Concrete Driveway Calculator
Concrete for a driveway run, plus an apron or turning area if you have one.
Your result
Enter your driveway dimensions above to see how much concrete you need.
Thickness, reinforcement, jointing and sub-base depend on the ground, the drainage and what drives on it. A driveway that a car uses is a different proposition to one a truck or caravan uses. This works out concrete volume; your concreter or engineer works out whether the build-up is right.
Why a driveway is not just a long slab
Two things separate a driveway from a flat rectangle. The first is that it almost never is one — most driveways have an apron somewhere, whether that is a flare where it meets the street, a parking bay beside the run, or a turning area at the top. Leave it out and you under-order.
The second is thickness. A path carries people; a driveway carries a vehicle, repeatedly, in the same wheel tracks. Domestic driveways are commonly thicker than a general slab, and heavier vehicles need more again.
The surface area row
The result includes the total surface area as well as the volume, because that is the number you need for the other materials — the compacted road base underneath, the reinforcing mesh, and any sealer afterwards. Those are priced per square metre, not per cubic metre.
Common driveway thicknesses
General examples of what gets used, not a specification for your job:
- 100 mm — light domestic use, cars only, on good ground.
- 125 mm — the common domestic driveway thickness.
- 150 mm — regular heavier vehicles, caravans, boats, or reactive or poorly drained soil.
- 150 mm and reinforced — trucks, machinery, or anywhere a delivery vehicle will drive.
Thickness is not the only thing that keeps a driveway intact. A well-compacted sub-base under 100 mm outperforms 150 mm poured onto soft fill, and control joints at sensible spacing decide where it cracks — because it will crack somewhere.
Things that change how much you actually need
- Slope and falls. Driveways are built with a crossfall to shed water, and the concrete thickness is measured perpendicular to the surface. A steep drive usually consumes slightly more than the flat arithmetic.
- The crossover. The section between your boundary and the street is often controlled by your council, which may specify its own thickness and reinforcement. Check before you pour — it may need approval.
- Edges and thickenings. Many driveways are thickened along the edges, where the load concentrates and there is nothing beside them for support.
- An uneven sub-base. Any dip in the prepared surface fills with concrete before the slab starts.
Frequently asked questions
My driveway is an L shape. How do I enter it?
Split it into two rectangles. Enter the longer run as the driveway, and the other leg as the apron. Measure the legs so they do not overlap at the corner, or you will count that corner twice.
I only filled in one apron field and nothing changed.
That is deliberate. An apron needs both a length and a width — one alone would multiply by zero and quietly report the main run as the total, which looks exactly like a working answer. Both fields or neither.
What about a curved driveway?
Break it into rectangles that approximate the shape and add them, or measure the average width along the curve and use the centre-line length. Either gets you close enough for ordering, and the waste allowance absorbs the rest.
Does this include the road base underneath?
No — it is concrete only. Use the surface area from the result and your intended base depth to work out road base separately, and remember it compacts, so you buy more loose than the finished depth suggests.