How to install your own paver driveway: part 8 Finale

In the last blog , I discussed putting in the concrete edging for the paver driveway.   In this blog I discuss wrapping up the last details of the paver driveway and my cost of the installation vs how much a contractor would charge.

To wrap up the installation, I decided I needed some bull nose coping at the entrance of the porch. The bull nose coping provides a rounded edge on the charcoal brick paver which mean less chance of tripping when stepping up on the porch.  Unfortunately Lowes could not get me some so this means taking the hour and half long drive to Oldcastle in Orlando.

Im not sure when Im going to take this drive.  But when I do I will also pick up some polymeric sand and sealer.  The polymeric sand I wiil probably go with is NextGel jointing sand which can be found at this link  This comes in at $24 per bag that covers about 60 to 120  square feet for narrow joints.

This sand is better for my application then the sand found at Lowes, because the sand at Lowe's requires a minimum of a 1/4" joint to fill.  My joints are 1/8" and the NextGel sand says it can be use on joints as small as 1/16".

The process of applying sand is: clean off the surface with a leaf blower.   Spread sand over the driveway with a broom.  Use a vibratory compactor on low setting to move the sand down the joint and then spread more sand with a broom.  Finally, clear off the surface with a leaf blower and wet the driveway.

And that is it.  Since the directions say to wait 30 days before the sealer is applied I did not bother to get the sealer at this point in time.  But this link has the stuff Im thinking about using.

Since I was not able to get the joint sand and sealer this weekend and because Im getting the final inspection done shortly....I feel that Im going to wait to apply the sand until the building department passes my work.   If they make me tear up my driveway for some reason I do not want to have to contend with the joint sand.  The survey is expected to happen on Tuesday.

Below are a few pictures without the joint sand.

So for this blog I'm jumping the gun a little and asking the question: how much did I save by doing the project myself.   Based on my friends paver driveway installation, the cost for a contractor where they chose the lowest of three bids the job comes in at $10 a square foot.   Since I have 750 square feet a contractor would have charged $7500.

It took me 99 hours to install my driveway minus the sealer and sand.

A break down of my expenses are as follows:

Dollars   Materials
337.33 terex excavator rental
330        dumpster
160        geotextile
332        tamper
1656.2    pavers
370       1.5" crushed concrete
308       3 /8" crushed concrete
              Total base depth 10"....which was overkill.
56.55     concrete
54        leaf blower
112        sand
219.25    Sealer
45           Bullnose coping

My total cost is $3980 resulting in $3520 savings.  That's a whopping 46 % saved.   Cue the cash register sound.

Happy Building.

The Dr.