Driveway questions, answered

Usually not. In England you only need permission for a new front driveway over five square metres that uses a hard, non-permeable surface and drains onto the road. Lay it in a permeable surface, such as resin bound, permeable block paving, porous asphalt or gravel, or run the rainwater off into a lawn or border, and no permission is needed at any size. Rear gardens and patios sit under separate rules. The Planning Portal sets out the detail, and we will tell you at the survey which side of the line your job falls.

A typical two car drive runs about three to five working days: a day to dig out and cart away, a day or two on the sub-base and edgings, then laying and finishing. Resin needs a dry surface and dry weather on laying day, so we book it with one eye on the forecast. Bigger drives, drainage work or a dropped kerb add time, and the written quote gives you the days before you commit.

Yes, with honest caveats. November to January is the quiet stretch in this trade and ground conditions decide more than the calendar does. Groundworks and block paving carry on fine in cold dry weather. Resin needs a dry, above-freezing surface, and tarmac wants a reasonable air temperature to roll properly, so both get postponed rather than forced. We will not lay onto a saturated or frozen base to hit a date.

Six things, roughly in order: the area in square metres, the surface you choose, how much muck has to be dug out and carted away, drainage, edgings and steps, and access for a barrow or a machine. As a guide, tarmac runs about £60 to £90 per square metre fitted, resin bound about £90 to £140, block paving about £100 to £150, and patio slabs about £80 to £150 depending on the stone. Those are guide bands, not your quote. Your quote comes from the survey and is fixed in writing.

For a normal car drive we usually build about 100mm to 150mm of compacted MOT Type 1 over a dug out formation, laid in layers and whacked down between each one. Soft or clay ground, a shared drive or anything taking a van goes deeper. The sub-base is the part you never see and the part that decides whether the drive is still flat in ten years, so it is the last place to save money.

If there is no existing crossing from the road to your property, yes, and it is a separate application to the council rather than something we can just build. Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council handles vehicle crossings in this area. Budget roughly £800 to £2,500 depending on the width, the footpath build-up and whether any street furniture has to move. We can quote the driveway on the assumption the crossing is approved and price the two separately.

Very little, and that is the point. Brush it, pull anything that seeds in the joints, and rinse it down with a hose or a low pressure wash a couple of times a year. On block paving, top the kiln dried sand back up in the joints after the first year. Keep a jet wash lance well back and never point it straight into a resin surface or a mortar joint. Deal with oil drips quickly, before they soak in.

Pick tarmac if the drive is large and budget matters most. Pick block paving if you want a pattern, a border and the ability to lift and relay a section later. Pick resin bound if you want a smooth unbroken finish that is easy to sweep and drains through. All three sit on the same sort of sub-base, so it is the surface, not the strength, that you are choosing between.

A properly built resin bound drive is, and that is why it usually needs no planning permission. The resin coats each stone and leaves voids between them, so water passes through the surface instead of running off it. It only works if what sits under it also drains, which means an open textured base course rather than a sealed one. Resin bonded, where loose stone is scattered onto a resin coated slab, is a different product and is not permeable.

We call or email you back, normally the same working day. Then we come out, measure up, look at the ground and the fall, and talk through the surfaces. You get a written quote with the area, the build-up and the price on it. There is no deposit pressure, no discount that expires tonight, and no follow-up sales calls if you decide against it.