Driveway FAQs

Resin driveways in our area sit roughly between £80 and £130 per square metre installed, depending on base preparation, edging choice, and access. Larger drives often come in toward the lower end per square metre; small drives with tricky access push higher. Prices vary with site conditions — the fixed figure comes after the site visit.

Premium machine-laid tarmac in our area runs roughly between £50 and £90 per square metre installed, depending on prep depth, edging, and access. Tarmac is typically 30–40% cheaper than resin for the same square footage. Prices vary with site conditions — the fixed figure comes after the site visit.

A typical drive — resin or tarmac — takes 4 to 7 working days from start to handover. Larger sites, full excavations, or major drainage work can push this to 8–10 days. We give you a fixed schedule before we start and stick to it.

Tarmac is bituminous and laid hot by machine — the classic dark, smooth finish. Resin is clear UV-stable plastic mixed with natural aggregate stones and trowelled cold by hand — the decorative, multi-colour, permeable finish. Tarmac is faster and cheaper per square metre; resin is more decorative, SUDS-compliant, and longer-lived under most conditions.

Resin bound mixes the stones through the resin before trowelling — the whole surface holds together as one continuous permeable mat. Resin bonded scatters stones onto a thin resin layer — cheaper to install but the stones shed over time and the surface isn't permeable. We only install resin bound. If anyone quotes you "resin" without specifying bound vs bonded, ask.

For most domestic driveways no — resin bound is permeable to rainwater, which means it falls under permitted development for surfacing replacement under UK planning law. The exception is if you're creating a new vehicle access onto a public highway, or if your property has specific restrictions (conservation area, listed building). We flag this at the site visit if it's relevant.

Yes. Resin bound is a permeable surface under SUDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems) regulations because rainwater drains through the resin mat into the sub-base rather than running off into your drains or the street. That's why resin doesn't trigger the planning permission requirement that impermeable surfaces (concrete, sealed block paving) sometimes do.

A properly-installed premium resin driveway lasts well beyond 15 years with basic upkeep — premium-grade covers it under their 20-year manufacturer warranty and the surface routinely outperforms that timeframe in practice. A premium machine-laid tarmac driveway lasts 20+ years before it needs any major attention. Both will outlast cheaper alternatives like loose gravel or budget block paving by a wide margin.

Tarmac and resin both have temperature minimums. Tarmac needs the base above about 5°C and dry — we don't lay it in heavy rain or frozen ground. Resin is similar but more flexible on temperature once it's catalysed. In practice we work nine months of the year reliably; in deep winter we sometimes wait a few days for a dry weather window. We'll flag any weather risk before we start.

Yes — two of them. Every install carries our 5-year Staffordshire Paving workmanship guarantee covering base prep, edging, drainage and the install work. On resin installs you also get the 20-year manufacturer resin warranty on the resin material itself, backed by premium-grade directly. Two separate guarantees, not one combined.

Yes. If anything goes wrong inside the guarantee period and it's down to our install, we come back and fix it at no charge. After the guarantee period — or if damage is due to something external, like a heavy vehicle scrape or a tree root — we'll still come back and quote a repair. Resin is straightforward to patch; tarmac is too. Both blend back into the existing surface well.

We use premium resin systems from one of the UK's leading manufacturers — they formulate and produce their own resin systems rather than re-badging generic chemistry. We use premium-grade on every resin install because the material is engineered for UK weather and the manufacturer-backed 20-year warranty is genuinely meaningful. See our resin bound specialist page for the full detail.

UV stability and frost resistance, mostly. Cheaper resin systems yellow in sunlight within a few years and can crack through frost cycles. premium-grade's chemistry holds colour and structural integrity through both. We've watched competitors' installs degrade visibly inside three years. premium-grade installs we did eight years ago still look new. That's why we don't substitute.

Very little. Sweep loose debris when you notice it. Once or twice a year, jet-wash on a low setting (don't blast it — moderate pressure only). If oil or fuel drops on the surface, lift it with a degreaser rather than letting it sit. That's the entire maintenance schedule. No re-pointing, no re-jointing, no sealing.