Estimate what a slab, driveway or path should cost in Australia — enter your dimensions, pick a finish, and get a realistic price range per m².
Slabs, driveways, paths and patios — supply and lay.
Typical market ranges for standard residential work on a prepared site. Difficult access, excavation, thicker slabs and extra reinforcement all add cost — always get itemised quotes.
These are typical installed rates — supply and lay — for standard residential work on a prepared site. Your quotes will sit inside these ranges for straightforward jobs and above them when access is tight, the site slopes, or old concrete has to come out first.
Doing it yourself? Supply-only ready-mix runs about $250–$400 per m³ (more in metro areas and for higher MPa grades) — work out your volume here.
| Finish | Typical rate |
|---|---|
| Plain / broom finish | $60–$85 / m² |
| Coloured concrete | $75–$110 / m² |
| Exposed aggregate | $100–$150 / m² |
| Stencilled / stamped | $120–$180 / m² |
Labour costs and concreter supply vary by state, so the same driveway prices differently around the country. NSW and the ACT sit at the top of the market; Queensland and South Australia at the bottom.
| State | Plain, laid (per m²) | Exposed aggregate (per m²) | Ready-mix (per m³, delivered) |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | $70–$90 | $110–$155 | $310–$360 |
| Victoria | $65–$85 | $100–$150 | $295–$345 |
| Queensland | $60–$80 | $95–$140 | $315–$370 |
| Western Australia | $65–$85 | $100–$145 | $330–$390 |
| South Australia | $60–$80 | $95–$140 | $305–$360 |
| Tasmania | $65–$85 | $100–$145 | $340–$400 |
| ACT | $70–$90 | $110–$150 | $320–$375 |
| Northern Territory | $75–$95 | $115–$160 | $380–$460 |
Compiled August 2026 from published Australian supplier and industry pricing guides. Ready-mix figures are metro, standard N20 mix, ex-GST — regional delivery typically runs 10–35% higher.
Plain concrete costs $60–$85 per square metre laid in Australia (2026). Coloured concrete costs $75–$110 per m². Exposed aggregate costs $100–$150 per m². Stencilled or stamped concrete costs $120–$180 per m². Expect the top of each range or beyond in Sydney and other metro areas — rates also move with site access, slab thickness and how much preparation the site needs.
A typical double driveway of around 50 m² costs roughly $3,000–$5,500 in plain concrete or $5,000–$7,500 in exposed aggregate. Those figures assume a prepared site — excavation and prep can add $20–$50 per m², removing an old driveway $30–$80 per m², and sloped sites or thicker slabs push it higher again.
The big factors are area and thickness, the finish, site preparation (excavation, fill, formwork), access (whether a truck can reach the pour or a pump is needed), reinforcement requirements and your distance from the batching plant. Small jobs also carry short-load surcharges — typically $100–$350 on ready-mix orders under about 4 m³.
You can save on labour by preparing and pouring yourself — supply-only ready-mix runs about $250–$400 per m³ regionally, or $300–$450 delivered in metro areas depending on the MPa grade. But concreting is time-critical, hard physical work, and a bad pour is expensive to fix. For structural slabs, driveways and anything needing an engineer, use a licensed concreter.
Queensland and South Australia are typically the cheapest states for concreting, at around $60–$80 per m² for a plain finish, helped by a large pool of licensed concreters. New South Wales and the ACT sit at the top of the market at $70–$90 per m² plain, driven by higher labour costs, and the Northern Territory is dearest of all at $75–$95 per m².
Get two or three itemised quotes that each spell out slab thickness, MPa strength, reinforcement, preparation work and the finish. Quotes that just give a lump sum per m² are hard to compare — the cheapest one usually excludes something you'll pay for later.
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