Home/Alfresco & pool surrounds
Alfresco slabs, wraparounds and pool surrounds.
The concrete that goes around the house rather than in front of it — alfresco areas, wraparound paths, shed slabs and pool surrounds across Melbourne's eastern and south-eastern suburbs.
Got it — thanks.
We'll be in touch shortly to arrange a time to come and look at the job. If it's urgent, give us a call.
01 — What we pour
Four jobs that all get treated like a driveway.
Smaller than a driveway, and just as easy to get wrong. The same things matter: what's underneath, where the water goes, and where the joints land.
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Alfresco slabs
The area under the roofline that turns into the part of the house you actually use in summer. Levels have to work with the house slab and the door thresholds, and the fall has to take water away from the building, not into it.
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Wraparounds and side paths
Down the side, around the back, out to the shed. Narrow pours where access is tight and every barrow has to come past the side gate — which is exactly why they get quoted badly by people who haven't looked at the job.
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Pool surrounds
Poured to the coping, with the falls set so water runs away from the pool rather than back into it, and a finish that isn't slippery when it's wet and bare feet are on it.
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Shed and garage slabs
Built for what's actually going on them. A slab holding a car hoist, a boat or a workshop full of gear isn't the same slab as one holding a mower and some shelving — and that difference belongs on the quote.
02 — The cheaper way to do it
Pour it in the same run as the driveway.
Most of the cost of a small pour isn't the concrete. It's getting set up: the excavator on site, the formwork, the crew, the truck booked and turning up.
- One mobilisation instead of two, which is where the saving actually comes from.
- One set of levels across the whole property, so the drive, the path and the alfresco tie together.
- The same batch and the same finish, so it doesn't look like three jobs done by three people.
- One disruption to the house rather than a second one next season.
If the budget won't stretch to all of it, we'll quote it all anyway and stage it — so the price is locked and you're not re-shopping the second half in a year.
03 — Builders, landscapers & pool builders
If you need a date that holds.
A good share of this work already comes through builders, landscapers and pool builders working across the same ground. What they're buying isn't a price — it's a concreter who quotes off the plans, turns up on the booked date, and doesn't need chasing.
- Slab pricing off the plans, before you're committed on site.
- One point of contact, and it's the person doing the work.
- A pour date that holds, because your lock-up date depends on it.
- Straight answers about weather rather than silence and a no-show.
04 — Recent work
Slabs, surrounds and wraparounds.
05 — Questions
Before you decide on a finish.
What finish should I use around a pool?
Something with grip, because it'll be walked on wet and barefoot. Exposed aggregate and stipple finishes both work; a smooth trowelled finish generally doesn't. Colour matters too — a very dark slab in full sun gets hot underfoot in a Melbourne summer.
Can you match the alfresco to my driveway?
Closely, yes — same finish, same aggregate, same colour. Exactly, no. Separate pours never match perfectly, even from the same plant on the same day. Doing them in one mobilisation gets you as close as it's possible to get.
Access down the side of my house is tight. Is that a problem?
It's a cost, not a problem. Narrow access means barrowing or pumping instead of running a chute straight off the truck, and that's labour. It's also the main reason side-path quotes vary so much — anyone who quotes it without walking the access is guessing.
Do small slabs still need mesh and a proper base?
Yes. Reactive clay doesn't care how big your slab is. A thin, unreinforced path poured onto uncompacted ground is the job most likely to crack in its first summer, and it's also the job most often quoted without any spec at all.
Can this be done after the driveway, later on?
Of course. We'll quote both now so you know the real number, and you can stage it. It costs a bit more overall than doing it in one go, but it beats rushing a decision or getting a surprise later.
06 — Get a quote
Free on-site quote for your slab.
Tell us what you're thinking and we'll come and look at it — including the access, which is the part that decides the price.
- Phone
- 04XX XXX XXX
- Based in
- Ringwood, Victoria
- Covering
- Melbourne's east & south-east
- Insured
- $20M public liability
- ABN
- 41 700 862 143
Got it — thanks.
We'll be in touch shortly to arrange a time to come and look at the job. If it's urgent, give us a call.