Builders hand over a house, a driveway and a letterbox. The strips down each side, the run to the clothesline and the line from the gate to the front door are left as turf or road base, and within one wet winter they are mud. Paths are the smallest job on this site and the one owners say they should have done first.
Where paths go
Down the side of the house, linking front to back so bins, mowers and muddy boots stay outside. From the driveway or gate to the front door, usually in the same finish as the driveway so the frontage reads as one piece. Around the back, to the clothesline, the shed and the garden tap.
Falls, walls and drainage
A path beside a house has two jobs: carry people, and carry water away. It is set below the damp course, falls away from the wall and leaves weep holes clear. On clay blocks a path poured hard against the house with no fall is how damp problems start, so levels are settled at the measure, not on pour day. Where a downpipe or a pit sits in the run, the path is formed around it.
Finish
Broom finished plain concrete is the default: it grips when wet and costs least. Exposed aggregate suits a front path that continues a decorative driveway. Coloured concrete sits between the two. Joints are cut at regular spacing so the path cracks where it is told to.
Pour it with something else
A path on its own carries the fixed cost of getting a crew and a load to site. Poured alongside a patio, a shed slab or a driveway, it is close to the cheapest concrete you will buy.
Paths run $90 to $130 per m². Check the cost guide, the specification and, if your path meets the street, the Section 138 guide, then request a measure.
Published rates are a guide for budgeting. The price for your job is the one on the written quote after a site measure.