Frequently asked questions

It comes down to the size, what is already down, and how much of it has to come out. As a rough guide most domestic driveways we do in Cumbria land somewhere between £4,000 and £10,000, with resin-bound at the higher end and block paving lower. We won't give you a figure over the phone, because a number guessed off a photograph is no use to either of us. The visit and the written price are free.

Most domestic driveways are 4 to 6 days on site: a day or two digging out and carting away, a day or two on the sub-base and edgings, then the surface. Resin needs a dry surface and a base that has fully cured, so we build a weather day into the plan rather than laying it in the wet and hoping.

5 years on our workmanship, printed on the quote you sign. If anything we lay sinks, lifts, cracks or comes loose because of how we laid it, we come back and put it right at our cost, with no call-out charge. It doesn't cover somebody else digging it up or damage you cause yourself, and we say that upfront rather than afterwards.

Penrith, Appleby, Kirkby Stephen, Carlisle and across the Lake District — Cumbria generally. There is no call-out charge anywhere we cover and no charge for the quote, however far out you are.

For a front garden, you need it if you lay more than 5 square metres of a surface water can't get through, unless the water is directed to a border or a soakaway. Permeable surfaces — resin-bound, permeable block paving, gravel — don't need permission. That is one of the reasons we lay so much resin. If you are in a conservation area or the property is listed, tell us early and we'll check it properly with you.

Resin gives you a seamless surface with nothing for weeds to grow through, it drains by itself, and it is easier to keep clean. Block paving costs less, copes better with heavy or turning vehicles, and if a section ever gets damaged or you need to get at a pipe, you lift the blocks and re-lay them rather than patching. On a steep or heavily used drive we'll often steer you towards block; on a front drive where you want it to look finished, resin.

It changes the design more than it changes your options. Falls get set across the slope rather than straight down it, so water is walked off to the side instead of running the length of the drive and collecting at the bottom — usually against the house. Drainage channels go where the water actually ends up, which is not always where you would guess, and on a steep approach we will normally point you at block paving over resin: it gives more grip underfoot in a Cumbrian winter, and a section can be lifted and re-laid if the ground ever moves. Steeper ground also means deeper edge restraints, because gravity spends every day trying to push the surface downhill. None of that is unusual here — a good share of the drives we lay are on a slope. We will walk it with you and tell you what it needs.

Not through resin-bound — it is a sealed surface, so anything growing is seed that has blown onto the top and brushes off. Block paving depends entirely on the jointing: filled properly with kiln-dried sand, or a polymeric sand if you want to go further, and kept topped up, it stays clear for years. Most weedy block driveways are simply ones where the joints were never filled in the first place.

It comes up and it goes away with us. The disposal, including tip charges, is a line on the quote so it isn't a surprise at the end of the week.

Block paving and flagging, yes — we work through most of the year. Resin is the fussy one: it needs a dry surface and a temperature above roughly 5°C, so between late autumn and spring we plan resin jobs around the forecast instead of promising you a date and then letting you down.

Yes — porcelain paving, Indian sandstone patios, and garden structures like pergolas and wooden gazebos. If it is going in at the same time as the drive it usually works out cheaper doing both together, because the machinery and the muck-away are already on site.

We come back to you the same day and arrange a time to come and look. You get an itemised written price within 2 working days of that visit. There is no charge and no commitment at any point until you tell us to go ahead.