Concreters in Rutherford, 2320
Rutherford is Maitland’s western suburb, four kilometres out along the New England Highway, with Rutherford Marketplace on the corner of Alexandra Avenue, Maitland Airport at its western end and the industrial belt of the old racecourse and munitions site along the highway. Aberglasslyn Road runs north into the release area of the same name, and Anambah and Farley are being planned around the edges. Thirteen thousand people live here, nearly nine in ten in separate houses, with a median age of thirty five and more households paying a mortgage than in any other established Maitland suburb. That is a suburb of family homes on standard lots, and the concrete follows.
Clay hills, not river flats
Rutherford sits west of the Hunter floodplain on the low rolling hills council describes as heavier clay soils away from the river. A geotechnical report council hosts for the adjoining Oakhampton Heights describes residual clay of medium to high plasticity, which is the technical way of saying it swells and shrinks with the weather. It is not the deep alluvium of the town centre, but it moves, and a slab poured on it without a compacted base moves with it. Small pockets of the suburb sit inside the Maitland West Mine Subsidence District.
The work the suburb produces
The original driveways on Rutherford’s family streets are reaching the end of their life, cracked into plates or dropped at the kerb, and removal and replacement is the most common enquiry. Widening a single strip for a second car comes next. Sheds are everywhere here, and a shed or garage slab with thickened edges is the second job on most lists. Side paths and a rear patio fill out the yard, and the estate overflow from Aberglasslyn brings first driveways on fresh lots.
Finishes that suit the streets
Plain broom finish remains the working choice for a driveway that has to last another generation and for everything under a shed. Coloured concrete suits the brick and tile of the older streets. Exposed aggregate arrives with the newer homes near Aberglasslyn Road. On the crossing, Maitland City Council keeps the kerb, gutter and layback plain and allows a special surface over the footway if it is not slippery.
What it costs in Rutherford
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. On these lots the figure that moves is what is found under the old slab once it is up. Price the job with the calculator, read the cost guide, the Section 138 guide for the $435 application, the Hunter clay guide for why the base matters on clay, and the specification for what the quote should say.
Nearby: Aberglasslyn, Maitland, Lochinvar, Gillieston Heights