Driveway guide
Tarmac driveway cost per m2 vs block paving: which suits Bedfordshire clay?
Tarmac driveway cost per m2 is the first number most people ask me for, and on its own it tells you almost nothing. On the clay my team and I work on across Bedfordshire, what sits under the surface decides whether a drive lasts twenty years or starts moving in three, and that holds whether you choose tarmac or block paving.
What tarmac driveway cost per m2 actually covers
Tarmac laid over a sound existing base is usually the cheapest resurfacing job you can buy, because nothing has to come out and nothing has to be taken away. From bare ground it is a different job, and once excavation, sub-base and a binder course are in, the gap between the two surfaces narrows a lot more than people expect. The figures below are indicative regional ranges, not a quote, and every plot moves them.
| Tarmac | Block paving | |
|---|---|---|
| Over a sound existing base | £45–£75 per m² | Rarely done this way |
| From bare ground | £60–£100 per m² | £80–£140 per m² |
| Time on site | 1–2 days | 3–5 days |
| Lifespan | 15 years+ | 20 years+ |
| Repairs | Patch is always visible | Lift and relay invisibly |
| Permeable option | No, drainage must be designed in | Yes, permeable system |
| Weeds | None, no joints | In the joints if sand depletes |
Why clay changes the answer
Bedfordshire clay shrinks through a dry summer and swells again when the rain comes back. That movement is seasonal, it is measurable, and it is not going anywhere. A surface laid on a thin or poorly compacted sub-base follows the ground, and you see it as dips, ponding after rain and cracked edges within a few winters.
So I price the groundworks first and the surface second. On a clay plot in Bedford or Luton, the depth and compaction of the sub-base is what you are actually buying. The surface is the part you can see, and it is the cheaper half of the decision.
Two quotes for the same square metre rate are not the same quote if one has 150mm of compacted stone under it and the other has 75mm and a hopeful look. On clay this is the single line that decides how the drive ages.
Where tarmac wins
On a long drive, tarmac is hard to beat. The rate per square metre falls as the area grows in a way block paving does not, because it is one continuous pour rather than thousands of individually laid units. If you have a farm track length of driveway, the difference is not marginal.
It is quick, usually one or two days rather than most of a week, and it is smooth, which matters for bikes, pushchairs and wheelchairs. There are no joints, so there is nothing for weeds to germinate in and nothing to re-sand. And when it eventually looks tired, a fresh wearing course over a base that is still sound is a cheap and genuinely effective job.
Where block paving wins
The strongest argument is repairability. If a service trench has to cross the drive or a section settles, blocks come up, the work happens, and the same blocks go back down. You cannot tell afterwards. Tarmac carries a visible patch for the rest of its life, and on a front drive that people see from the road, that matters more than homeowners expect when they are choosing.
Block paving also has a permeable version, which lets water through the surface instead of running it onto the road. That solves a problem tarmac has to solve some other way, usually with a channel drain and a soakaway. Our driveway drainage page covers how that gets designed, and the planning permission guide explains why the permeable route usually keeps you out of an application entirely.
Edges are where tarmac drives fail first
Almost every failed tarmac drive I get called to has failed at an unsupported edge. Tarmac has no strength at a free edge. Drive a wheel over the last hundred millimetres often enough and it crumbles, then water gets in behind it and the failure works inwards from there.
The fix is not exotic. A haunched kerb or a block edging course laid on concrete, put in before the tarmac goes down. If a tarmac quote does not mention edge restraint anywhere, that is the question to ask before you compare it on price with anything else, because the quote that includes it is doing a different job.
What I would actually tell you
If the drive is long, the budget is tight, or there is a sound base already there, price tarmac first. If it is a short front drive that people look at, if it may need digging up for services one day, or if you want to stay out of the planning question without adding drainage works, price block paving. If the existing surface is only tired rather than failing, work out which of those it is before you spend anything at all, because a repair is a fraction of a replacement.
For the full picture on what a new drive costs across the surfaces, the driveway cost guide breaks it down properly. And if you want a number for your own drive rather than a range from a table, send me the measurements and a photo of the edges.
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.