For most homeowners associations, repaving private roads and parking areas is one of the largest single expenditures in the reserve budget — and board members have a fiduciary duty to spend that money well. The challenge is that paving bids rarely arrive in the same format. One contractor quotes a lump sum, another quotes by the square foot, and a third proposes a completely different scope. This guide walks your board through getting bids you can actually compare.
Step 1: Define the scope before you call anyone
The single biggest cause of wildly different bids is a vague request. Before contacting contractors, walk the property (ideally with your property manager) and build a simple inventory:
- Surfaces involved: private streets, parking areas, guest spaces, cul-de-sacs, speed bumps, and any amenity lots
- Current condition: isolated cracking, widespread alligator cracking, potholes, standing water, crumbling edges
- Your reserve study: what did it project for pavement, and in what year?
Condition drives the right treatment. Isolated damage may only call for pothole repair and patching plus crack filling and sealing. Structurally sound pavement with a worn surface is often a candidate for a mill-and-pave overlay — grinding off the top layer and installing new asphalt — while pavement that's failed down to the base needs deeper reconstruction. A reputable contractor will help you sort this out during a site visit, but boards that arrive with a clear picture get clearer numbers back.
What a complete paving bid should include
Insist that every bidder submit a written proposal covering the same items. At minimum:
- Measured area in square feet or square yards, not "the community roads"
- Asphalt thickness, stated as *compacted* depth — this matters, because loose asphalt compacts by roughly 20–25%
- Milling depth (if it's an overlay) and how millings are disposed of
- Base repair pricing as a unit price (per square foot or per ton) for soft spots discovered during work — common in Georgia's clay subgrade after wet winters
- Drainage corrections and how water flow is handled
- Striping and markings, including ADA-compliant accessible spaces where required — see line striping and pavement markings
- Traffic control and phasing plan so residents keep access
- Timeline, payment terms, and warranty in writing
- Proof of licensing and a certificate of insurance (COI) naming the association
If a bid is missing several of these, that's your answer about how the project would be run.
Comparing bids apples to apples
Once proposals are in, normalize them:
- Confirm identical scope. A $40,000 gap between bids usually means one contractor priced an overlay and another priced patch-and-sealcoat. Neither is "wrong" — they're different projects.
- Check thickness line by line. A bid for 2 inches of compacted asphalt is not comparable to one quoting 2 inches loose.
- Compare unit prices for unknowns. Base repair unit pricing is where lowball bids quietly recover margin mid-project.
- Read the exclusions. Striping, drainage, and permit costs are common items left out to make a number look smaller.
On budget expectations: industry-wide, asphalt overlays commonly run in the range of roughly $1.50–$4.00 per square foot depending on thickness, access, and how much base repair is needed, while sealcoating typically costs a fraction of that per square foot. Treat any figure quoted before a site visit as a placeholder — real pricing requires measuring the property and evaluating the existing pavement.
Red flags for HOA boards
- Lump-sum quotes with no square footage or thickness specified
- No certificate of insurance, or reluctance to provide one
- Unusually large upfront deposits
- "This price is only good today" pressure tactics
- No verifiable local work or references
- A bid dramatically below the others with no scope explanation
Questions to ask every finalist
- How will the work be phased so residents can reach their homes?
- Who is our single point of contact during the project?
- How do you handle soft base areas discovered after milling?
- What does the warranty cover, and for how long?
- How much advance notice will residents get before each phase?
Resident communication is worth its own line in the contract. On occupied communities, good contractors sequence work in sections, post notices, and coordinate towing and access — the same discipline that goes into commercial parking lot paving for retail and multifamily properties.
Timing your project in Metro Atlanta
Hot-mix asphalt needs warm ambient and surface temperatures to compact properly, so the practical paving season in the Atlanta area runs roughly spring through fall. Boards that collect bids over the winter, approve at a spring meeting, and schedule work for late spring or summer avoid the fall rush and give residents plenty of notice. After the project, putting the community on a recurring asphalt maintenance program — crack sealing and periodic sealcoating — is what stretches the interval before the next major capital outlay.
Getting a bid from Biran Paving Group
Biran Paving Group is a Dunwoody-based asphalt contractor serving HOAs, property managers, and commercial properties across Metro Atlanta, including Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, and Gwinnett counties. With 15+ years of experience, 500+ completed projects, a 5.0-star rating, and expanded crew capacity through our operation alongside Michael's Asphalt, we're set up to handle community-scale paving with the phasing and communication HOA work demands. We're licensed and insured, and we provide a certificate of insurance on request — every proposal comes with measured quantities, stated compacted thickness, and unit pricing in writing.
Call Ben Biran at (678) 332-8941 or email biranpaving@gmail.com to schedule a walkthrough and get a bid your board can put side by side with any other.