Driveway guide
Block paving vs resin: which is right for your driveway?
These are the two surfaces most people end up choosing between, and most comparisons of them are written by someone who only installs one. Here is the version that admits both have situations where they are the wrong answer.
The short version
If you already have a sound tarmac or concrete driveway that is only tired on the surface, resin bound is almost certainly the better value job. If you are starting from bare ground, or your existing drive is block paving, or the drive needs to be repairable in sections, block paving is usually the better call.
| Block paving | Resin bound | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per m² | £80–£140 | £70–£120 over a sound base |
| Cost from bare ground | £80–£140 | £110–£170 |
| Lifespan | 20 years+ | 15 years+ |
| Time on site | 3–5 days | 1 day over a base, 4–6 days from scratch |
| Repairability | Excellent — lift and relay invisibly | Poor — patches are visible |
| Weeds | In the joints, if sand depletes | None — no joints |
| Maintenance | Re-sand joints occasionally | Occasional wash |
| Permeable? | Only the permeable system | Yes, if the base drains too |
| Weather to install | Most of the year | Dry, above ~5°C |
| Wheelchair / pushchair | Adequate | Better — smooth and seamless |
Where block paving wins
It can be repaired invisibly
This is the strongest practical argument and it is routinely undersold. If a service trench has to go through your drive, if a section settles, or if a manhole needs raising, block paving is lifted, the work is done, and the same blocks go back. Done properly you cannot tell.
No other common surface offers that. Resin, tarmac and imprinted concrete all carry a visible patch for the rest of their lives.
It does not depend on what is already there
Block paving is laid on a sub-base you build. Resin is laid on a base that must already be sound. On a bare plot, resin is the finish on a build that still needs excavation, sub-base and a bound base course first — which is why resin from scratch costs more than block paving from scratch, despite the surface being cheaper.
It can be laid nearly year-round
Resin needs a dry base and a dry forecast above about 5°C. In this part of the country that makes November to February an unreliable window. Block paving is laid in most weather.
Where resin bound wins
Over an existing sound drive, nothing beats it on value
No excavation, no spoil, no skip, no disposal charge, and one day on site. Disposal alone is often £400–£900 of a driveway price, so avoiding it entirely is a genuine saving rather than a sales line. If your tarmac drive is structurally fine and just looks tired, this is the job to price first.
No joints means no weeds and nothing to re-sand
Weeds in block paving germinate in windblown dirt that collects in depleted joints. Keeping the joints full of kiln-dried sand deals with it, but it is a recurring small job. Resin has no joints at all.
It is genuinely smoother
For a wheelchair, a mobility scooter, a pushchair or a bike, resin is noticeably better than block paving. If anyone in the household needs that, it is a strong argument on its own.
It handles awkward shapes
Resin is poured to a shape rather than cut to it, so curves, tapers, manhole surrounds and odd turning areas come out cleanly without a border of cut half-blocks.
Where each one is clearly wrong
The blocks move independently and the joint lines telegraph through the resin within a couple of years. If you have block paving and want a seamless look, the blocks have to come up and a proper base has to go in. Anyone offering resin straight over blocks is either inexperienced or counting on you not still looking in year three.
Resin is wrong over any base that is cracked, moving, or ponds water. It follows what is underneath: cracks reflect through, and it will not correct a fall. It also stains more readily than block paving, and pale aggregate blends show oil and tyre marks.
Block paving is wrong where the surface needs to be genuinely smooth for accessibility, and it is a false economy on a very large area where the labour of laying and cutting individual units becomes the dominant cost.
The drainage question
Both can be permeable, and both can fail to be. Standard block paving on sand is not permeable in the sense the planning rules mean; permeable block paving — wider joints filled with grit, over an open-graded sub-base — is.
Resin bound is porous as a material, but a driveway only drains if the layers below it drain too. Laid over solid concrete with nowhere for the water to go, the surface is permeable and the driveway is not.
On clay, either system needs the sub-base designed to store water and release it slowly, because the clay will not accept it quickly. That is a real cost on both and it should be an itemised line either way. There is more detail on our driveway drainage page.
So which one?
- Sound existing tarmac or concrete
Resin bound. Best value job available in this trade.
- Existing block paving that has settled
Lift and relay the blocks. Not resin.
- Bare ground or a failed drive
Block paving, usually — cheaper from scratch and repairable later.
- Accessibility matters
Resin bound, and build the base properly.
- Services run under the drive
Block paving, so the ground can be opened without ruining the surface.
- Period or conservation frontage
Neither, probably — clay pavers or natural stone will look right where both of these can look wrong.
Written and reviewed by the PaveLocal team. We build and specify driveways across Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire. Pricing and specification guidance on this page reflects what these jobs cost and involve in this region, not a national average.