We had a long (600+ feet) gravel driveway put in a few years ago. This was done without knowing exactly where the house would be or what plan we would use. Dh found a local excavator to do it for us. Once it was in I was NOT happy with it. When the guy finished he asked dh if he was okay with it and dh said, "Well, if it's the best you can do....sure." My dh is a nice guy. I am nice as well, but if I pay for a service I want it done right.

Well, since there has been a lot going on with other things in life, we didn't start building immediately. Now we have plans almost finished. We know where the house and barn will sit. I really, truly don't like the driveway or where it ends. This probably seems silly (my dh doesn't really understand why it matters) but for whatever reason - it does.

Can someone tell me *how* a gravel drive is supposed to be done?

Ours was cut down and then he put some really fine gravel on that. On top he put #2 (I think) rocks. They are really big. He told dh that once the big trucks drive over it that it would pack down and then after everything was done he would come back and put the smaller/finer gravel on top.

It has been a few years now and we have driven on it. We just had several triax loads of fill brought in for the barn. Those big trucks suck *into* the driveway and made it worse than it already is. When my minivan drives on it dh said he can see it squish like a sponge under the tires. Is this normal? We have clay soil if that makes a difference.

I am also wondering what to do with the placement situation. Should I get a quote from somewhere else to move the end part of the drive to where I like it or should we call the first guy back?

Here's a pic of the drive.

1. As you drive in from the road (top of pic) you go up a small incline and then it makes a turn. I didn't think we needed to tell the guy to make it a curve. I figured that's how you make roads and driveways. He instead made it an awkward looking angle.

2. Do you see the spot where the driveway *jogs* a little? Dh said that he came to check on progress and they were in that spot. Dh saw that they weren't headed straight any longer and reminded the guy that we wanted it to go straight back. So the guy literally picked up right where he was a turned a bit to go straight. It looks really dumb in person.

3. They didn't put one of the waterways in the right spot but I feel like dh should have addressed this issue when it first happened. He didn't figure it out until a few weeks later but still... Now I don't think we have any right to say anything. It's been years.

4. The rest of the problem is not at all the guy's fault. I was under the impression that the house would sit back further. Well, it's going to sit just to the right of the last 14' of the driveway. When people drive up they will see the barn on their right, the garage on the left and a small amount of the front of the house. Not at all what I had planned.

If I had known where the house was going to be I probably would have had them curve the drive where the red curve begins and follow that around some trees to the front of the house. The light blue spot would be a place for guests to park near the front door. (The black line is the front of the house.) The the drive would continue around for us by the garage and barn.

I would have left the treeline across so when people were driving up they wouldn't see straight back there so it would seem very natural to follow the curved driveway. But the trees are gone. :( I guess if we did move that part of the driveway we could plant some fast growing trees and some bushes, but it's very frustrating that we took out some lovely trees for the drive.

If you are still reading, thank you. What do you think? Will it cost us an arm and a leg to redo that part? Can we salvage any of the gravel? Do we use the same guy and be more clear about what we want? Did he do it right in the first place?