Asphalt Paving Contractors in Ames, IA

Asphalt paving contractors in Ames work against the calendar. Using 1991-2020 normals for the Ames airport station, the Old Farmer's Almanac puts the typical last spring frost around May 2 and the first fall frost around October 2, leaving roughly 152 days between them. Ames averages 28.3 inches of snow and a mean January low of 9.8 degrees. A driveway here spends months freezing and thawing, then gets a summer of sun that softens the surface. Asphalt built on a firm, drained base handles both. Asphalt laid over wet, soft ground does not last.

The ground under central Iowa driveways

Ames sits on the till prairie that glaciers left across central Iowa. The USDA describes Webster soils, one of the most extensive soils in this region, as poorly drained glacial till that can be saturated within 8 inches of the surface in a wet spring, found in the flats and low spots between better-drained Clarion and Nicollet soils on the rises. You can see the pattern in a lot of Ames yards: the high side of the driveway is fine and the low end near the street heaves and cracks. Water that stays in the base freezes, expands and lifts the asphalt, and in March it thaws and leaves soft spots under the surface.

Cost guides describe a typical residential build as 2 to 3 inches of compacted asphalt over 6 to 8 inches of compacted gravel, with 8 to 10 inches of base for heavier vehicles. On wet ground we dig out the soft material, replace it with compacted crushed stone and set the grade so water runs off the pavement toward the yard or the gutter, never toward the garage slab.

When paving gets done

Hot-mix asphalt has to be rolled while it is still hot. On cold ground it stiffens before it can be compacted, and an under-compacted surface lets water in during its first winter. Most full driveway and lot work in Story County happens from May through September, with patching and sealing fitted into dry stretches. Sealcoating needs dry weather between about 50 and 95 degrees, so it shares the same window. Call in early spring if you want a slot before summer.

Get a Free Estimate

The Ames driveway permit

Inside Ames city limits, the city's Driveway Access and Paving Application (January 2026 version) requires a permit for new driveway paving, for replacing or expanding a driveway, and for building or replacing the approach in the right-of-way. Routine maintenance and partial repairs are exempt. The fee is $100, which covers plan review and an on-site inspection, and a final inspection is due within 48 hours of the pour. The approach between the street and the sidewalk must be concrete, at least 6 inches thick. Paving a gravel driveway also means paving its approach. On-site width can match the garage up to 28 feet, and the approach can be no more than 34 feet at the curb including flares. We check whether your job falls under these rules at the estimate and show the concrete approach as its own line on the quote when it applies.

What a driveway job includes

• Measuring, checking slope and finding where water sits
• Tear-out and haul-away of the old asphalt, concrete or gravel
• Digging out soft subgrade and replacing it with crushed stone
• Grading and compacting the base
• Placing and rolling hot-mix asphalt to the thickness in the quote
• Tapering edges to the garage slab, sidewalk and approach
• Telling you when to drive on it and when to seal it

Repair, overlay or replace?

Not every tired driveway needs to come out. Scattered cracks and a few small potholes on a sound base are repair work: crack filling, hot patching and a sealcoat. A surface that is worn and gray but still flat may take a 1.5 to 2 inch overlay. When cracks connect into an alligator pattern, the driveway rocks or sinks under a car, or the edges have broken away, the base has failed and an overlay will only copy the cracks to the new surface within a year or two. We tell you which one you are looking at and why.

Ames is home base. We also work in Story County towns such as Nevada, Huxley, Story City, Gilbert, Slater, Roland, Maxwell, Colo and Zearing, in Boone County at Boone, Madrid, Ogden and Woodward, and north and east to Webster City, Jewell Junction and Marshalltown, plus Polk City at the top of the Des Moines metro. The rules change at each line: Ames requires a city permit and a concrete approach, Polk City has its own driveway chapter, and rural drives that meet a county road need an entrance permit from the Story or Boone County engineer. Each town page covers what is different there.