Heavy-duty and light-duty sectionsNight and weekend phasingQuoted per project after a site visit
Commercial paving in Ottawa, sized for the vehicles that actually use it
Commercial paving in Ottawa is quoted per project after a site visit, because the price depends on the heaviest vehicles using each area, not on square footage alone. Paving Experts Ottawa sizes the base and asphalt to your traffic, phases the work so the site stays open, and lists City permits and securities as separate lines.
Structural section matched to the vehicles using the property
Work phased so the site keeps operating
Night and weekend windows where daytime access cannot be lost
Granular compacted to at least 98 percent Standard Proctor
Discuss a commercial project
Tell us the property type, the approximate area and what uses it.
Commercial work is quoted per project, not per square foot.
What changes when it is commercial
The asphalt is the same material. Almost everything around it is different.
Load, not area
A car park and a loading bay on the same property are two different pavement designs. We size the granular and the asphalt against the heaviest vehicle that regularly uses each area, not against an average.
Phased around your hours
Most commercial properties cannot close. We break the work into sections, keep circulation and access live, and move staging as each section cures. Night and weekend windows where daytime access cannot be interrupted.
Permits and securities
Work touching the City right of way needs a road cut permit, a security deposit and a reinstatement obligation that runs for two years. That paperwork is part of the job, and it is part of the schedule.
450 mmGranular B Type II in the City's heavy-duty pavement section
98%Standard Proctor compaction required of granular
$3,000Road cut security deposit for a single cut
10 daysBusiness days for road cut permit approval
The heavy-duty section, written out
The City of Ottawa publishes the pavement structure it will accept for heavy-duty use, and it is a useful benchmark because it is public and specific. Heavy duty is 40 mm of HL-3 or Superpave 12.5 surface course, 50 mm of HL-8 or Superpave 19.0 binder course, 150 mm of Granular A and 450 mm of Granular B Type II, with asphalt cement at PG 58-34 and Traffic Level B, and granular compacted to at least 98 percent Standard Proctor maximum dry density. Light duty drops to 50 mm of surface course over 150 mm of Granular A and 300 mm of Granular B Type II. The difference between those two sections is roughly 200 mm of granular and a binder course, and it is the difference between a surface that carries trucks and one that deforms under them. Any commercial quote should name which section it is building.
Our Process
How a commercial project runs
1
Site visit and traffic assessment
We walk the property, identify which areas take trucks and which take cars, check existing failures and establish where access absolutely cannot be interrupted.
2
Design the section and the phasing
Structural design per area, then a phase plan showing which section closes when, how vehicles circulate around it, and which work needs a night or weekend window.
3
Permits and securities in place
Where the work touches the City right of way we handle the road cut permit, the degradation fee and the security deposit before mobilising. Approval takes 10 business days.
4
Build, open, move on
Each phase gets excavated, built, paved and reopened before the next one starts, so the property never loses more access than the plan said it would.
What the City charges when work touches its right of way
Published City of Ottawa figures. Work entirely inside private property generally does not attract them, but they are worth reading either way because they show how the City values pavement condition.
Road cut permit
$296 per street segment
Required for anything touching the City right of way
Approval takes 10 business days
Work must begin within 60 days of issue
Peak hour restrictions apply, 7 to 9 am and 3:30 to 6 pm on weekdays
Charged on the greater of the actual cut size or 5 square metres
Pavement 3 years or less $61.70, 3 to 5 years $55.10
5 to 10 years $46.40, 10 to 15 years $35.40
15 to 20 years $25.80, over 20 years $17.70
Resurfacing security $50 per square metre with a $3,000 minimum
Held for two years after final reinstatement
Commercial access permit $334 for 1 to 49 parking spaces
$669 for 50 to 99 spaces and $853 for 100 or more
Heavy duty or light duty, and where each applies on your property. A single depth quoted across a site with a loading dock on it has not been designed, it has been averaged.
Ask whether they can post the securities
A single road cut carries a $3,000 security deposit, and resurfacing security runs $50 per square metre with a $3,000 minimum. A contractor able to carry that is operating at a different scale than one who cannot.
Ask about the two-year reinstatement obligation
Road cut security is held for two years after final reinstatement. That is a two-year commitment to come back. Ask directly whether the company intends to be the one holding it.
Ask how the phasing keeps you open
A phase plan should name which areas close, when, and how traffic moves around each one. If nobody has asked what your delivery schedule looks like, nobody has planned the phasing.
Getting a commercial project started
Commercial work is quoted per project after a site visit, so the fastest route to a real number is a conversation about the property.
Call the office
Talk through the property, the vehicles that use it and the hours it has to keep operating. (343) 314-8525
We walk the property, identify which areas take trucks and which take cars, check the existing failures and establish where access cannot be interrupted.
Commercial paving is four structural problems, not one
The single most common structural mistake on commercial property is building the whole site to one depth. It feels fair and it prices neatly, and it produces a surface that is over-built where cars park and under-built where trucks turn.
Pavement damage does not scale in proportion to vehicle weight. It scales far faster than that, which is why a handful of loaded delivery trucks a week does more to a section than several hundred cars a day. A parking field, a drive aisle, a loading apron and a bin pad on the same property are four different structural problems, and the honest way to price the site is to design each one and then add them up.
The City of Ottawa publishes the sections it accepts, and the gap between heavy duty and light duty comes down to a binder course and 150 mm of granular. That is not a finish upgrade. It is the difference between a bin pad that stays flat and one that shows a permanent depression where the truck stops every Tuesday.
Phasing commercial paving so the property stays open
Phasing starts with a question that has nothing to do with asphalt: what has to keep working. Which entrance is the fire route. Where do the deliveries arrive and when. Which stalls are the accessible ones, because those cannot simply be relocated to the far corner for a fortnight. Where does the waste collection vehicle need to reach, and on which day.
From that you get a plan. The site divides into sections that can be closed one at a time, with a circulation route around each closure and a defined sequence. Each section gets excavated, built, paved and reopened before the next one starts, and cure time is scheduled into it rather than discovered at the end.
Where daytime closure is impossible, the work moves to nights or weekends. That is normal on retail, medical and industrial sites, and it changes the cost, so it belongs in the quote rather than in a conversation on the first morning.
Any workmanship warranty is set out in your written quote, job by job. Call (343) 314-8525 to book a site visit.
Commercial paving questions
Can you pave a commercial property without closing it?
Usually, by phasing. We divide the site into sections, keep circulation and emergency access live at all times, and complete one section before opening the next. Where daytime access genuinely cannot be interrupted, we work nights or weekends instead. The phase plan is part of the quote, not something worked out on the first morning.
What is the difference between heavy duty and light duty pavement?
The City's heavy-duty section is 40 mm of HL-3 or Superpave 12.5 surface over 50 mm of HL-8 or Superpave 19.0 binder, on 150 mm of Granular A and 450 mm of Granular B Type II. Light duty is 50 mm of surface course on 150 mm of Granular A and 300 mm of Granular B Type II. The heavy-duty section adds a binder course and 150 mm more granular, and that is what lets it carry trucks and buses instead of deforming under them.
Do you work nights and weekends?
Yes, where the property requires it. It is also worth knowing that work in the City right of way is restricted during peak hours, 7 to 9 in the morning and 3:30 to 6 in the afternoon on weekdays, so some elements of a job have to happen outside those windows regardless of what the property owner would prefer.
What permits does commercial paving in Ottawa need?
Work entirely inside private property generally does not need a road cut permit, but anything touching the City right of way does. A road cut permit is $296 per street segment, plus a pavement degradation fee. Commercial access permits run $334 for 1 to 49 parking spaces, $669 for 50 to 99 and $853 for 100 or more. From 1 March 2026 a Hardscaping Contractor Licence is mandatory in Ottawa.
How is a commercial paving job priced?
Per project, after a site assessment. There is no meaningful per square foot number for commercial work because the structural section, the phasing, the drainage, the permits and the access constraints vary enormously between properties. Anyone quoting a commercial lot by area over the phone is quoting a light-duty residential build and calling it something else.
Get a commercial paving project scoped
We walk the property, size the section by area and put a phase plan in the quote.
