-).
take care
Let’s talk about the worst case scenario in both cases:
I go with 2″ base and 2″ top. I save $600, but the potential problems are:
1) We get cracking, heaving
2) We get depressions in the driveway from the weight of our Suburban (or other vehicles)Ok, so let’s say both of these things happen–first off, *when* are those things going to happen?
Second, what do I do when it happens? Use some kind of a sealing tar, and/or use cold patch to fix the cracks/depressions, right? What’s that going to set me back? How about time, assuming I do it myself?
Now let’s talk about the other side. I spend $2100. Sounds like the worst case there is that I’m out another $600.
So in order to really do a “worst case scenario” comparison, I need to know two things:
1) How long until failure in the event that I have a 2″ base and 2″ blacktop
2) What the repair work is going to cost me, both in time in money.Obviously we can’t know for sure on either, but it would be good to have an *idea* of what we’re talking about here…
-Josh
Ok, I just heard back from Guy 2, and he said that he can do 3″ base and 3″ blacktop for $1700 (again, that number includes sealing the existing driveway).
He also offered (I didn’t ask) that I go see work he’s already done, and talk to previous customers. I’m going to do that, and assuming he’s done quality work, I’m going to go with that $1700 estimate.
Sounds like a deal. I would definitely go see his work… not just recent work but work that has been a round for a while. Sounds like guy #2 has worked hard to earn your trust.
Wow… maybe its because I’m up north and we deal with frost, but 2″ or 3″ of base is so little stone I am shocked… We will not dig a driveway without going down AT LEAST 9″ and putting in 6″ of base and 3″ of asphalt. Commercial applications are 8″ base and at least 4″ asphalt in 2 lifts.
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