I have a rental house in a Class B neighborhood. This house has an old asphalt driveway is crumbling badly and will need to be replaced in February or March. This asphalt driveway measures 12 x 58 feet and will need to removed completely.

I have decided not to replace with new asphalt and just bite the bullet on the higher priced concrete. I have called three local concrete contractors for quotes on this project.

Locally concrete or any hard surface is not a good idea - it counts against lot coverage and markedly reduces the potential uses of the lot.

Common here is "Crush N Run" which is spelled a myriad of ways, but regardless, it's hard-packed but porous and costs WELL less than concrete or asphalt.

My last concrete driveway, from an old asphalt one:

Removed the asphalt completely. Then checked the thickness and pitch, was all wrong. Because no one was waiting to assist on the job, I removed excess dirt. Brought in gravel and compacted everything to my liking. Installed some drainage channels, near the garage entrance and walkways. Installed rebar and had elevator to add later to life/suspend the rebar.

Hired a guy with a pump mixer for the day. Hired 4 finishing workers. Got a local cement delivery service that I paid to stay up to 2 hours to help load my pump mixer.

Instead of paying a cement contractor $24,000 for the entire job. My break down came in at $7,000 for the material and $5,000 for the labor. Half price, but twice the job.

Ken,

If this was one of my 14 Class C hood houses, I would probably do the Crush n Run that WMH suggested. Over the years, I have done several of my C house driveways with Crush n Run pea gravel and it does just fine for those type neighborhoods.

Ken,

Robert J,

Roy,

I would carefully examine multiple jobs done by the concrete contractor before hiring. I've seen some really bad finish jobs on brand new homes.

A good clean finish is not that much harder than a bad one.

Tip: MY city requires an inspection at the street for proper slope into the city gutters before pouring.

Ask a local appraiser if concrete gets a higher selling price than asphalt.

I'm guessing PAIVED is PAVED when it comes to selling

Hmm...also ask your tax assessor. Mine add extra taxes for concrete vs asphalt.

Anxious to hear your quotes.

BRAD

Brad20K,

Roy - I would do the concrete drive way. All the others look at cost. I only have two houses both are in nice Class B neighborhoods. It has always been my policy to make sure my rentals look as good or better than the owner occupied houses. If that means spending a little more on the driveway so be it. With all concrete driveways and one with out. It May cost a little more now but down the road if you sell you will be better off.

$6800 isn’t terrible for a little

Homer,

When I was still building houses we always used the fiber. Sure you get little hairs sticking up on occasion but man did that stuff seem to be more crack free.

Brad nailed it for me on why I wouldn't do concrete. Taxes go up with that over asphalt. Costs more as well.

Zero,

Ken,

Maybe you don't understand (or even care) about the impact that great curb appeal can have on the resell value of a house. A concrete driveway will definitely add some value to the curb appeal of this house. Maybe not much, but it is significant enough for me to be concerned about it.

Allow me to tell you a personal secret or marketing strategy that has existed with me for 18 years now. Even when I rehab a $5K crummy 2/1 house in an equally crummy Class C- or D neighborhood, I am still very concerned about having great curb appeal. Good curb appeal always brings me the best rental applicants that crummy neighborhood has to offer. This may explain why I am consistently the highest paid LL on any block where I have a rental house and this is true even in the worse redneck/white trash neighborhoods. I get the best redneck tenants and not the worse ones because I have the best looking houses (inside and out) compared to any other rental shack on that block.

I was quoted $6K last summer for a job that included tearing out the old concrete, hauling it off, and pouring a concrete driveway and apron about that size including rebar and glass fiber in 4" thick concrete.

I decided to kick the can down the road by floating $400 of concrete patch over the existing cracked concrete in response to a fail from the stupid insurance inspector.

Roy, For me it all revolves around money. Money and freedom.

Concrete does not last forever. It should last longer than asphalt, especially if no extra work is put in for maintenance.

Like I posted earlier, if you are keeping up with the looks of the neighborhood then spend the money. If doing so gets you better tenants and higher rents then spend the money. If you are considering selling in a few years and concrete sells better than the other options do it.

Zero,

NE,

If you are doing it for resale, and you are going to sell SOON, and you think it will end up at least increasing the price of the house by the price of the driveway, okay. If you are doing it for someday resale - do it someday when you are indeed going to sell it. For one thing, at that point it affects your basis, lowering your tax bite, where as a repair it has to be depreciated over time. Not as good.

Leaking oil will destroy the asphalt faster as it is a petroleum based product.

Auto stains on concrete haven’t been a problem. I just tell my tenants to go to the automotive parts store and ask them what to use. So far, so good.

Roy, as you pointed out, the nicer exterior attracts the nicer tenants. And, you know too, it attracts nicer neighbors, keeping up the neighborhood. There is another factor you touched on briefly and that is, no one wants the worst house on the block. Right now, there might be one or two neighbors who have a little something going on with their exterior spaces that they just keep putting off because, well, Roy has that old asphalt driveway, that’s worse, so they aren’t the worst on the block. Then along comes Roy with a new concrete driveway. Dang! Now they gotta do something about their overgrown bushes. And the sad, faded trim. Then another neighbor decides she better replace that ugly, beat-up garbage can, and get after her kids to bring it in same day as trash pickup. And, then, another neighbor… and so it goes.

You spend the money now, you and your tenant enjoy it. And neighbors have a competitive nudge to get after their project list, long before you want to sell, so the neighborhood spirals upward. Wait to do your improvement until just before you sell gives the new owners the benefit of the Competitive Exterior Improvement, but not you. That concrete driveway should still look good 20 years from now.