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AsphaltPavingIndex

Asphalt driveway cost calculator

Measure the surface, say what is actually being laid, read the budget band. Every per-square-foot rate behind it is a published Ontario figure, named where it lands in the answer.

Last updated: By The Pavement Desk

$3–$7

per square foot, new asphalt driveway, Ontario

3

independent Ontario sources publishing that same band

Measure the surface
What is being laid
Make the bid cover

Budget band, HST included

$2,034 to $4,746

over 600 sq ft (55.7 sq m), which works out at $3.00–$7.00 per square foot before tax

Paving and site work, before tax
$1,800–$4,200
Ontario HST at 13%
$234–$546

Rate published by Green Building Canada (national Canadian home-building cost guide)

How this estimate is put together

The arithmetic is deliberately plain: the surface area multiplied by a published rate band, once for the paving and once for each extra you tick, then 13% on the subtotal. Nothing is modelled, weighted or smoothed. That is the point. An estimator that reaches a number by a route you cannot follow is worth less to somebody comparing three bids than one whose every step is visible, because the thing you are actually doing is deciding whether a quote is reasonable.

The $3 to $7 per square foot band is not one company’s opinion. Green Building Canada publishes it in a province-by-province table, Eastern Ontario Paving publishes it as what Ontario quotes typically run, and Country Contracting publishes it in the Haliburton Highlands, three hours from the GTA. Three independent readings landing on the same band is the strongest signal available without open tender data, and it is why the band is used as published rather than widened. None of the three states an average inside it, so this page prints none.

Where the sources genuinely disagree, both are kept. Country Contracting prices excavation, grading or additional foundation work at $1 to $3 per square foot. Eastern Ontario Paving prices grading bundled with a drainage solution at $4 to $8. Those are different scopes wearing similar names, which is exactly the ambiguity that makes two bids look incomparable, so the calculator offers them as separate lines and leaves the choice with you.

What the calculator cannot know is what is under the surface. Depth of the granular base, the compacted thickness of each lift, how far a truck can reach, whether the sub-grade is clay that heaves, and whether a bidder is pricing one lift or two, all move the real number and none of them is legible from a tape measure. Treat the band as the range a reasonable bid should land in, and make every bidder write down the mix designation, the number of lifts and the compacted depth so the three numbers you are holding describe the same job.

Row-by-row prices, including the municipal unit rates the City of Toronto publishes for its own work, are in the Toronto asphalt paving and resurfacing cost guide.

Where each number came from

Canadian dollars, August 2026. No figure on this page was converted from another currency, and no midpoint was computed where a source published only a range.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an asphalt driveway cost in Toronto and the GTA?

Three independent Ontario sources publish $3 to $7 per square foot for a new asphalt driveway: Green Building Canada, Eastern Ontario Paving and Country Contracting. On a 600 square foot two-car driveway that is $1,800 to $4,200 before Ontario's 13% HST, which is the same total Green Building Canada and Eastern Ontario Paving both print. GTA quotes tend to sit in the upper half of the band because GTA labour runs $75 to $100 an hour against $60 to $85 in rural Ontario.

Why is the commercial rate lower at the top than the residential one?

Empire Paving publishes $3 to $6 per square foot for commercial asphalt paving in Toronto and the GTA, against the $3 to $7 three Ontario sources publish for a driveway. A parking lot is a large continuous pour with fewer edges and hand-work per square foot than a narrow driveway, so the ceiling comes down even though the floor does not. That is the published pattern, not a rule: a heavy-duty lot designed for loaded trucks is a thicker build and should be priced as its own line item.

Does this estimate include removing the old driveway?

Only if you tick it. Demolition and removal of the existing surface is a separate line item at $1 to $2 per square foot, per Eastern Ontario Paving. A bid that quietly assumes the old surface stays and gets paved over is a different job from one that takes it out, and the difference on a 600 square foot driveway is $600 to $1,200.

What is the difference between an overlay and a new driveway?

An overlay lays new asphalt over the existing surface and only works where the base underneath is still sound. The Paving Company publishes $3 to $7 per square foot for the overlay process in Toronto and the GTA, and $1,500 to $50,000 for a whole overlay project depending on size. Where the base has failed, an overlay reproduces the failure through the new surface within a season or two, which is why the resurface-or-replace question is worth settling before pricing either.

Is HST included in a paving quote?

Assume not until the quote says so. Ontario's HST is 13% and every range on this page is quoted before tax. Ask each bidder whether their number is HST-in or HST-out before comparing them, because a 13% difference is larger than the spread between most competing bids.

What does premium asphalt cost, and is it worth it?

Country Contracting publishes $8 to $12 per square foot for premium asphalt against $3 to $7 for standard. The page does not define what separates the two beyond material type, so treat premium as an upper spec band rather than a named mix, and make any bidder quoting it write down the mix designation, the lift thickness and the compacted depth. Without those three things on paper, premium is a word rather than a specification.

Take the number to somebody who bids this work

An estimate is only useful next to a real quote. AsphaltPavingIndex tracks 181 asphalt paving contractors across the Greater Toronto Area, rated 4.27★ on average, ranked by the published score. These three sit highest, August 2026.

See all 181 ranked asphalt paving contractors