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Contracts and consumer rights
Choosing a driveway company.
The paperwork side of a driveway: what should be in the contract, what deposit is normal, and what the law already gives you.
At a glance
core
- Cancellation right
- 14 days on most at-home contracts
- Standard of work
- Must be carried out with reasonable care and skill
- Reasonable deposit
- Materials cost, not most of the job
- Guarantee to check
- Who backs it, and for what
- Written, itemised quotesExcavation, sub-base, edging and drainage priced separately
- Site survey before pricingNobody prices a driveway properly from a satellite photo
- Compliant surface water drainageBuilt to meet the 2008 permeable-surface rules, not around them
- Local installers onlyCrews working their own patch, not a national call centre
Most driveway disputes are not really about paving. They are about what was agreed, what was paid, and when — and they happen because the agreement was a number on the back of a quote and a handshake.
This page covers the commercial side: what a written contract should contain, what a reasonable deposit looks like, what guarantees are actually worth, and the statutory rights you already have when a company does work at your home.
General information, not legal advice
What follows is a plain-English summary of published UK consumer law as it applies to home improvement work. It is general information, not legal advice on your situation. For a live dispute, Citizens Advice can help and is free, and Trading Standards is the enforcement route for a trader who will not put things right.
Your 14-day cancellation right
When you agree a contract at home rather than at a trader's premises — which is how almost every driveway is sold — the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give you 14 days to cancel, and the trader must tell you about that right in writing.
If they do not tell you, the cancellation period can extend substantially. If you ask them to start work inside the 14 days, you can still cancel, but you may have to pay for what has been done up to that point.
The practical consequence is straightforward: nobody has to decide on the doorstep, and a trader who says the price is only available if you sign today is either uninformed about the rules they are working under or hoping you are.
What the contract should say
A quote is not a contract. What you want, before anything is paid, is a document that covers the following — and any competent firm will produce it without being asked twice.
- The full specification
Excavation depth, sub-base material and thickness, membrane, edging detail, drainage solution, surface product and manufacturer range. Enough that somebody else could build the same driveway from it.
- A fixed price and what is excluded
What happens if unexpected ground is found, who pays for extra disposal, and whether the price includes VAT. Unknowns are fine — unstated unknowns are not.
- Payment schedule
What is due when. Tied to stages completed rather than to dates.
- Start and duration
An expected start window and working duration, with the weather dependency stated for resin and concrete rather than left as a surprise.
- The guarantee
How long, what it actually covers, and who honours it if the company stops trading.
- Business identity and insurance
Registered name, company number if applicable, trading address, and public liability cover.
Deposits and staged payments
A deposit covering materials is reasonable, particularly where blocks or resin are being ordered for your job specifically. A deposit of half the contract value before anyone has been on site is not, and paying the balance before the work is finished removes the only leverage you have.
Paying by card rather than bank transfer or cash matters. Under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, a credit card payment between £100 and £30,000 makes the card provider jointly liable with the trader, which is a genuinely useful protection if things go wrong. Debit card payments may be recoverable through chargeback, which is weaker but better than cash.
What a guarantee is worth
Most driveway guarantees are the installer's own promise, which means they are worth exactly as long as the installer keeps trading. That is not fraud — it is the normal shape of the trade — but it is worth understanding rather than treating a "20-year guarantee" as a warranty backed by someone else.
Insurance-backed guarantees exist and are underwritten by a third party, so they survive the company closing. They cost the installer money and are correspondingly less common. If a guarantee is being presented as a reason to choose one quote over another, the question to ask is simply: who pays if you are not trading in five years?
Separately, and regardless of any guarantee, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires services to be performed with reasonable care and skill. A driveway that fails because it was built badly is a breach of that, and the right to a repeat performance or a price reduction does not depend on a guarantee document.
FAQ
Common questions.
Can I cancel a driveway contract after signing?
In most cases yes. Contracts agreed at your home generally carry a 14-day cancellation right under the 2013 Consumer Contracts Regulations, and the trader must tell you about it in writing. If they did not, the period can be extended. If you asked them to begin within the 14 days, you may owe something for work already done.
How much deposit is reasonable for a driveway?
Enough to cover materials ordered for your job. A demand for a large share of the total before any work starts is a warning sign, as is any request for cash. Paying by credit card gives you section 75 protection on payments between £100 and £30,000.
What if the driveway is done badly?
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires the work to be done with reasonable care and skill. If it is not, you are entitled to have it put right, and to a price reduction if that is not done within a reasonable time. Put the complaint in writing, keep photographs and dates, and speak to Citizens Advice if the trader will not engage.
Is a 20-year guarantee worth anything?
Only if someone will still be there to honour it. Most are the installer's own promise and end if the company does. An insurance-backed guarantee is underwritten by a third party and survives. Ask which kind is being offered — it is a fair question and the answer is revealing.
Related pages
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What customers say.
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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.
Free quote
Get a free quote.
Send your postcode and a rough size and we will arrange a survey. A photo of what is there now tells us more than a paragraph does.
- Itemised, in writingExcavation, sub-base depth, edging, drainage and surface priced as separate lines, so you can compare quotes properly.
- Surveyed before it is pricedGround conditions decide the cost of a driveway. Anyone quoting a firm price off a photo is guessing.
- No obligationA quote is a quote. If you use someone else, that is fine — we will not chase you about it.
Prefer to talk it through? Call 07346 814806 or email hello@pavelocal.co.uk.