# How Much Should an Asphalt Driveway Cost? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 15, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-an-asphalt-driveway-cost/396053 "2007-03-15T16:26:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-an-asphalt-driveway-cost/396053/21 "2007-03-16T19:16:25Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] always a motorcycle or a trailer or a truck or two or what have you. And he stores a vehicle for his friend ☹ (who in my opinion should be paying for a fucking slot, but that’s another rant). [/QUOTE] You might want to think about some concrete pads for the long term storage and any place where vehicles (or trailer tongues) are going to be jacked. Otherwise it might not take long for your new asphalt to look like your old asphalt. ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-an-asphalt-driveway-cost/396053/22 "2007-03-16T19:24:31Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] I’ve heard that if you find some guys paving nearby one afternoon you can start a conversation with them and negotiate a good price on them coming late in the day and doing your driveway too. [/QUOTE] I did that! The man behind us was having his driveway done and I asked him about having ours done and got a huge discount. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-an-asphalt-driveway-cost/396053/23 "2007-03-16T20:51:08Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] I’ve heard that if you find some guys paving nearby one afternoon you can start a conversation with them and negotiate a good price on them coming late in the day and doing your driveway too. [/QUOTE] This is a **terrible** idea. One of the biggest causes of asphalt pavement failure (besides a poor subgrade) is placing the asphalt when it is too cool. You should **never** take leftover asphalt from another job. From [here](http://www.hotmix.org/driveways.php): > [@](#): > > …If someone knocks on your front door and says, “We have a load of asphalt that was left over from paving nearby, and we can pave your driveway at a bargain rate if you’ll pay cash,” don’t take him up on it. Asphalt that is “left over” from another job will be too cool to make a good pavement at your house. Anyway, as with any other business transactions, you want to know who you’re dealing with before proceeding, so making a deal on the spot doesn’t make sense for you. Checking references can save you money in the long run. Heck, on municipal and state jobs, we actually take temperature readings of the asphalt before it gets installed. (There’s nothing wrong, of course, with arranging in advance to have your driveway done at the same time as a neighbor.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-an-asphalt-driveway-cost/396053/24 "2007-03-17T00:54:02Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] I’ve heard that if you find some guys paving nearby one afternoon you can start a conversation with them and negotiate a good price on them coming late in the day and doing your driveway too. [/QUOTE] That’s \*exactly \*how the Irish Traveler Scam starts. Why not just put a sign out front “Please scam me”? ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-an-asphalt-driveway-cost/396053/25 "2007-03-17T00:58:56Z")
[QUOTE=robby] This is a **terrible** idea. One of the biggest causes of asphalt pavement failure (besides a poor subgrade) is placing the asphalt when it is too cool. You should **never** take leftover asphalt from another job. From [here](http://www.hotmix.org/driveways.php): Heck, on municipal and state jobs, we actually take temperature readings of the asphalt before it gets installed. (There’s nothing wrong, of course, with arranging in advance to have your driveway done at the same time as a neighbor.) [/QUOTE] Well, now you tell me. :smack: I did get a full warranty and it was from a reputable company so I’ll keep my fingers crossed. ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-an-asphalt-driveway-cost/396053/26 "2007-03-17T01:01:12Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] That’s \*exactly \*how the Irish Traveler Scam starts. Why not just put a sign out front “Please scam me”? [/QUOTE] No not exactly. In my case a neighbor was getting their driveway done and since they were there I approached them for a price. I didn’t plan on having it done that day but they offered me a discount so I did. Reading Robby’s post I probably made a mistake. It wasn’t a case of them knocking on my door, I asked them. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-an-asphalt-driveway-cost/396053/27 "2007-03-17T01:34:16Z")
[QUOTE=RogueRacer] You might want to think about some concrete pads for the long term storage and any place where vehicles (or trailer tongues) are going to be jacked. Otherwise it might not take long for your new asphalt to look like your old asphalt. [/QUOTE] We do have a concrete pad (the beginnings of another garage the previous owner was building). The truck has been sitting on that for a few years; we want to move that to a different spot (more out of the way). The other vehicles are in the garage most of the time and only come out for short periods when the Manly Men need to get out in the sunshine. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-an-asphalt-driveway-cost/396053/28 "2007-03-17T01:35:24Z")
[QUOTE=Caridwen] I did that! The man behind us was having his driveway done and I asked him about having ours done and got a huge discount. [/QUOTE] That’s how we got our scam 10 years ago. The neighbor’s driveway was/is fine, though. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-an-asphalt-driveway-cost/396053/29 "2007-03-17T01:40:21Z")
[QUOTE=robby] Heck, on municipal and state jobs, we actually take temperature readings of the asphalt before it gets installed. [/QUOTE] I should hope so! Any spec that doesn’t call that out should be burned in town square. Asphalt that’s too hot is as bad as that which is too cool. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-should-an-asphalt-driveway-cost/396053.md?page=1)