Barrhaven was founded in 1968 and is still being built. The gap between its oldest and newest driveways is about fifty years.
West of Greenbank the housing is 1960s and 1970s. Many of those driveways have been overlaid more than once and have no recoverable base underneath. Remove and repave generally runs $8 to $14 per square foot and it is often the only honest option.
Stonebridge, Half Moon Bay and Quinn's Pointe are young. New asphalt should cure 6 to 12 months before a first seal, then be resealed every 2 to 3 years. Sealing a standard double runs about $150 to $350.
The City states plainly that pavement age is not a factor in assessing pavement performance and that condition is what matters. We probe the base and price what we find, which sometimes means telling you to spend nothing this year.
A new broom-finished concrete driveway wide enough to serve both the double and the single garage door. Control joints are cut in a regular grid so the slab cracks along straight lines instead of at random, and the apron was formed with a clean edge where it meets the curb. The caution tape stayed up while the concrete cured, so nothing crossed the surface until it had gained strength.
Most suburbs get their shape from roads and land prices. Barrhaven got part of its shape from soil. In 1977 Ottawa’s suburban expansion was redirected to Barrhaven from Carlsbad Springs because of Leda clay concerns in the soil at Carlsbad Springs. A planning decision about where tens of thousands of people would eventually live turned partly on what the ground could carry. That puts a homeowner’s driveway question in proportion. Ottawa’s Champlain Sea clay is unusually sensitive, with published sensitivity values of 65 to 85 and natural water content near 64 percent against a liquid limit near 52 percent. Disturbed, it loses strength. Saturated, it holds water where you least want it. None of that means every Barrhaven lot is problem ground. It means the honest way to price a driveway is to check the lot, and to keep the excavation depth and the granular depth on the written quote where you can hold us to them.
Barrhaven was established in the 1960s by developer Mel Barr, founded in 1968 and incorporated in 1978. Old Barrhaven west of Greenbank dates from the 1960s and 1970s, Longfields and the surrounding streets expanded through the 1970s and 1980s, and the population reached 103,234 in 2021. There is one piece of history here that paving contractors should know. In 1977 Ottawa’s suburban expansion was redirected to Barrhaven from Carlsbad Springs because of Leda clay concerns in the soil at Carlsbad Springs. An entire suburb was relocated because of what the ground would and would not carry. That is how seriously this region takes its clay, and it is why we probe before quoting.
We start by establishing roughly when the house and driveway went in, because a 1970s driveway and a 2015 driveway need opposite conversations before anyone measures anything.
We measure the real area, check the fall from the road to the garage and probe the existing base for soft spots. That single test decides between maintenance, overlay and full replacement.
If the base is sound we say so and quote maintenance. If it is not, we quote a rebuild with the depths written down. You get the depths either way so the price is comparable.
Excavate, place granular in compacted lifts, pave inside the temperature window and walk the edges, apron and drainage with you before we leave the site.
Old Barrhaven west of Greenbank is largely a replacement market. Stonebridge, Half Moon Bay and Quinn's Pointe are a maintenance market. These are Ottawa ranges and every job is measured and priced on site.
$0.25 to $0.55 per sq ft sealing
Roughly $150 to $350 for a 600 to 800 sq ft double
Crack repair visit $200 to $500
First seal only after 6 to 12 months of curing
Reseal every 2 to 3 years, not annually
$2.50 to $6 per sq ft
Only honest where probing shows sound granular
Surface level cracking, no movement underfoot
Grade must still fall away from the house
We say no to this where the base is gone
$8 to $14 per sq ft
For driveways overlaid twice with no base left
Edges ragged and the original grade lost
Granular mixed into the subgrade
Quoted by excavation depth and granular depth
The older core west of Greenbank is 1960s and 1970s housing, and Longfields and the streets around it expanded through the 1970s and 1980s. The oldest driveways are therefore five decades into service and most have already been resurfaced at least once.
When a driveway has been overlaid twice, the surface is high, the edges are ragged, water no longer runs off the way the original grade intended, and the granular beneath has usually mixed with the subgrade. There is nothing left to build on. We do not decide that from the date on the house. The City's own position is that pavement age is not a factor in assessing pavement performance, and condition is what matters, so we probe.
Stonebridge, Half Moon Bay, Quinn's Pointe and the streets built alongside them are a completely different conversation. Those driveways are young, and the work that serves them is keeping water out of a base that is still intact.
The sequence is straightforward. New asphalt cures for 6 to 12 months before its first seal, then reseals every 2 to 3 years. Cracks get sealed as they appear rather than left open, because an open crack is a direct route for water into the base. The value in calling early is that the answer is often not yet. A contractor who quotes replacement on a twelve-year-old driveway with a sound base is selling the wrong thing.
Whatever the job, the City rules apply the same way in Barrhaven West and Barrhaven East: a private approach 2.4 m to 9.0 m wide, no more than 50 percent of frontage, and at least half the front lawn kept as soft landscaping. Artificial turf does not count.
Any workmanship warranty is set out in your written quote, job by job. Call (343) 314-8525.
Almost entirely. Old Barrhaven west of Greenbank is 1960s and 1970s housing, so those driveways are typically at or past the end of their service life and the realistic quote is remove and repave at roughly $8 to $14 per square foot. Half Moon Bay is recent enough that most driveways there are maintenance candidates: crack repair, then sealing every 2 to 3 years. Same suburb, opposite jobs.
Probably, but we check rather than assume. The test is the base. If we probe and find soft, saturated or contaminated granular, no surface treatment will hold, and overlaying it just buys a year or two. If the base is somehow still sound, an overlay at $2.50 to $6 per square foot is a legitimate spend. We will tell you which one you have.
Not immediately. New asphalt needs 6 to 12 months to cure before its first sealing, because the volatiles have to leave the mat first. Sealing too early traps them and softens the surface. After that first seal, every 2 to 3 years is the normal interval, at roughly $0.25 to $0.55 per square foot, so about $150 to $350 for a standard 600 to 800 square foot double.
No. Both wards are within the City of Ottawa and the same by-laws apply. Access By-law 2026-139 took effect 8 April 2026 and Zoning By-law 2026-50 was enacted 11 March 2026. A residential access permit is $193 with six to eight weeks of processing, a private approach must be 2.4 m to 9.0 m wide and no more than 50 percent of frontage, and resurfacing at the same size needs no permit.