What are approximate costs of tarmac driveway?
Posted by frankwittgenstein@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 127 comments
[removed]
Posted by frankwittgenstein@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 127 comments
[removed]
Swimming_Syrup_1317@reddit
The photo isnt 15 m2...
Open-Trip@reddit
Just pull the tarmac off the windows and lay it on the ground.
R0rschach1@reddit
All I would say is keep looking for quotes, 6 calls and hardly any answers. Not a good sign is it. 3k seems reasonable however how sure are you that the 3k fella ain't just going to do a runner.
WBCSMFer@reddit
Wouldn't your cash be better spent trying to do something about the black hole on your front wall?
spynie55@reddit
For £3k, I think I'd get rid of all your dandelions and buy a couple of bags of white stones to put down, and do something nice with the £2,900 I'd have left.
PenaltyLast4745@reddit
I'd remove the gravel leave 5cm. Get some nice gravel stabilizer with built in fabric and a big bag of sharp gravel about £450. A few trips to the tip with bags of old gravel.
Clarl020@reddit
Gravel would look so much nicer, too.
Fly_Boy_Blue@reddit
Noisy gravel is also burglar deterrent
Sad-Nectarine-7855@reddit
Especially given paths are so inaccessible for burglars
Electrical_Peach5715@reddit
Looks pretty secure. Someone has tarmac'd the windows.
oneletter2shor@reddit
I fucking love Reddit loooool.
Electrical_Peach5715@reddit
😉
Amazing-Heron-105@reddit
Having known thieves in the past: they aren't worried about gravel.
AdamGarner89@reddit
Why do people think this? Like, do you think you would wake up if someone walked on your gravel and shoot out of bed to catch them? 😂
imtheorangeycenter@reddit
Because it was a playground rumour that the high-ranking Japanese slept in a bedroom with gravel as that was their only defense against ninjas.
I'm not even kidding.
reverandglass@reddit
No-one is talking about the guy who does step on the gravel, we're talking about the rest who get put off by it.
PennyBunPudding@reddit
Yup. Gravel house or tarmac house next door? That's the deterrent. Not the gravel so much itself.
XLBilly@reddit
No but dogs do.
Ok-Bag3000@reddit
Until it’s scattered all over the pavement and halfway down the road and then it looks untidy and horrible
Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit
That only happens because people don’t put driveway grids down.
Ok-Bag3000@reddit
And because they over fill grids so the excess at the top wanders
Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit
They would have to overfill a fair bit but easy enough to calculate how much is really needed
sihasihasi@reddit
For about six months.
Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit
Especially the more expensive stuff
Arctic silver on there would look 👌
Plus when it rains, the silver looks more black and appears to sparkle.
Couple of nice containers under the window and same alongside the fence, some nice solar lights etc and it will elevate the whole thing
Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit
Bulk bag of nice stones is £200, and there’s probably 2 bags worth there. Plus needs grids at £200-odd and a skip.
Large stones won’t aid drainage, cheap stones won’t look nice cosmetically
ItStartedWithAQueef@reddit
What's the skip for?
Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit
The old stones
spynie55@reddit
Ok, maybe I'd have a bit less change, but still. And cosmetically - all I'm aiming for is looking better than tarmac - I think it's achievable.
Fantastic-Dingo-5806@reddit
By couple I hope you mean a couple of bulk bags. The individual bags are barely able to cover a pot hole.
Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit
If OP knows the dimensions I’ll do the calculations
50mm grids and 60mm stone coverage
TheBestBigAl@reddit
The last guy I hired to do some driveway work only got as far as "buy a couple of bags of white" and then disappeared...
Pathfinder-electron@reddit
I would personally just buy the cement etc and do it myself. Might take a few weekends
J1995P1@reddit
I’m a QS for an asphalt company, typically for a job like this, we price a full hand lay gang, circa ~£2k. The gang can’t be split, because if we only send 2 lads, and there are no jobs for the other 3, we incur the cost of paying the for the day. Then you would require a minimum drop of material, typically 5tonnes, in surface course is approx £150p/tonne. Add profit on top and your probably not far off the £3k mark
J1995P1@reddit
To follow on from this, if you dm me your location and full job details I could probably give you a competitive price
Carla_Lad@reddit
Just out of interest is that just the tar? By the looks of this it needs dug out, 150mm type 1 placed and then probably 60-80mm of car pave or something similar? Also I dont like the sound of the porous paving, any experience with that stuff?
Spumesational@reddit
Loving this new vanta-black window trend
Elegant-College-3339@reddit
I paid £7.5k for 52 square meters with a 4’ fence with concrete posts and gravel boards down 2 sides.
raguff@reddit
For £3k and given the size of it that would put me into “how can I do this myself territory” - but then appetites for DIY vary so might not be your choice
jobblejosh@reddit
Trouble is a tarmac driveway isn't a job for the casual DIY-er.
Sure, any idiot can go down to a builder's merchant, buy a couple bags of cold lay, and have a tarmac surface down in a day or so.
But you want your driveway to be hard-wearing (so it doesn't decay immediately), look nice, drain well (it's a fairly impermeable membrane so all the rain that currently soaks through the stones will just sit on the tarmac), and continue to do those things.
That means you want to remove the gravel, put a proper base layer (of something like MOT Type 1) down, make sure you level it properly (I think it's something like a fall of 20mm per metre) and then compact it (if you don't compact the baselayer then it'll move around under the tarmac, won't hold the weight of the car(s), and will quickly develop holes, ruts, dimples, and divots).
Then you need to lay the top layer, again ensuring you get your levels and compaction right. And you need to work quickly and efficiently because tarmac begins to cure as soon as it hits air (cold lay) or cools down (hot lay).
You'll also have no guarantee on how long it'll last and no recourse, because you've done it all yourself. And if you muck up, you'll be stuck with too much or too little stone and spend an absolute fortune on finishing it (or ripping it out and starting again because the tarmac cured before you could get it all laid).
Buy once, cry once.
raguff@reddit
You’re not wrong. All about balance I guess. I think I’d pivot to a slightly different plan in OPs position, but equally have given a couple of bits a go with cold lay in the past so might still price up doing the lot, or various parts of it, myself.
Some kind of triangle showing low cost vs high quality vs short time - pick two! (That might not work exactly mind you, low cost high quality needs some more variables for how you’d get there!)
jobblejosh@reddit
Aye. Low cost high quality unfortunately means high skill!
For a small job, yeah, a bit of cold lay work is probably fine. For a driveway, unless you know what you're doing (and admittedly you're probably looking at hot lay here, which comes with its own struggles), it won't last the winter before it breaks up, comes loose, and looks worse than just gravel.
Vertigo_uk123@reddit
That’s my predicament. Similar size. Only issue is I would need to hire a mini digger. Compactor, concrete saw etc. by the time that’s all factored in I can likely hire someone for a slightly higher cost but have warranty etc.
raguff@reddit
Yeah that’s fair for that I guess, but anything you can do that removes labour can’t be a bad shout.
For OP it looks reasonably straightforward to do something neater - more gravel, paving stones (even just a couple of lines for wheels maybe) just moves into how committed you are to a specific plan vs how much you’re willing to pay!
Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit
I was in that spot, had that and 2 garden remodels to do, spent about £2k total, started off trying to make a start to save a few quid
Scarred_fish@reddit
Roads Engineer here - our price for a standard 60mm on prepared Type base is £180 pre square meter plus VAT.
There would also be plant transportation costs depending on where you are.
Honestly given the small area and the lack of obvious drainage, I would just clean it up and redo the gravel, or slab it yourself. Concrete would be a better option than tarmac if you really want a solid surface, but again, factor in drainage.
frankwittgenstein@reddit (OP)
Thank you for all the info and advice. The man said that they would do "porous tarmac" given lack of drainage, is that enough though? I don't necessarily need a solid surface, my main gripe is that stones keep being dragged onto the pavement with the gravel I have now.
Scarred_fish@reddit
Porous tarmac is more expensive again, and honestly doesn't really work. It requires a lot of cleaning to prevent it clogging up. Personally I would leave a 150mm strip of gravel next to the wall and grade the surface towards it. Thats assuming the gravel is a soakaway.
jobblejosh@reddit
Alternative would be a couple of aco drains if there's a surface water drain for a downpipe nearby.
NormalToe855@reddit
You need to check planning permission if anything impermeable is going down. Even drainage that goes back to the house.
NormalToe855@reddit
You need to check planning permission if anything impermeable is going down. Even drainage that goes back to the house.
Mental_Water_2694@reddit
Over a tenner.
Probablyatrollmaybe@reddit
I’d get that huge black hole in the house fixed first
Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit
If it was me…. 1. Take the stones out, put them in rubble sacks
Dig out the weeds
Put weedproof sheet down
Put plastic driveway grids down
Order a skip and empty the contents of the rubble sacks into the skip
Order stones (possibly 2 bulk bags at 800kg each will likely sort it
Will cost a fraction of tarmac and drain a lot better. Put the grids in and the stones will stay in place
Looking at under a grand with particularly nice stones (go somewhere that has a decent choice of aggregates and you will know what I mean)
frankwittgenstein@reddit (OP)
Thanks, that's really helpful. Yeah, my main gripe is that the stones constantly keep falling onto the pavement, but if there's a good way to stop them, I might look into DIYing it.
Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit
The grids will stop the stones moving
Wat_A_Seal@reddit
To an extent. There will always be some migration. Cost me about £3k doing it DIY including tools (and a cement mixer for future projects). Admittedly mine was closer to 22m2.
Source: my driveway with gravel grids.
eufemiapiccio77@reddit
I had to double take I thought you had installed a portal to another dimension
D_ntt@reddit
Someone I know did it with those cold tarmac bags, god awful finish, won't last, but my sister says he did an amazing job and saved thousands, so try and get a decent company
Morgidior@reddit
For 3k id do it myself 😂😂
jesussays51@reddit
Have you considered concrete? In theory you can do all the work yourself. But worth checking the cost of raw materials.
Creative-Tea581@reddit
£3k for 15m² isn’t ‘rip-off’, it’s ‘small job tax’ mobilization, prep, and minimum crew costs don’t shrink with size
Jimeeh@reddit
It’s because the part load charges on the truck and the wait time that delivers it as well depending on the size of the truck they have to send.
Superspark76@reddit
This, it's hard to explain a lot of the time that the materials are the only part of a job that is less. It still needs the same usages and hours for a smaller job.
Honourable_Mention5@reddit
Huh?
zeusoid@reddit
Think of it as initialisation.
Starting the job is the most expensive part.
So even if the job is bigger, the most expensive part is still there.
Honourable_Mention5@reddit
Doesn’t address the point made but thanks
Rootes_Radical@reddit
If it takes two hours to get started, two hours to pack up, and an hour to do that small area, that’s five hours. It would potentially only take six hours to do twice the area and so on.
I’ve pulled those numbers out of my arse but you get the picture surely.
selffulfilment@reddit
Yep. Even clearer if you swap ‘set up’ and ‘pack up’ to just driving to and from the job site.
Bastrato@reddit
I presume you are some pencil necked office jockey who has never done anything of use in your life?
Honourable_Mention5@reddit
So working in an office automatically = no use?
sloth_ers@reddit
Stop being difficult, its been explained and the concept of what everyone else has said is not that hard to grasp...
Honourable_Mention5@reddit
It’s not an outright attempt to be difficult, but the answer as written was wrong (or, at best, lacking in clarity)
Alcoholic_Synonymous@reddit
For an area twice the size it’s not necessarily twice the amount of time.
There’s also opportunity cost - several small projects have more administrative overhead than a single larger one.
Honourable_Mention5@reddit
But it’s not “the same” amount of time, as the original comment says.
Indie89@reddit
I think they mean the setup and take down hours are the same, the variable is how much they need to tarmac which may not actually be where most of the time is. But it will be different from a smaller job.
TellMeManyStories@reddit
So what you're saying, is get together with 5 neighbours and get a decent discount for a bulk job?
LowerPick7038@reddit
Yes. That happened down the street i am on now.
frankwittgenstein@reddit (OP)
I'm not saying it is, I specifically said I understand there are some fixed costs. But it's difficult to judge the price when your only point of reference are online posts, because only one person actually turned up to do the quote. The second guy told me he would come after the first one leaves, but later on asked me over the phone how much the first one quoted, and said that he won't match that price without even knowing how big the area was.
Superspark76@reddit
Don't hire the second guy 🤣
Definitely get someone else out, I know it's not always easy, ideally get 3 quotes and go with the one that makes you feel more confident to do the job, not necessarily the cheapest.
BillWilberforce@reddit
The problem with tarmac is that often the tar years are miles away, there's a minimum quantity of tar to be bought. It's a very early start. Usually trying to be at the yard when it opens, often at about 7AM. It's hot, smelly and dirty. With the workers stinking of diesel for several days afterwards. As you paint diesel on to the rollers, wheelbarrow tyres, lorry and your shoes. To prevent the hot tar sticking to everything. It's also really hard to estimate how much tonnage you're going to need and disposing of any left overs, especially if it's gone a bit cold is a real pain.
So any company doing them will want to either do larger jobs or do several small jobs on one day. Having done all of the preparation for them in advance.
You maybe able to cut the costs by being flexible on when they do and do much of the preparation yourself.
I'd start by giving the drive a thorough spray with some good weedkiller. Having read the instructions and following the advice on it, leave it for about a week or two. Then depending on what your existing drive is made up of. Dig about a foot down or if it's concrete break it out, remove all of the big pieces. Then level the remainder. Wack it thoroughly, you can rent a wacker plate from say HSS (cheaper alternatives are available). Add a few tons of type 1 scalpings to it. Level and wack it again, thoroughly. Somewhere like Jewsons may just have some in stock and can deliver but usually they come from a quarry, cement yard and arranging delivery can be difficult.
You'll want them to put down about 2" of tarmac and you'll want that gap at the front of the drive and then ideally finishing 2-3 courses below the damp proof course.
You'll probably have to look at drainage as well. As the local councils and water companies don't like rain water running off onto the pavement.
frankwittgenstein@reddit (OP)
Thank you for the detailed answer, that's helpful! Regarding the drainage, I was told it would be "porous tarmac", but I'm wondering if that's actually enough.
BillWilberforce@reddit
Porous tarmac is very rare, a lot more expensive than normal tarmac and requires a slightly different foundation.
9/10 of the time the salesman will say that it's porous but the "lads" doing the job will just get what's cheapest/easiest to get hold of.
One problem you have is the height of the air brick and possibly the DPC. Ideally you'd raise the height of the drive by the house slightly and then have a slope towards the road. With a gulley drain, possibly a soak away between the tarmac and the public footpath. But it doesn't look like there's much leverage to do that. What you may want to do is have a space in front of the air brick that's gravel and some blocks around that. Just don't use block paving blocks as they're non-permeable. So the cement doesn't bind to the blocks properly. So they always fall off within a few weeks or months (after the cheque has cleared).
I really would pay at least £100 by credit card. As then your credit card provider is jointly liable with the "builder" for the TOTAL value of the work. Up to £30,000.
https://www.lloydsbank.com/credit-cards/help-and-guidance/section75.html
theroch_@reddit
Mate just paid £4.5k for similar. Was middle quote
wglwse@reddit
I'm a landscaper, that's very expensive! £100 per metre square is starting price. For a smaller area more obviously but anything towards £200 per m² is ridiculous never mind more! Hope they did a good job and hope you're happy with it thought mate
theroch_@reddit
Wasn’t me, was my mate.
frankwittgenstein@reddit (OP)
Thank you
nikobenjamin@reddit
Yeah ours was about that size. Tarmac in the middle, bricks on the outside. £3400
seoi-nage@reddit
Your airbricks are too low.
andrew0256@reddit
I think you bigger problem is those ugly blacked out windows. /s
This-Struggle-2679@reddit
It also depends on the what area you're in.
Also note that this is the busier season for builders too.
I'm getting my driveway done in bricks/tiles for about 30sqm and cost is £3k excluding tiles or brick whatever I choose.
This quote is when he is working on many other things in the house costing about £40k.
T140V@reddit
Don't forget that if you are planning on replacing a permeable surface (gravel) greater than 5m^(2) with an impermeable alternative (tarmac), you will also need to install suitable drainage and obtain planning permission.
wglwse@reddit
I'm a landscaper, going rate to block pave that starts at £100 per m², seen as it small it wiall be more. I wouldn't pay £200 per m² though, that's. I'd be pricing that around 2250 at a rough guess
Sasiches_and_mash@reddit
You can do it yourself if you have time, remove the stones, lay down a plastic barrier to avoid regrow of weeds, lay around 1 inch of tarmac sand and then another inch of cold lay tarmac.
Once it's all done and thoroughly compacted you can apply some tarmac sealant
Friend did it a few years ago for a third of the cost he was quoted, following summer he reapplied the sealer and it's still looking like new
Jealous_Problem356@reddit
Get a couple of pikeys to do it. It won't last long, but it will save you a few quid! Do you have a darg?
TrackTeddy@reddit
Very likely you aren't allowed to tarmac that space anyway as you are replacing a porous surface with a non porous one which is usually against planning regs unless soakaway drainage is also installed.
frankwittgenstein@reddit (OP)
They said they would do "porous tarmac" given lack of drainage, but I'm wondering whether that's enough.
TrackTeddy@reddit
You'd need to see what your local planning regs are.
WinterJournalist6646@reddit
You want get that big hole in your wall fixed first mate.
obiwanmoloney@reddit
You’ve contacted six companies?
You should know better than anyone here what an approximate cost is to tarmac your driveway.
AskUK-ModTeam@reddit
A top level comment (one that is not a reply) should be a good faith and genuine attempt to answer the question.
billybigbolloxxx@reddit
I've got an area slightly bigger, previously stoned but I've cleared them, just had a dropped kerb done (PITA) & got a quote of 2300 to install a tarmac drive, east midlands area, only had 1 quote so far.
Geezer-McGeezer@reddit
I dunno but I would get one of those big black slabs on the window and lay it on the drive instead.
ukbot-nicolabot@reddit
A top level comment (one that is not a reply) should be a good faith and genuine attempt to answer the question
longtermbrit@reddit
That's a slab? I thought it was a huge brick oven pizza.
Ok-Cold3937@reddit
I’d just concrete it, cost you thousands less if you did it yourself. Heavy hard work but not complicated.
WGD23@reddit
Treat yourself to new windows mate
Wonderful-Medium7777@reddit
Why tarmac…is it because you need it for parking?
If you do just use gravel , les expensive and would look far nicer.
If not, it is a great area to make more pleasing , gravel and intermittent slabs, big pots of flowers etc.
igglezzz@reddit
I paid 3.6k for one a bit bigger than yours. Seems reasonable.
frankwittgenstein@reddit (OP)
Thank you
Ok-Guava3089@reddit
You’re not miles off market here. £3k sits in that “we’ll do it, but it needs to be worth our time” range.
frankwittgenstein@reddit (OP)
Thank you
BorderlineGambler@reddit
I got quoted £3k for something similar. Just gonna gravel mine because I cba doing block paving.
frankwittgenstein@reddit (OP)
Cool, thank you for letting me know!
HissTheSnake@reddit
what are you going to do about drainage?
frankwittgenstein@reddit (OP)
I asked them about a cost-effective drive, and said I was looking at gravel or tarmac. They told me they could do "porous tarmac" given lack of drainage.
soapyjoe59@reddit
I would just carry on with the flags from the drive and do it a bit at a time, you have already got the line from the flags that are down.
Careless-Cooker@reddit
Impressive blackout windows, where did you get them?
gxb20@reddit
Smaller tarmac jobs will often be more expensive per m2 than larger jobs because they need to cover the cost of haulage (materials and equipment) plus you got to pay the lads for the day regardless of how long theyre there (or at least pay the boss for the lads days, they might still be on hourly). I dont think its a crazy quote tbh but my experience is with larger tarmac jobs.
However, i dont think you need this tarmacking. Put some weed barrier down and a bulk bag or 2 of nice stone and have £2500+ to spend on something else
sweatypissflap@reddit
3k seems quite cheap for that.
tommygunner91@reddit
Try stones? Can get a couple of dumpys delivered and do it all yourself, just a bit of sand and membrane first
Itchy-Ad4421@reddit
It’s probably the going rate for a firm to do it but I wouldn’t pay it. You could do considerably more for two and a half grand less and it’ll take you a day or so. Joy some gravel down or if you want to be a big spender lash some grids down and then some gravel. You could dig out and pave it (biggest expense will be getting rid of all the shit you dig out)
No chance I would be parting with 3 grand for a little bit of tarmac. It looks shit as well.
Wooshsplash@reddit
Try r/DIYUK
HawthorneUK@reddit
Given the size, with tarmac being impermeable, you'll need planning permission, which will add on a chunk.
OddPerspective9833@reddit
The main cost is the loss of a garden. Do you have a dropped kerb btw? That's a big cost too
BigFloofRabbit@reddit
I'd suggest just paving it yourself. I did a similar sized area on my house, it cost about £500 for the materials and I got it done over a long weekend.
fernofry@reddit
maybe this will help. £3k sounds about right based on this https://www.checkatrade.com/blog/cost-guides/tarmac-driveway-cost/
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