[Advice Needed] My Driveway Is Too Steep. What Can I Do?

blitzzbargain on 13/04/2019 - 19:13
Last edited 13/04/2019 - 20:32

Hi All,

I would like some advice from Ozbargainers here about my steep driveway.
I bought this investment property in South Eastern Melbourne about 3 years ago (100k more than the previous owner bought in 2013) - I paid a reasonable price I reckon.
I love this house, it has a beautiful view/scenery, however, the drawback is the driveway is too steep, only a SUV or similar can drive up to the garage My Driveway because of the steepness due to ground clearance required.

What concerns me is that the house price could be affected because of the driveway as it can discourage a potential buyer in the future purely because of the driveway.

Thus, I am looking for a solution or do-nothing of this situation. Please advise.

One of the ideas is to turn the front lawn as parking spaces located at the lower end of the house (i.e. the start of the driveway).

Thank you All.

Home & Garden

Comments

      • brad1-8tsi on 15/04/2019 - 13:15

        But what happens? How can the vehicle scrape on a flat concrete slab?

        • iChopstick on 15/04/2019 - 15:36
          +2

          Like this

          • abuch47 on 15/04/2019 - 18:02

            @iChopstick: My car does this and its stock height and my driveway is less than half as steep as OPs.

            Can see why its an issue.

  • [Deactivated] on 15/04/2019 - 11:20
    +1

    Sell it to me, I got SUV. Problem solved.

  • alienurbanite on 15/04/2019 - 12:22

    An option would to buy the plot next door, apply for commercial zoning permit, and build a low gradient ramp that extends into the next plot which also doubles as a parking lot.

    Alternatively, you can just now worry about it.

  • Ugly on 15/04/2019 - 12:29
    +1

    Is lowering the floor an option? You could Break out the slab, excavate down say 1m and re-lay the driveway & garage floor at the new level?
    A competent builder should be able to under-pin the existing walls (basically extend them downwards to the new level), so you wouldn't have to demolish the whole garage.

    • THICKnSLOW on 17/04/2019 - 07:30

      Add a hoist or a vehicle stacker to the carport and it can become a double carport

  • [Deactivated] on 15/04/2019 - 12:38
    +3

    Op,if it helps make you feel better, know that there are worse driveways around.

  • stingy-oz on 15/04/2019 - 13:22

    does this property have ROW? If there is, potentially using the rear of the house instead of front of the house. I've seen houses with both frontage and works beautifully.

  • luffyex2010 on 15/04/2019 - 14:09
    +1

    Leave it as it is. Unless you have money to splash make a garage underneath it road level.

  • mousie on 15/04/2019 - 14:31

    Get your year 6 kid to study Structural Engineering and come up with a solution.

  • darkchoc on 15/04/2019 - 15:35
    +2

    It's an investment property. Treat it as such.

    Identify the cost:

    What return on investment would you get for changing the driveway or converting the lawn

    • additional rental income?
    • additional value on resale?

    Calculate.

    My guess would be that you would incur a large cost for changing the driveway but no material increase in income nor any resale value

    For getting rid of lawn, you may lose some kerbside appeal and actually lose money on money spent.

    Do nothing wins.

  • drfuzzy on 15/04/2019 - 16:56
    +4

    Change your marketing approach.
    Replace "home with driveway too steep" with "flood proof home with views".

    • jaybmate on 15/04/2019 - 20:48
      +3

      With skate ramp included

      • moneyhungry on 16/04/2019 - 17:12
        +1

        Just add a fall hazard sign problem solved.

  • mko75 on 15/04/2019 - 17:29
    +1

    Sell the house with an SUV included.

    No planning approval hassles, no stress, cheaper than some of the projects mentioned here and no waiting time for said projects.

  • onlyletters on 15/04/2019 - 17:40
    +2

    show the full frontage of the house, i have ideas.

  • foolsgold on 15/04/2019 - 17:43
    +8

    Theres no real cheap way to fix this and keep your garage/carport

    Options

    1. Put car park lower, in front yard accessed off existing crossover
    https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/200363/68422/screen_sh…

    Pros
    - Cheapest option

    Cons
    - May involve demolish and relocating stair case
    - Wont improve access into carport

    2. Redesign Driveway as a U shape
    - Move cross over from left hand side to right hand side, create a return
    Pros,
    - Less modifications to structure of carport
    Cons
    - Costly to cut the site
    - Demolish existing driveway and steps
    - Need to pay for an application for a new cross over
    - You may not have enough front garden space after
    - You may not have enough frontage or setback to get a decent ramp (too hard to tell)

    3. Lower gradient of existing driveway
    Diagram: https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/200363/68420/screen_sh…
    Pros
    - Access to carport

    Cons
    - Require new driveway (expensive)
    - Require new retaining walls to neighbour
    - May undermine foundations of house and carport, may require underpinning or another engineered solution

    4. As above, but building new carport
    Pros
    - Best outcome, highest cost
    - can be designed to pedestrian access to front door

    Cons
    - Time
    - Cost

    In this market I would really consider if its worth while at all, its difficult to sell in a lot of areas, will this put off buyers? Most likely, ie old people, people with low cars.
    Will you get a good return after spending the cash? Hard to say if the risk, or investment is worth any reward.

  • HeWhoKnows on 15/04/2019 - 18:21
    +1

    Depends if the problem is at the top or the bottom.

    Both can be modified to accomodate lower vehicle clearances.

    Cant believe this got through council as they have stipilations on driveway gradiants - usually to Australian standards/design rules to ensure they can accomodate most B99 vehicles

    See here:
    http://localgroup.com.au/assets/documents/06-003-00%20Drivew…

    But a bit late for that now.

  • Ss-ss on 15/04/2019 - 18:21
    +3

    Put in a Helipad,value will also go up, I've never seen a house forsale with a helipad for under $2mil.. Amazon also have a special on dji drones.

    • moneyhungry on 16/04/2019 - 17:15

      With that kind of steep driveway imagine how slippery it would be when it's wet. Good idea with the hellipad tbh.

  • [Deactivated] on 15/04/2019 - 20:51
    +2

    A family of nice Himalayan Mountain Goats (possibly from disputed region of Tibet) will offer you a good price when comes time to sell!

  • digitalbargain on 15/04/2019 - 21:43
    +2

    This driveway is great.

    Even when it's wet, and you're towing a light trailer, I'm sure you won't overshoot it.

    Not even by a car length.

  • Dr Techno on 16/04/2019 - 00:06
    +2

    I've seen steeper & longer dirt driveways in the Dandenongs. It's an investment property, continue renting it out. Overtime it probably doesn't matter.

    You probably wouldn't want to disturb the concrete/land, dont want to cause any new moment in the house. Perhaps convert carport to a enclosed garage, kids area, or entertainment area if carport isn't used that much. Boost house appeal in other ways.

  • Alexxx on 16/04/2019 - 07:17

    Contact council and ask for a copy of the approved driveway levels. If they aren't that old then check if they comply with AS 2890.1 for the B85 vehicle clearance (.https://www.yarracity.vic.gov.au/-/media/files/roads/600-vechicle-crossing/ysd607-ground-clearance-template-for-vehicle-crossing--b85-vehicle.pdf?la=en&hash=C94A24D25C76D0FD7F4754D38886D6CFC86917D8) If the levels were approved and/or issued by council they may be liable for fixing it though you might have a battle on your hands.
    If that doesn't work you can request levels from council. Should be something similar to the below link.
    http://www.kmc.nsw.gov.au/Plans_regulation/Building_and_deve…

  • zooter on 16/04/2019 - 08:13

    Now I know what to look for during a house inspection. Is there some deal on any tools from Bunnings to help ease measuring garage angles?

    • xuqi on 16/04/2019 - 13:26
      +1

      Your eyes and common sense is all you need. A simpleton would see such a problem.

    • moneyhungry on 16/04/2019 - 17:17
      +1

      Just put a spirit level on top, if the bubble disappears then it's too steep.

    • Dr Techno on 17/04/2019 - 01:34

      You can probably just ask during house inspection if you can test out the drive way with your car :P Seriously theres probably alot more important things to look out for in a house, which you probably won't realise until after your first house & living in it for awhile. :)

  • Soluble on 16/04/2019 - 16:07
    +1

    I will confirm a steep driveway does mess with resale value, I lost quite a few potential buyers due to my driveway being too steep. The guys who did my driveway graded it perfectly, my corolla could fly in and out no worries, but that didn't change people perception.

  • [Deactivated] on 16/04/2019 - 17:28
    +1

    Not an issue. Anyway most people park their car on the road and store junk in their garage.

    • pinkybrain on 17/04/2019 - 06:31

      except it looks like he has a carport not a garage.

  • Name on 16/04/2019 - 20:48
    +1

    I wouldn't worry about it. We've got a garage that has never had a car in it. Just full of crap.

    Most people I know also don't use their garages to park cars in. Usually just a spot to store more crap that rarely gets used.

    Our two cars live on the driveway.

  • Gauntlet on 17/04/2019 - 07:52

    Dig it out and make it level with the road, add stairs.
    Like this

  • Amour on 17/04/2019 - 08:02
    +1

    Sorry if this has already been mentioned. I would do two things if it were me. I’d add a door so you can’t see the angle change at the top and I would get the driveway sprayed with something decorative to make it anti-slip with some type of pattern in the middle. This will draw the eye to the centre of the driveway rather than the angle/steepness.

  • This Guy on 17/04/2019 - 11:36

    Too many sensible answers for a topic trending for this long.

    Knock down rebuild into a split level house that creeps down the hill.

    Replace driveway with an sinusoidal curve that takes up your whole front yard but significantly reduces gradient changes.

    Install a carport at street level and a people cable car/escalator/sideways elevator to get to the house.

    Excavate from the road to drop your carport 2 metres. Install dumb waiter. Take up contortionism. Create Udemy course, 'Contortionism and Saving Thousands with a Dumb Waiter.' Offer the next buyer a 10% off code for your course.

    Install a car elevator.

    Install a car escalator.

    Bikies.

    ACA.

    Nothing is probably the best answer. You fell in love with the view. Your next buyer will too. But if you must burn money, a new driveway that snakes across your front yard could be a solution, but you might need to replace the right column with one further away to assist with clearance when parking.

  • yellowfever on 17/04/2019 - 14:08
    +1

    My driveway and garage is perfectly flat and I don’t even use the garage. Just leave it. Your amazing views that you claim is well worth more than fixing a steep driveway.
    You could be spending at least $20K to half bake a solution.
    The house is raised so you can’t change that. Any solution would just be a “workaround”.
    Save your money and perhaps use it towards buying a SUV if you really want to use that garage .

  • zealmax on 17/04/2019 - 14:27
    +1

    I don't think there is a problem. Views, good drainage to the street. I would be worried if it was a steep hill down from the street. You want storm water flowing out to the street and not the other way.

  • [Deactivated] on 17/04/2019 - 18:36

    You may want to engage the R/E agency who produced this video for when you wish to sell your property 😁

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