A driveway built on a real excavated base, not a thin mat laid over whatever the lot graded out to.
New asphalt driveway installation starts below the surface, not with the asphalt itself. We excavate the existing grade, compact a proper aggregate base, and only then place and roll the asphalt in the right lift thickness for a residential driveway. Skip the base work and you get a driveway that looks fine on install day. It ruts or cracks at the tire tracks within two summers, because the ground underneath it, not the asphalt, was the actual problem.
That base step matters more here than in most markets. A lot of Summerlin lots sit on caliche, a calcium-carbonate hardpan common across the Mojave Desert that can run from a few inches to several feet down. Caliche is hard enough to resist a shovel when dry, but it holds water and drains sideways instead of down when it's wet, which is exactly the wrong property to build a driveway base on top of without addressing it. We test for caliche during the estimate and break through or work around it as part of the base prep, not as a change order after paving starts.
We walk the site, check for caliche and existing base condition, and confirm any HOA or village ARC paperwork the job needs before we quote.
Square footage, base depth, asphalt thickness, and a flat price in writing before excavation starts.
The existing grade is excavated to design depth, caliche is broken through where it's present, and a compacted aggregate base is built and graded to shed water away from the garage.
Hot mix asphalt placed at the specified lift thickness and compacted with a roller, timed around the day's surface temperature rather than a fixed schedule.
A walkthrough on cure and traffic timing before you park a vehicle or set anything heavy on the new surface.
New asphalt driveway installation typically runs $6-10 per square foot installed in the Las Vegas area for a full-depth base and standard residential asphalt thickness, more if caliche removal or extra excavation is needed. Below is what that turns into for a real driveway, since a per-square-foot number alone doesn't tell you what to budget.
Get my flat written quoteIn most Summerlin villages, yes. Every exterior change including driveways typically needs written ARC approval before work begins, and review windows commonly run 30-45 days. We can start that paperwork alongside your estimate so it isn't the thing that delays your project.
Caliche is a natural calcium-carbonate hardpan layer common across the Mojave Desert, including a lot of the Las Vegas Valley. It's hard when dry but holds and moves water sideways when wet, which can undermine a driveway base if it isn't identified and handled during excavation. We check for it on every estimate before quoting the base depth.
A standard residential driveway typically takes 2-4 days from excavation through final rolling, depending on size and whether caliche removal is needed. We'll give you an exact schedule with your written quote.
Light foot traffic is usually fine within 24-48 hours. We generally ask homeowners to wait at least 3-5 days before parking a vehicle, longer in peak summer heat when the asphalt takes longer to fully harden. We'll give you exact timing based on the day's temperature.
Asphalt actually softens slightly in extreme heat rather than cracking the way a thin concrete slab can under Nevada's temperature swings, but that same softening means we control lift thickness and roll timing carefully so a summer install cures properly instead of rutting under early traffic.
Same business day, Mon-Fri.
