Concreters in Raymond Terrace, 2324
Raymond Terrace is the old river port at the meeting of the Hunter and Williams rivers, about twenty six kilometres north of Newcastle and the largest town in the Port Stephens council area. The Pacific Highway has bypassed it since 1998, so Adelaide Street is the old highway through town, William Street and Port Stephens Street are the shopping district, King Street is the former main street, and Fitzgerald Bridge crosses the Williams just above the junction. Grahamstown Dam sits beside the eastern suburbs. Thirteen and a half thousand people live here, about four in five in separate houses and most of the rest in semi-detached homes, and the town grew fourfold between the 1950s and the early 1990s, which dates most of the driveways.
The lower Hunter floodplain
The town sits on river sediments where two rivers meet, protected by the lower Hunter levee system built through the middle of last century, and council notes that lower parts still flooded in 2007. Port Stephens sets its flood planning level at the 1 percent flood in the year 2100 plus half a metre. Alluvial ground like this is soft and moisture sensitive, swelling and shrinking with the seasons, so a slab needs a cut and compacted base, mesh on chairs and joints cut early. On the lowest streets the finished level of a slab and its falls to the street are checked before anything is poured. No part of Port Stephens is inside a mine subsidence district.
The work the town produces
Raymond Terrace is replacement country. Original driveways from the post-war and 1970s streets have cracked and dropped, and removal and replacement is the steady enquiry, often with a widening so two cars fit. Sheds and carports are everywhere on these flat lots, so a shed or garage slab is the second job on most lists. Rear patios and side paths follow. Kings Hill on the northern edge adds first driveways and alfresco slabs on new lots, under council’s strict rules for stormwater draining towards Grahamstown Dam.
Finishes and the crossing
Plain broom finish and coloured concrete suit the brick and fibro streets of the town, and exposed aggregate arrives with the Kings Hill homes. Port Stephens Council is the most relaxed of the three councils on this site about the crossing finish: any non-slip finish is acceptable, including some aggregate finishes, with a lipless layback at an upright kerb.
What it costs in Raymond Terrace
Guide rates per square metre, supplied and laid: plain driveways $95 to $130, coloured $115 to $160, exposed aggregate $130 to $185, paths $90 to $130, patios and alfresco $100 to $180, shed and garage slabs $110 to $150, with removal adding about $35. What moves a price on the low streets is the base and the levels. Bracket the job with the calculator, read the cost guide, the Section 138 guide for council’s $320 form, the Hunter clay guide for floodplain ground, and the specification for the quote.