Job takeoff
Concrete driveway takeoff
Concrete, sub-base, mesh and the joints' spacing for a driveway slab, with the dig, the forms, the isolation joints, the cure, a membrane where the slab runs into a garage and a drain where the water cannot soak away listed as work.
A takeoff is the trade word for the shopping list a job produces — every material, and how much of each, worked out by its own cited calculator.
- 3Measurements in
- 3Trades out
Give the job once
Every figure on the right follows these, in the units you choose.
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the concrete driveway quote check: each line is read against these same calculators — what it leaves out, what it adds, and what to ask.
Check the quoteEvery trade, from those dimensions
then change a dimension, and each line shows what moved.
| Trade | Quantity | |
|---|---|---|
Concrete Driveway CalculatorConcrete and sub-base together at the thickness you set.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
| 6.02 cubic yards (concrete) | |
Concrete Control Joint Spacing CalculatorThe maximum panel this thickness will hold without cracking itself: the joints are cut at this spacing or closer.How this figure was reached
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Concrete Control Joint Spacing Calculator | 12.5 ft (maximum spacing) | |
Rebar CalculatorA nominal reinforcement grid across the slab.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
The lap-splice allowance: the calculator's working figure, a trade convention. | 32 x 20 ft sticks | |
Concrete Driveway CalculatorConcrete and sub-base together at the thickness you set.
Why this quantity? | 4.5 m³ | |
Concrete Control Joint Spacing CalculatorThe maximum panel this thickness will hold without cracking itself: the joints are cut at this spacing or closer.How this figure was reached | 3.75 m | |
Rebar CalculatorA nominal reinforcement grid across the slab.
Why this quantity? | 16 x 12 m sticks |
Estimates, not a quote. Each row gives its base, the allowance on top, the adjusted figure and what to order; change an allowance on the row, or open its reasoning to see every figure it rests on. A trade's own page carries what it does not cover — open the one you are about to order against.
Labour and programme
Person-hours for the rows going in, from trade rules of thumb: a range for each piece of work, never a price.
- Concrete Driveway11 h (5.5–23)
About 11 person-hours in the rows that carry them, between 5.5 and 23.
Trade by trade
- Labourer2 labourers + 1 mason + 1 plant operatorhalf a day
About half a day, one trade after another at eight hours a day. Left out: drying and curing, deliveries, inspections, trades overlapping.
2 rows carry no hours of their own
- Concrete Control Joint Spacing: no rate measures this row
- Rebar: Fixing reinforcement is not rated here: the bar schedule, the shapes and laps it sets, and the inspection before the pour change its time several-fold.
Labour and programme
Person-hours for the rows going in, from trade rules of thumb: a range for each piece of work, never a price.
- Concrete Driveway11 h (5.4–23)
About 11 person-hours in the rows that carry them, between 5.4 and 23.
Trade by trade
- Labourer2 labourers + 1 mason + 1 plant operatorhalf a day
About half a day, one trade after another at eight hours a day. Left out: drying and curing, deliveries, inspections, trades overlapping.
2 rows carry no hours of their own
- Concrete Control Joint Spacing: no rate measures this row
- Rebar: Fixing reinforcement is not rated here: the bar schedule, the shapes and laps it sets, and the inspection before the pour change its time several-fold.
Setups you have saved
The build-up, the dimensions and any allowance you changed — kept on this device, and reusable on any job. Your prices are not copied in: they stay in your price book, so a setup never holds a stale one.
How far does a budget go?
At your own prices, with this build-up unchanged.
About this job
A driveway fails at its joints or it fails at its base, and almost never in the middle of a panel. The joint row here is the one worth reading first: it gives the maximum spacing for the slab thickness you typed, and a slab poured past that spacing will crack at roughly the spacing anyway — just wherever it chooses rather than where you cut it.
The base matters more than the concrete does. A 100 mm slab on a well-compacted 150 mm sub-base outlasts a 150 mm slab on soft ground, because a slab spans very little and everything it carries goes almost straight down. Thickening the concrete to make up for a base you did not prepare is the most expensive way to buy a shorter life.
A membrane under an open drive is usually left out. Where the drive continues into a garage, the slab inside crosses the line where a damp-proof membrane becomes necessary, so the membrane is listed for that case: no figure here measures a slab's membrane, because the site's polythene page is a crawlspace barrier of a lighter grade than a slab takes.
How each line reads
- Base
- What the calculator gives for these dimensions, before anything is added.
- Allowance
- Cutting waste, a lap or spare stock — named, with where it comes from, and changeable on the row.
- Adjusted
- The base with its allowance on top.
- Order
- What to buy: the adjusted figure in whole boards, bags, rolls or lengths.
The order this happens in
Quantities do not tell you the sequence, and on this job the sequence is where the money goes wrong.
- Strip the topsoil out entirely. Concrete over organic ground settles as the ground rots.
- Lay and compact the sub-base in layers, checking the falls as you go — away from the building, always.
- Set the formwork to the finished levels, with the falls built into it.
- Fix the isolation strip against the house and anything else the slab meets, the slab's full depth, before the pour.
- Place the mesh on spacers in the upper third of the slab, where it does something.
- Pour, screed and finish in one go per panel, and cut or form the joints before the slab decides where they go.
- Cure for the full period. A driveway trafficked at three days is a driveway cracked at three years.
What this takeoff does not cover
- The drainage design. A channel and its pipe are listed where the water cannot soak away on the property, but where the water may go, and whether the surface may drain to the highway, are local requirements.
- The membrane's quantity. It is listed where the slab runs into a garage, and not measured: a slab's membrane is a heavier grade than the site's polythene page counts.
- Ground conditions and any dig-out beyond the stated base depth.
- Edge restraint, kerbs and the junction with the footpath or road: a dropped kerb or a new curb cut needs the local highway authority's consent.
- Reinforcement design. The mesh row is a nominal grid, not an engineered schedule.
- Surface finish: brushing, exposed aggregate, sealing or colour.
Quote check
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the concrete driveway quote check. Every line of it is read against these same calculators and your measurements. Quantities only, never prices.
What it leaves out
Every line this takeoff has that nothing on the quote reads as.
What it adds
Labour, removal, hire, fees — each named for what it is.
What to ask
One list of questions, ready to copy. Never a verdict.
More takeoffs
Other job takeoffs
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3 tradesConcrete, reinforcement and formwork for a ground slab from one set of dimensions.
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4 tradesBoards, footings, fixings and finish for a rectangular deck.
Run this takeoffSegmental retaining wall
4 tradesBlocks, levelling pad, drainage stone and reinforcement layers for a block retaining wall.
Run this takeoff
Frequently asked questions
- What does the concrete driveway takeoff give for a typical job?
- Opened at Driveway length 12 m · Driveway width 3 m · Slab thickness 0.13 m, it orders: Concrete Driveway, 4.5 m³; Concrete Control Joint Spacing, 3.75 m; Rebar, 16 x 12 m sticks. Opened at Driveway length 39 ft · Driveway width 10 ft · Slab thickness 5 in: Concrete Driveway, 6.02 cubic yards (concrete); Concrete Control Joint Spacing, 12.5 ft (maximum spacing); Rebar, 32 x 20 ft sticks. Every figure follows the dimensions you give it.
- Which calculators does the concrete driveway takeoff run?
- 3 calculators, one to a line: Concrete Driveway Calculator, Concrete Control Joint Spacing Calculator, Rebar Calculator. Each has a page of its own with its formula and its sources; the takeoff runs them all on one set of dimensions.
- What does the concrete driveway takeoff leave out?
- 6 things, each named on this page: The drainage design; The membrane's quantity; Ground conditions and any dig-out beyond the stated base depth; Edge restraint, kerbs and the junction with the footpath or road; Reinforcement design; Surface finish.
- Can I check a quote for this job against the takeoff?
- Yes. The concrete driveway quote check reads a quote's lines against these same calculators and your measurements, and reports what it leaves out, what it adds and what to ask. It reads quantities, never prices.