Paving Northern Beaches

Yes. It's local, stays cooler underfoot than dark stone and suits the coastal look. It's softer than granite, so we seal it and recommend keeping it off heavy driveways.

Sydney guides put paving, supplied and laid on a compacted base, at about $100 to $165 a square metre for concrete pavers and $160 to $290 for natural stone such as sandstone (Yakka Labour, October 2026). Digging out, removing old paving, levels and steps, pool coping and carrying pavers down stairs change the price. Your price is set at the free site visit.

A light-coloured, non-slip stone or porcelain that stays cool underfoot. Pool fencing rules still apply once the paving is in, so we leave room for the fence.

Not always. We can lay paths and patios on compacted road base where the ground is firm. Driveways, soft or sandy ground and thin pavers usually need a slab.

Often, if the slab is sound and slopes the right way. Cracked or sunken slabs are best removed first.

Usually the base. Pavers laid on a thin or poorly compacted base, or with no edge restraint, settle, and water getting under through open joints washes the sand out. Tree roots and leaking pipes cause it too. The fix is to lift them, rebuild the base and relay with edging.

White is usually salt carried up by water through the base or mortar; it brushes off once dry and stops when the water does. Green or black is algae or moss in damp shade. A better fall, drainage and a clean, then sealing, deal with both.

Yes, flat paving can. NSW pool rules keep a 900 mm zone outside the fence clear of anything a child could climb, such as planters, raised edges, pots and steps, and 300 mm inside it. We plan paving levels and edges around that zone.

Usually. We bridge or work around large roots rather than cut them, and lay permeable paving or stepping stones on a sand bed, so water and air still reach the roots. A solid slab over the root zone of a big tree often harms it.

Closely, though rarely exactly. Sandstone colour varies from quarry to quarry and bed to bed, and old stone has weathered. Reclaimed sandstone, or new stone picked from samples laid beside the old, gets close, and new stone weathers towards the old over a year or two.

Usually not, for ground-level paving that drains to your stormwater system. Paving on the water side of a foreshore building line, in a heritage conservation area or on a heritage item needs approval. We check this at the site visit.