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Services
Driveway installation.
Five stages, and only the last one is visible when the job is done. Here is what each involves and how long it takes.
At a glance
service
- Typical duration
- 3–5 working days, two-car drive
- Excavation
- 250–300mm below finished level
- Sub-base
- 150mm free-draining ground, 200mm+ on clay
- Weather
- Resin and concrete need a dry window
- 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
A driveway installation is a groundworks job with a decorative finish. The finish takes a day; the groundworks take the rest of the week and determine whether the drive is still flat in fifteen years.
This page walks through the whole build so you can read a quote and tell what has been included. If you only take one thing from it, take the excavation depth and the sub-base thickness — those two numbers separate almost every good quote from almost every bad one.
Why quotes differ by thousands
Two quotes for the same driveway can differ by half the price without either being dishonest, because they are pricing different builds. The variables are excavation depth, whether spoil disposal is included, sub-base thickness, whether there is a membrane, how the edges are restrained, and whether drainage is a designed solution or an assumption that the water will find somewhere. Get those six items itemised on every quote and the comparison becomes straightforward.
Stage by stage
Timings below are for a typical two-car domestic driveway. A long drive, difficult access or a plot where the machine cannot reach the back all extend it.
- 1. Set out and excavate
Levels are set, the area is marked, and the existing surface and subsoil are dug out to formation. Spoil is loaded and carted away — a skip or grab lorry is a real line on the quote and it is not small. Day one, sometimes into day two.
- 2. Formation check and membrane
The exposed formation is inspected. If it is soft, wet or inconsistent, it gets dug deeper and made up with stone rather than covered over. A geotextile membrane then separates ground from sub-base. Half a day.
- 3. Sub-base
MOT Type 1 laid and compacted in layers of roughly 75–100mm, whacked between each layer. This is the structural layer and the one that is quietly thinned on a cheap quote. Day two into day three.
- 4. Edge restraint
Kerbs or edging blocks bedded and haunched in concrete along both edges, set to the finished levels and falls. The concrete needs time before the field is laid against it. Day three.
- 5. Laying course and surface
For block paving: 30–40mm of screeded sharp sand, blocks laid to the bond, cut in at the edges, vibrated, then jointed with kiln-dried sand in repeated passes. For tarmac: base course and wearing course laid and rolled. For resin: mixed and trowelled onto the cured base. Days four and five.
What happens if the ground is not what was expected
Occasionally a dig turns up something nobody could have known about from the surface: made ground, an old slab, a soakaway, a live service that is not where the plans say, or ground that is far softer than the surrounding plots.
A fair quote says in advance what happens then — normally that the additional work is measured and charged at a stated rate, and that you are told before it is carried out rather than after. A quote silent on the point is not protecting you from a variation; it just means the conversation happens on the day, with the drive already dug up.
FAQ
Common questions.
How long does it take to install a driveway?
Three to five working days for a typical two-car drive. Longer for difficult access, a large area, or where a boundary wall has to come down and be rebuilt. Resin and concrete need a dry weather window, so winter dates are less reliable.
Can I park on it straight away?
Block paving is usable as soon as it is jointed. Tarmac wants a day or so before heavy standing loads, and stays soft in hot weather for a while. Resin needs roughly 24 hours before vehicles. Concrete needs several days before traffic and longer before full strength.
Do I need to be at home during the work?
Not throughout, but access to water and an outside tap is useful, and someone should be reachable on the day the levels are set — that is when decisions about falls and thresholds are made and they are much easier to agree before than after.
What happens to the old driveway?
It gets broken out and carted away, and that disposal is a genuine cost. It is one of the first items to quietly disappear from a cheap quote, so check it is listed.
Related pages
Reviews
What customers say.
PaveLocal is a new name and we are not going to show you reviews we have not earned. These slots fill with real, verifiable reviews as jobs are completed — name, town, and a link you can check.
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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.