Three decisions set a driveway before anyone touches a paver: how wide it is, what shape it takes across the block, and which pattern the pavers run in. Two of the three are capped at the boundary — both the City of Stirling and the City of Wanneroo hold a single residential crossover between 3.0 and 6.0 metres. Well Laid Paving Perth designs against those limits before quoting brick driveway paving in Perth.
How wide should a driveway be in Perth?
Between 3.0 and 6.0 metres where it crosses the boundary, and whatever suits the house behind that line. Both Perth councils checked here set that range: the City of Stirling’s crossover guidelines (revision 6 January 2023) allow 3.0–6.0 m for a single residential crossover excluding splays, and the City of Wanneroo’s brick paved residential crossover sheet (correct as of July 2025) sets it at the property line.
Stirling reviews splays as part of the approval once a crossover exceeds 4 m (revision 6 January 2023), so a drive that fans out across the verge gets looked at rather than waved through. Fan it inside your own boundary instead and the drive still reads wide from the street. Council by council: what your council requires for a crossover.
Behind the boundary, the width most Perth owners regret is the one matching the garage opening exactly. Another 600–900 mm each side gives room to open a car door without stepping into the garden bed; widening one side by about 3.6 metres parks a second vehicle without blocking the first. Add either later and the cemented edge comes out first.
Design the drive around the family, not the garage
The garage opening is the minimum, not the brief. It sets how wide the paving must be at the door and says nothing about where visitors park, where the bins stand, or whether a trailer gets down the side. Well Laid Paving Perth has laid drives in Yokine, Forrestfield, Guildford, Spearwood, Gosnells and Nollamara, measured against the household rather than the building.
Design the drive to suit the needs of your family, not one that simply fits in well with your garage.
That line has been on this site since 2017 and it still settles more driveways than any specification does. Count the vehicles that live at the house, add the one that visits weekly, then decide whether they park nose to tail or side by side. Paving down one side of the house is where a caravan, boat or trailer ends up.
Which driveway shape suits your block?
Five shapes cover almost every Perth block: the straight run, the curved run, the T or Y with a turning bay, the U-shaped horseshoe and the full circle. The straight run produces the fewest cuts; everything after it buys something specific and pays for it in saw work. On a sloped or sandy frontage the list narrows before you start: what’s under your paving in this part of Perth.
| Shape | What it solves | What it costs | Approval catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight run | Garage to kerb on a standard frontage | Fewest cut units | One crossover, 3.0–6.0 m |
| Curved run | Steers around a verge tree or a soakwell lid | A cut on every course along the arc | The crossing still meets the kerb at 90° in Wanneroo (July 2025) |
| T or Y turning bay | Leaving a busy street in forward gear | A second cemented edge around the bay | Still one crossover |
| U-shaped horseshoe | Entry and exit without reversing | Two crossings, twice the perimeter to restrain | Secondary crossover 3.0 m in Stirling (rev. 6 January 2023) |
| Full circle | A turning circle with a planted island | Most cut units; the island needs its own edge | Two crossings, plus Stirling’s one-third verge limit |
Shape is the biggest lever on how much of a drive is cut rather than laid whole. A curve puts a cut at every perimeter unit, and the City of Stirling’s technical specification (revised 6 January 2023) allows no closure smaller than 25% of a full paver, so a sliver is not a way out. Well Laid Paving Perth allows 10% for cuts and breakages when ordering: what paving costs per square metre in Perth.
Circular and U-shaped drives need two crossovers
A horseshoe or a circle enters at one point and leaves at another, so it crosses council land twice, and the second crossing is not a copy of the first. The City of Stirling (revision 6 January 2023) limits a secondary residential crossover to 3.0 m and keeps any residential crossover 0.5 m clear of the adjoining boundary; Wanneroo (July 2025) requires adjoining crossings to sit 1.0 m from the common boundary.
The verge is the catch that surprises people. Stirling’s verge treatment policy limits hardstand — paving, synthetic turf and in-situ concrete — to one third of the verge area and at least 2 metres from a street tree (City of Stirling, checked August 2026). Corner blocks tighten again: Wanneroo (July 2025) keeps a crossover 7.5 m clear of the intersection of property lines. Crossover rules council by council.
Herringbone or stretcher bond on a driveway?
Well Laid Paving Perth lays herringbone on anything a car drives over, and stretcher bond only where it does not. Midland Brick’s Crossover Guide (version DEC23) recommends herringbone at 45° or 90° where vehicles turn and brake, and warns that continuous straight lines running through the wearing surface — stretcher bond, stack bond — lose interlock under high wear.
That still leaves stretcher bond a job on a drive: the border. A soldier course sits outside the wheel path and gives the cut-in courses a straight line to finish against.
Between the two herringbones the difference is direction and cuts. A 90° herringbone runs square to the house and meets a straight edge with fewer cut units. A 45° herringbone forgives a drive slightly out of square with the street and stops a long run reading as a corridor, at the price of a cut against every edge. Material and colour: brick, concrete and liquid limestone compared.
What thickness paver does a Perth driveway need?
Sixty millimetres, garage to kerb. The Concrete Masonry Association of Australia’s Guide to Specifying (MA57, December 2010) sets 40 mm as the minimum work size for a residential driveway carrying light vehicles; the City of Wanneroo’s crossover sheet (correct as of July 2025) requires a minimum 60 mm heavy duty unit on the crossover. Design to the stricter figure: how we build a driveway that stays flat.
Shared and multi-unit driveways
A shared drive is a different geometry, not a bigger house drive. The City of Stirling (revision 6 January 2023) allows 3.0–7.5 m shared for a duplex or multi-residential crossover, against 3.0–6.0 m for a single house, and the main run has to stay wide enough for two vehicles to pass. Well Laid Paving Perth has paved a six-unit complex in Nollamara, a five-dwelling site in Gosnells and a three-unit site in Spearwood, and paves for builders including Summit Projects and Dale Alcock Homes. The jobs are captioned by suburb in the driveway paving gallery.
Get a quote for your driveway
Marc Radaic measures and quotes driveways across the Perth metro area, Monday to Friday, 7:00am to 5:00pm, and we never sub-contract — Marc is on site from the first quote to the last paver. Call 0448 440 229 or get a free driveway quote. A rough sketch with the frontage width on it, and whether the crossover is in the job, is enough to start: driveway paving in Perth.