Concrete patios and alfresco floors in Bairnsdale VIC

Outdoor living, East Gippsland style

Long warm evenings and lake views make outdoor living a big part of life around Bairnsdale. A well-built concrete patio or alfresco floor gives you a durable, easy-care surface for dining, a barbecue or an outdoor kitchen, whether it sits under a roof, a pergola or open sky.

Levels and falls

The most important detail on any patio is water. A slab beside the house must fall away from the walls and doors, sit at the right height below the floor and weep holes, and drain to a grate, pit or garden rather than pooling. Where a patio meets an existing slab or step, we match levels carefully so there is no trip edge.

Finishes for patios

Honed concrete, ground back to show fine stone, gives a clean contemporary look under cover. Exposed aggregate suits open areas that see rain. Coloured concrete in charcoal or sandstone and stamped patterns like slate or timber board add character. For covered areas, a smooth trowelled finish sealed against food and drink spills is easy to keep clean.

Footings for roofs and pergolas

If a verandah, pergola or patio roof will go up later, posts may need footings or thickened slab sections. We coordinate with your builder or the roof supplier and allow for those loads before the pour.

Lakeside and sandy blocks

Around Paynesville, Eagle Point and Metung, sandy soils and a high water table mean careful compaction and sometimes a vapour barrier. We also consider salt air when choosing reinforcement cover and sealers.

Bairnsdale ground, East Gippsland weather and Shire rules

Bairnsdale sits on terraces above the Mitchell River just before it runs out into Lake King. The older streets on the higher terraces mostly stand on red-brown loam over clay, which holds a slab well once the soft topsoil is gone. Down on the river flats toward Lucknow, the Macleod Morass and the Mitchell's lower reaches, the soil turns to fine grey alluvial clay that stays wet after rain and has gone under in big floods. The rising country at Wy Yung, Eastwood and Granite Rock has duplex soils where a thin sandy top hides stiff, reactive clay, and the lakes towns of Paynesville, Eagle Point and Metung bring sand and a high water table. Summers are warm and dry with the odd scorching northerly, winter mornings can frost, and east coast lows can drop a month of rain in two days. A test hole goes in at every site visit, and we set the excavation, base, steel and curing to suit what comes out of it.

Inside your own fence line, a driveway, path or patio rarely needs a permit. Once the work leaves your title and runs over the verge, footpath or kerb, it requires consent from East Gippsland Shire Council, which looks after Bairnsdale, Paynesville, Lakes Entrance, Metung, Bruthen, Orbost and the surrounding districts. Access onto the Princes Highway or the Great Alpine Road is a state road and involves the Department of Transport and Planning as well. Flood overlays, bushfire attack level ratings, house slabs and larger sheds can bring a building surveyor and engineer into the job. Your quote spells out which of those applies.

What a Bairnsdale Concreting quote shows you

Our quotes are written up after we have stood on the site, and they break the work into the pieces you would want to question. You will see the area we measured, any demolition of old slabs, pavers, bitumen or gravel and where it will be tipped, how deep we plan to dig, the crushed rock we will bring in and how many compacted layers it goes down in, the concrete strength, how thick the slab will be, and the reinforcement plus the chairs that lift it, the surface finish or stone mix, the joint layout, pits and stormwater connections, edges, steps and sealer. A vehicle crossing permit from East Gippsland Shire, a concrete pump, a long wheelbarrow run behind a house, or protection for a neighbour's garden are each listed as their own line.

We do not publish rates per square metre. Around Bairnsdale a driveway can sit on free-draining red loam on the river terraces, on grey alluvial clay down on the Mitchell River flats, on heavy duplex clay up at Wy Yung, or on loose lake-edge sand at Paynesville, and those four sites need four different bases. A figure printed on a website would be wrong for most of them, so we look first and quote what your block actually needs.