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Choosing a trade
Driveway installers.
The difference between a good driveway and a bad one is almost entirely who lays it. Here is how to tell them apart before you pay anyone.
At a glance
core
- Trade regulation
- None — no licence required in the UK
- What to verify
- Public liability insurance, in date
- Best evidence
- Addresses of past jobs you can drive past
- Biggest red flag
- Pressure to decide today
- 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
Driveway installation is an unregulated trade. There is no licence to lose, no mandatory qualification, and no register you have to be on. That is not a scandal — most people doing it are competent and straight — but it does mean the burden of checking sits with the customer.
The good news is that the checks are quick, and the questions that separate a competent installer from a chancer are specific enough that you cannot really be bluffed on them.
What we are not going to claim
PaveLocal does not hold trade accreditations and does not display badges it has not earned. Neither does most of the trade — several of the schemes homeowners recognise are marketing memberships rather than competence assessments, and a logo on a van proves that a subscription was paid. Judge an installer on the specification they will put in writing and on work you can go and look at, not on the badges.
Five questions worth asking
Ask these of every quote. You are not trying to catch anyone out — you are trying to find out whether the same job is being priced by all of them, because very often it is not.
- How deep are you digging?
You want a number, and you want it to relate to the ground. On clay, 250–300mm below finished level is normal for a car drive. An installer who has not thought about the ground will give you a number that is the same everywhere.
- What sub-base, and how thick?
MOT Type 1, compacted in layers. 150mm on free-draining ground, 200mm or more on clay. If the answer is vague, or the thickness is not on the quote, that is the line item that has been shaved to win the job.
- How are the edges restrained?
Kerbs or edging blocks haunched in concrete on both sides. Blocks butted up against a lawn or a border are not restraint, and the drive will creep.
- Where does the water go?
A specific answer: soakaway, permeable build-up, channel drain to a named outfall. "It will run off" means onto the pavement, which is a planning breach and your problem, not theirs.
- Can I see two jobs you did over three years ago?
Recent work always looks good. Work that is three or more winters old is the real test, and a confident installer will happily give you addresses to drive past.
Warning signs
Doorstep approaches with leftover materials from a job down the road. There is no such thing as spare tarmac from another job — it is a script, and it is the oldest one in this trade.
Pressure to sign today, or a discount that expires this afternoon. A real price is a real price next week.
A large cash deposit before anything has been ordered, especially with no written contract and no address for the business.
A quote that is a single number with no specification. If it does not say what is being dug, what is going in and how deep, there is nothing to hold anyone to and no way to compare it with another quote.
No public liability insurance, or a certificate that has expired. Ask to see it. A driveway job involves a machine, a public footway and your drains.
Comparing quotes properly
The most common mistake is comparing the totals. Three quotes for a driveway are usually three different jobs — one includes disposal and a soakaway, one assumes 100mm of sub-base and no membrane, one has quietly excluded taking the old drive away.
Put them side by side line by line instead. Where a line is missing, ask whether it is excluded or forgotten. Where the excavation depths differ, ask why. Very often the cheapest quote turns out to be the most expensive one, once the missing items are added back.
FAQ
Common questions.
Are driveway installers regulated in the UK?
No. There is no licence and no compulsory qualification. Several trade schemes exist and some are useful, but many are paid memberships rather than competence assessments. The most reliable checks are current public liability insurance, a written specification and older work you can go and look at.
How do I check an installer is genuine?
Ask for the registered business name and address and look it up at Companies House if it is a limited company. Ask to see the public liability certificate and check the date. Ask for two jobs over three years old that you can drive past. Any of those being difficult is itself an answer.
Should I use a national company or a local installer?
Neither is automatically better, but the work is almost always done by a local crew either way — national brands frequently subcontract. What matters is who is physically laying it and what specification they are working to. Ask that question directly.
Is the cheapest quote ever the right one?
Sometimes, if it is cheapest because the firm is local, efficient and quoting the same job as everyone else. It is the wrong one when it is cheapest because it assumes a thinner sub-base, no membrane, no disposal or no drainage. That is why the specification matters more than the total.
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.