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Concreters Medowie

Postcode
2318
Council
Port Stephens
Setting
Large lots
Ground
Tomago sandbeds, deep fine sand
Typical work
Long driveways and shed slabs on large lots
Quote a Medowie job Call (02) 4012 6377

Concreters in Medowie, 2318

Medowie is 34 km north of Newcastle by road, north-east of Raymond Terrace and beside RAAF Base Williamtown, where many residents are stationed. Medowie Road is the spine of the town and Ferodale Road the other axis, with Nelson Bay Road at the southern end. A small rural town until the boom of the 1980s, it has grown at every census since 2001. The homes are separate houses on large lots, about two in three with four or more bedrooms, and new estates are staged along the two main roads under the Medowie Planning Strategy. Big lots, big houses and room for a shed is the shape of the work.

Sand, not clay

Medowie sits at 6 m on the Tomago sandbeds, fine sand averaging 20 m deep and reaching 50 m in places over clay and rock. Sand drains freely and compacts well, but it will not stand at a cut edge the way clay does, so edge formwork and a stable base matter more here than shrinkage control. Council’s flood study found parts of Medowie go under in quite small floods, and the town drains towards Grahamstown Dam, so a low lot’s levels are checked against council mapping and washout stays on site.

Room for everything

The Medowie driveway is a long one, from the road to a house set well back, and it is the largest single item on most lots. Behind it goes a shed or garage slab, then a patio or alfresco off a four-bedroom house, and a path out to the shed. The houses of the 1980s are old enough for a first driveway to be lifted and replaced, and the new lots along Medowie Road and Ferodale Road come with only what the builder priced in.

Finishes on the sandbeds

Plain broom is the sensible finish for a long rural driveway and for anything under a shed. Exposed aggregate goes on the front of the newer estate homes, and coloured concrete on the alfresco. At the crossing Port Stephens Council accepts any finish that is not slippery, and says some aggregate finishes qualify.

Pricing on the sandbeds

Expect, per square metre supplied and laid, driveways from $95 to $185 by finish, exposed aggregate $130 to $185, paths $90 to $130, patios and alfresco $100 to $180, shed and garage slabs $110 to $150, and lifting old concrete adds about $35. Length is what moves a Medowie price, because a driveway to a set-back house is several times the area of a suburban one. Measure it into the calculator, read the cost guide, the Section 138 guide for the $320 Port Stephens form, the Hunter clay guide for the contrast with clay inland, and the specification for what a quote should set out.

Nearby: Raymond Terrace, Nelson Bay

Questions

Medowie questions

Our Medowie lot is on council's flood map. Does that set the level for a shed or alfresco slab?

It sets the starting point. Port Stephens Council's development control plan puts the flood planning level at the 1 per cent AEP flood in 2100 plus 0.5 m of freeboard, or 0.3 m where the risk is overland flow, and council's Medowie flood study found some areas go under in floods as small as one in one to one in five. A slab on such a lot is set against that mapping, and the level is agreed with the concreter before the formwork goes in.

My Medowie road has no kerb or gutter. What is the crossing supposed to look like?

Council does not yet publish a standard driveway drawing for any case, so the detail for an unkerbed frontage comes with the approval itself. After the officer's site visit the approval carries the drawings and any site-specific requirements for that road, and the concreter builds to those rather than to a guessed detail, so ask that the quote be priced against what council issues. The same form covers building, rebuilding or removing a driveway, so widening an old rural crossing goes through it too.

Does building on sand change how a Medowie slab goes in?

It changes the preparation more than the concrete. The Tomago sandbeds are fine sand to an average depth of 20 m, and sand compacts well but has no hold at an open edge, so the formwork is pinned firmly and the base is wetted and compacted before the mesh goes down. Medowie also drains to the Campvale Canal, whose stormwater is pumped into Grahamstown Dam, so the concreter keeps slurry and washout on the lot rather than in the gutter.

Does a driveway in Medowie need council approval?

Yes, from your property line to the road. Port Stephens Council takes a Driveway Application Form on its own online forms site, with a published residential fee of $320 per crossing, a site visit by a council officer, and standard drawings issued with the approval for the contractor to build to. Council states that a development application covers only the part of the driveway inside your property. Council was not on the NSW Planning Portal's Section 138 list when checked on 29 September 2026.

Next step

Get the Medowie job quoted

Maitland Concrete Works is a referral service. Each enquiry goes to one independent concreter working the Maitland, Cessnock and Port Stephens council areas, who visits the block, measures, quotes in writing and does the work.

Get it measured and quoted

Tell us what is being poured and the suburb. An independent local concreter rings you back to book the site visit.

Or ring (02) 4012 6377

Call (02) 4012 6377 Get a quote