Concrete Driveways and Aprons in Chicago

Roughly $4,000 to $10,500 for a standard pour on a typical two-car driveway of 500 to 700 square feet, including base prep and finishing. In the northwest suburbs, expect roughly $3,000 to $9,500 for the same driveway. Full removal and replacement runs $8–$20 per square foot, which on a 640-square-foot driveway often totals $5,100–$12,800 or more; the concrete removal cost guide breaks out the tear-out. The Chicago concrete price guide ranks what moves those numbers.

Chicagoland driveways need an air-entrained mix, with microscopic air pockets that absorb freeze-thaw expansion, and a 4-inch compacted CA-6 stone base over the region's clay soil. Expect 4 inches of concrete for passenger cars and up to 6 inches for heavy-use areas. A 4,000 PSI mix for a driveway exposed to road salt and de-icers adds about $0.50–$1.00 per square foot. Ask for the PSI, air entrainment, thickness and base depth in the written quote.

A licensed sidewalk contractor, under city permits, because the stretch between the sidewalk and the street is public way. In Chicago, no one may use the public sidewalk or parkway as a driveway without a use of public way permit, and the owner of a residential property has to carry $250,000 of liability insurance naming the City. A licensed sidewalk contractor then has to obtain a driveway construction permit before the driveway is built. A brand-new curb cut takes longer: the city tells applicants to expect at least 30 days. The permit guide walks through each step.

Usually not when it is like-for-like. The city lists maintaining or removing and replacing a concrete, brick or asphalt driveway in kind as work that doesn't need a building permit, but a permit is required to establish, expand or eliminate an off-street parking area. Widening the driveway or adding a parking pad changes that. Suburbs set their own rules: Des Plaines permits every residential driveway, and Naperville limits when aprons can be poured.