Driveway painting in Melbourne costs roughly $8 to $15 per square metre done professionally, so a typical 40 square metre double driveway lands between $320 and $600 for preparation and two coats of paving paint, with degreasing, sealer stripping or crack repairs adding to that. A painted driveway looks sharp and hides years of oil stains, and the honest trade-off is a maintenance recoat every 3 to 5 years on a surface that carries cars.
Key takeaway
Paint a driveway to change its colour or hide stains; seal it to protect the look it already has. Either way the preparation (degrease, wash, strip old sealer, etch) decides whether it lasts.
What does driveway painting involve?
The short answer: mostly preparation. The coating goes on in an afternoon; the work is in getting the slab ready to hold it. Oil patches are degreased, the whole slab is high-pressure washed, any old sealer is stripped or ground off, cracks are filled with flexible filler, and smooth concrete is etched so the paint can bite. Then two thin coats of paving paint, and the driveway stays off limits to cars for several days while the film hardens.
Which paint holds up on a Melbourne driveway?
The short answer: purpose-made paving paint, nothing else. The common trade picks are Berger Jet Dry and Dulux Concrete & Paving, both water-based acrylics built for tyre and foot traffic. Wall paint on a driveway wears through at the tyre lines within months. Colour-wise, mid greys and charcoals hide tyre marks and the next oil spot far better than pale colours, which is why most of the driveways we coat end up in that range. The full product rundown by surface type is in our best paint for outdoor concrete guide.
Should you paint or seal the driveway?
The short answer: paint to change the look, seal to protect it.
| Paving paint | Clear or tinted sealer | |
|---|---|---|
| Changes the colour | Yes, fully | Clear: no. Tinted: partly |
| Hides oil stains and patches | Completely | No, they show through clear sealer |
| Maintenance | Recoat every 3 to 5 years on a trafficked slab | Less frequent, never peels like a failed paint film |
| Right when | You want a new colour or the slab is stained | You like the current look and want protection |
When does driveway painting make the most sense?
The short answer: before a sale, or bundled with an exterior repaint. A painted driveway is a cheap frontage lift next to what a full exterior repaint costs, and doing both in one visit shares the setup cost. Agents ask us for exactly this combination on pre-sale jobs, alongside the usual pre-sale repaint scope. If the concrete itself is failing, spalling, or badly cracked, painting will not fix it, and we will tell you straight if a slab is past coating.
Ready for a number? We quote driveways in person across Melbourne’s west and inner suburbs, free and in writing, usually while quoting the rest of the house. The Melbourne painting cost guide has every other price range on the site.
Rather have a professional handle it?
Free on-site inspection and a fixed-price written quote, no obligation. Painting Melbourne homes since 1987.
Related service: Concrete Effect Painting.
We paint across Yarraville, Newport, Moonee Ponds, Ascot Vale, Altona, Point Cook and more — see our painting services in North Melbourne, or the house painters in Melbourne families have trusted since 1987.
