Driveways

Consider Your Driveway

Driveways are expensive and represent a major cost component in the purchase or construction of a new home. Driveways are also a common source of environmental degradation in the form of erosion, sedimentation and lost habitat. We believe a driveway that is safe, attractive, long lasting and environmentally responsible begins with thorough planning, planning that takes into account not only the obvious goal of getting from one place to another, but also the surrounding habitats, soils, drainage, vegetation and weather patterns. A good driveway is one that fits your property and obeys ALL the rules of solid road construction.

Site Your Driveway Carefully and Don't Cut Corners

Many developers and homeowners in our region select their home sites based on proximity to mountain views and waterways thereby posing special challenges to driveway placement and construction. Often these challenges are not met resulting in driveways that are too steep, lack good visibility or appropriate drainage features. On other occasions the skill of the building contractor is no match for the task. This is primarily seen in driveways with improper slopes or crowns as well as poor surface compaction. Finally many contractors simply cut corners in order to get a bid or save time or money. On countless occasions we see driveways with over-spaced and/or undersized culverts, drainage features without foundation fabric (the most common offense), banks too steeply cut or lacking re-vegetation and poor or incomplete surfacing.

V&V Believes in Doing it Right and Doing it Only Once

At V&V we strongly believe that driveways are no place to cut corners. There are many wrong ways to build but only a few correct ones. Money saved through cost cutting inevitably results in failures requiring fixes far exceeding any initial savings. In many cases, mitigation costs more than the initial construction. It is really quite simple- take the time to educate yourself regarding road construction practices. A good place to start is the US Forest Service Layman’s Guide to Private Access Road Construction (www.dfr.state.nc.us/publications/laymans_guide_to_access_road.pdf). Consult, on-site, with various contractors and get references, including older references - it sometimes takes several seasons for a seemingly well-constructed driveway to fail. Compare bids in an “apples to apples” manner, making sure each contractor is providing all the necessary protocols and materials. This is the best and cheapest way to construct a driveway, no exceptions. 

We Guarantee our Driveways

We guarantee our driveways and will monitor your site to identify and correct issues for one year following completion.  Call us. Initial consultations are free. We would love to show you our work and provide recommendations.