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Concrete driveways in Winston-Salem, NC are priced per square foot, so the size of the pour sets your base number: a single-car drive is usually 12 by 30 feet, about 360 square feet, and a two-car drive 24 by 40 feet, about 960. Seven things move the price from there, and three of them account for most of the spread between two quotes on the same driveway. Reinforcement adds roughly 10 to 15 percent over a plain pour. Breaking out and hauling off an existing driveway adds roughly 15 to 25 percent. A failed base that has to be rebuilt moves a quote more than anything else on the list.
Updated 2026-08-10 · Winston-Salem Concrete Co, Winston-Salem, NC
Concrete material is only part of the number. The rest covers excavation and grading, the compacted aggregate base, forms, reinforcement, the pour and finish, and removal of whatever was there before.
That base is why two quotes on the same driveway can differ by thousands. A drive being poured over well-compacted gravel is a different job to one where the old slab has to come out, the sub-base rebuilt, and drainage corrected.
Concrete is priced per square foot, so the first thing to do is measure. Below are the driveway sizes we quote most often in Winston-Salem and how they compare to each other. A single-car drive at 12 by 30 feet is the baseline in this table, so a two-car drive is not twice the price, it is closer to two and a half times.
| Driveway size | Approx. sq ft | Relative to a single-car drive |
|---|---|---|
| Single car, 12 × 30 ft | 360 | Baseline |
| Single car, 12 × 40 ft | 480 | About 1.3× |
| Long rural drive, 12 × 60 ft | 720 | About 2× |
| Two car, 24 × 40 ft | 960 | About 2.7× |
| Two car plus turnaround, 24 × 60 ft | 1,440 | About 4× |
This is the table to have in front of you when you are comparing two bids. It is also why we quote on site rather than over the phone: until someone has looked at your base and your grade, any number is a guess.
| What changes | Effect on your price |
|---|---|
| Square footage | The single biggest driver. Priced per square foot, so measure before you call. |
| Reinforcement, wire or fibre | Adds roughly 10 to 15 percent over a plain pour. Worth it on any drive carrying a work truck. |
| Tear-out of an existing driveway | Adds roughly 15 to 25 percent, depending on slab thickness and how easily a machine can reach it. |
| Slab thickness | 4 inches is standard. Going to 5 or 6 inches for heavy vehicles adds material across the whole pour. |
| Base condition | The wildcard. Sound compacted gravel can lower the price. A failed base that has to be rebuilt raises it more than anything else here. |
| Grading and drainage correction | Priced separately from the concrete. On a sloped or poorly draining site it can be a large share of the job. |
| Finish | Broom finish is the baseline. Exposed aggregate costs more, stamped costs the most. |
| Concrete truck access | Tight lots, long wheelbarrow runs and pump trucks all add labour to the same square footage. |
Asphalt costs less up front, commonly 35 to 45 percent less per square foot than concrete in this market. On the same two-car driveway that is a real difference at signing.
Concrete lasts considerably longer, commonly 30 years or more against asphalt's 15 to 20, and it needs no sealcoating cycle. Asphalt wants resealing every three to five years and softens in Piedmont summer heat. Asphalt also cannot be placed below about 50°F, so paving effectively stops here from late November, while concrete can be poured year-round with cold-weather practices.
For a home you plan to stay in, concrete is usually the better value despite the higher entry price. For a long rural drive where square footage dominates, asphalt's lower rate per foot starts to matter more.
Two contractors can look at the same driveway and quote very differently because they are pricing different work. One may be planning to pour over the existing base; the other may have found it has failed and be pricing a rebuild. One may be quoting unreinforced at 4 inches and the other reinforced at 5. Ask every quote to state slab thickness, whether it is reinforced, and what happens to the existing surface, and the gap usually explains itself.
Useful reference: Winston-Salem concrete driveway cost data
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