A tarmac driveway in London and the South East costs roughly £150 to £250 per m² laid over a new base, so a 40 m² drive lands around £6,000 to £10,000 and a 60 m² drive around £9,000 to £15,000, including breaking out the old surface. This page is for builders, groundworkers and small firms pricing external works for their own clients, not for homeowners shopping around.
Below are rounded cost ranges for tarmac, resin bound, block paving, concrete, gravel and patio slabs per m², fencing and garden walls per linear metre, drainage and external services, and two worked examples priced phase by phase the way our estimators build a price. The figures come from Builder Expert's own estimating system, blended with current UK market levels for the materials and specialist surfacing we don't supply.
Where these figures come from
Our rates are customer prices: labour, materials, plant, our margin and 20% VAT are already in them, so nothing is added on top and no separate overhead, profit or VAT line belongs anywhere in these totals. They are London and South East levels, and work in the Midlands, the North, Wales and Scotland usually comes in below them. They are indicative and current as at the latest export of our price book, not a quotation.
Tarmac and resin bound surfacing, and the paving blocks, patio slabs and deck boards themselves, are not in our rates. Those are either specialist supply and lay packages or a client budget, and they are shown separately below as current UK market averages so you can always tell which figure is ours and which is the market's.
One VAT point worth keeping straight: domestic external works are standard rated at 20%, which is what our figures carry. If you are working as a subcontractor for another VAT and CIS registered contractor, the domestic reverse charge applies and the VAT is accounted for by the contractor instead, so strip the VAT out of your own quote in that case.
How external works are priced, in build order
Price the job in the order it is built, because the order is where the money hides. Our system walks an external works job through eight phases:
- Preliminaries. Welfare, a skip licence where the skip sits on the road, protection of the house, paths and neighbouring boundaries, and parking. On a standalone drive or garden job these run at roughly 10% to 15% of the total and sit inside it, never on top. There is more on how we build them in our guide to construction preliminaries.
- Demolition and site strip. Breaking out the old drive or patio including its sub-base, stripping and levelling ground, removing an old fence, and carting everything away.
- Boundary works. Fences, posts, gates, low garden walls and their strip foundations, done before the surfacing so plant and barrows still have a route in.
- Foundations and footings. Only where a wall, step or retaining structure needs them.
- Underground drainage. Channel drains, gullies and 110 mm pipework to the outfall. Always before the sub-base goes down.
- Plumbing and electrics. External tap, irrigation, IP65 lights and sockets, with ducts laid while the ground is open.
- Landscaping and surfacing. Sub-base, then blocks, slabs, decking, turf or the tarmac and resin packages.
- Making good and clean-up. Reinstating lawn or verge, final grading, sweeping down.
Get drainage and ducting in before the base and the job runs. Miss them and you are lifting a finished surface, which is the single most common reason an external works job loses money. Our estimate tasks breakdown sets out how a job is broken into phases and tasks like this one, which is worth reading alongside this page if you are pricing the whole job yourself.
If the driveway is the whole job, price it as its own mini project, carrying its own preliminaries, making good and clean-up. If it follows an extension or a refurbishment, price only the external works tasks themselves, because the main project's preliminaries and waste disposal already cover the site.
Driveway and patio surfaces compared, per m²
All-in rates below cover the sub-base and the finished surface on a standard domestic job. Breaking out an existing surface is extra, at around £40 to £45 per m² in our book.
| Surface | All-in cost per m² | What it includes and how it lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Tarmac | £150–£250 | Our sub-base plus a market supply and lay tarmac package. 15 to 20 years with occasional patching; softens in heat and marks under a dripping car. |
| Resin bound | £190–£250 | Our sub-base plus a market resin package. 15 to 25 years on a sound base; permeable and the best draining of the group. |
| Block paving | £210–£250 | Our sub-base and laying, edge restraints included (around £215 of that is ours); blocks are a client budget at £20 to £35 per m² on top. 20 years plus, and single blocks can be lifted and reset. |
| Concrete | £100–£150 (market average) | Market rate for a brushed or power floated slab over a prepared base. Hard wearing but cracks if poorly jointed; we do not hold our own rate for concrete surfacing. |
| Gravel | £100–£150 (market average) | A lighter prepared base plus a market gravel supply and lay, as we do not hold a specific gravel rate. Cheapest and permeable, but needs topping up and edging to stay put. |
| Patio slabs | £210–£260 | Our patio sub-base and laying on a full mortar bed with pointing and falls (around £190 of that is ours); slabs are a client budget at £15 to £40 per m² on top. 20 years plus if the falls are right. |
| Timber or composite decking | £125–£190 | Our installation rate over existing ground at around £107 to £115 per m²; boards are a client budget at £20 to £80 per m² on top. Softwood 10 to 15 years, composite 20 to 25. |
Tarmac is the cheapest surfaced option of the group once a proper base is allowed for, and cheaper than block paving by a clear margin, but it is not dramatically cheaper than a plain concrete slab.
Tarmac driveway prices per m²
Most of a tarmac price sits under the tarmac. Our own driveway sub-base rate, which covers excavating, 150 mm of compacted hardcore and a 100 mm concrete base with the spoil removed from site, works out at around £110 to £120 per m². That is the heavy duty make-up you would use where a van or a caravan is going to stand on it. A domestic car drive is often laid on compacted hardcore alone, closer to the lighter patio style build-up at around £65 to £75 per m².
Breaking up and carting away an existing drive or patio including its sub-base is a separate cost of around £40 to £45 per m², and it is always separate: a drive laid straight onto a stripped garden costs noticeably less than a replacement. Check what is already down with a trial hole before you quote, because an old concrete raft or a slab of unknown depth turns a day's break-out into three.
The tarmac itself is not one of our rates. It is bought in from a surfacing specialist, and the current UK market average for a two coat domestic tarmac drive, supplied and laid, is about £40 to £70 per m² depending on area, access and whether it is machine or hand laid.
Tarmac quantities and checking a supplier's quote
Tarmac is sold by the tonne, not by the square metre, so a surfacing quote is easy to sanity check. Laid asphalt weighs roughly 2.3 to 2.4 tonnes per m³, which gives these rules of thumb:
- At 50 mm laid depth, one tonne covers about 8 to 9 m².
- At 75 mm (a typical 50 mm base course and 25 mm wearing course), one tonne covers about 5 to 6 m².
- A 40 m² drive at 75 mm therefore needs roughly 7 to 8 tonnes.
Material supplied to site typically runs £70 to £120 per tonne in the current UK market depending on mix and load size. If a quote prices 40 m² on four tonnes, the drive is going down too thin and will ravel at the edges within a couple of winters.
What moves a tarmac price
| Factor | Direction and rough scale |
|---|---|
| Drive size | Smaller drives cost more per m²; under 25 m² add 15% to 25% per m² on mobilisation alone |
| Access for plant and wagons | Barrowed or hand laid work adds 20% to 30% over machine laid |
| Existing base condition | A sound base saves the whole break-out line, around £40 to £45 per m² |
| Base and wearing course thickness | Each extra 25 mm adds roughly 0.06 tonnes per m² of material |
| Single or two coat | A single coat saves £10 to £15 per m² and lasts noticeably less |
| Machine versus hand lay | Machine lay is faster and flatter; hand lay suits small or awkward shapes at a premium |
| Kerbs and edgings | £40 to £70 per linear metre of edge, and most drives need two edges |
| Slope and drainage | A falling drive needs a channel drain and gully, £700 to £1,200 on a typical job |
| Region | Outside London and the South East, expect 10% to 25% below these figures |
Resin bound and block paving prices
Resin bound sits on the same base as tarmac, so the sub-base and break-out lines are identical. The resin package itself is a specialist supply and lay job, currently £70 to £100 per m² in the UK market, the higher end for decorative aggregates and deeper systems. All in, a resin bound drive over a new base runs £190 to £250 per m².
Block paving is priced in two of our lines, the sub-base and the laying including edge restraints, which together come to around £210 to £220 per m². The blocks themselves are a client budget, so add £20 to £35 per m² for standard concrete paviors at current UK market supply prices, more for clay or premium ranges. A 40 m² block paved drive replacing an old surface typically totals £10,500 to £12,500.
Materials our rates exclude
Three items on this page are a client budget, not our price: paving blocks, patio slabs and deck boards. Our rates cover preparing, laying and finishing them.
| Client supplied item | Current UK market supply range |
|---|---|
| Concrete block paviors | £20–£35 per m² |
| Concrete patio slabs | £15–£25 per m² |
| Indian sandstone | £25–£40 per m² |
| Porcelain paving | £35–£70 per m² |
| Treated softwood deck boards | £20–£40 per m² |
| Composite deck boards | £40–£80 per m² |
A budget is not a bare cost when it goes through a build. Margin and VAT apply on top of it, so a client budget costs roughly 1.44 times its value: a £1,000 slab allowance lands near £1,440 on the final account, and a £2,000 porcelain allowance near £2,880. Say that to a client at quote stage and you avoid the argument later.
Worked example: a 40 m² tarmac driveway
A standalone replacement drive, 40 m², existing surface broken out, full heavy duty base, machine laid tarmac, edge restraints, four metres of channel drain and one gully. Because it is a job on its own, it carries its own preliminaries, making good and clean-up. Sub-totals are rounded to the nearest £500.
| Phase | Cost |
|---|---|
| Preliminaries (welfare, skip licence, protection) | £500–£1,000 |
| Demolition: break out and cart away 40 m² of old drive | £1,500–£2,000 |
| Underground drainage: channel drain and gully | £500–£1,000 |
| Landscaping: sub-base, excavate, hardcore and concrete base | £4,500–£5,000 |
| Surfacing: tarmac supplied and laid, edgings | £2,000–£3,000 |
| Total | £9,000–£12,000 |
That lands above the £150 to £250 per m² headline range because of the full concrete base and the drainage. A straightforward 40 m² drive on compacted hardcore with no drainage works sits nearer £6,000 to £8,000.
Worked example: a 60 m² back garden
A standalone landscaping job: strip and level the whole garden, a 20 m² sandstone patio, 40 m² of turf over imported topsoil, 20 linear metres of new fencing with one gate, an external tap and two external lights.
| Phase | Cost |
|---|---|
| Preliminaries | £500 |
| Demolition: strip and level, remove old fence, soil off site | £1,500–£2,000 |
| Boundary works: 20 m of fence panels and posts, one timber gate | £3,000–£3,500 |
| Plumbing and electrics: external tap, two IP65 lights | £500–£1,000 |
| Landscaping: patio sub-base, slabs laid, turf and topsoil | £6,000–£6,500 |
| Total | £11,500–£14,000 |
The patio slabs are a client budget inside that landscaping figure at £300 to £800 for mid range sandstone. A porcelain patio pushes the same garden towards £15,000.
Boundary works per linear metre
Fencing is the line clients underestimate most, because the price is per metre of run and gardens are longer than people think. Measure the run on site, not from a title plan.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Standard fence panels and posts, prepared and installed | £135–£150 per linear metre |
| Removing an existing fence including posts | £14–£20 per linear metre |
| Solid brick garden wall up to 1.2 m, with its strip foundation | £575–£600 per linear metre |
| Standard timber gate, supplied and fitted | £550–£600 each (includes a £120 timber allowance) |
Fifteen metres of new fencing with an old fence to clear first typically comes to £2,000 to £2,500 all in. A brick wall is four times the price of a fence for the same run, so always price both if the client has not decided.
Drainage, services and soft landscaping
Any new impermeable drive has to deal with its own surface water: it cannot discharge onto the public footway or carriageway. That means either a permeable surface, a fall to a border or soakaway on the client's land, or a channel drain and gully connected to an outfall. Price it in at the start.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Standard channel drain, excavated and installed | £140–£150 per linear metre |
| 110 mm underground drainage pipework | £150–£165 per linear metre |
| Gully, excavated and installed | £170–£185 each |
| External tap | £300–£325 each |
| IP65 external light or socket | £240–£260 each |
| Automatic garden irrigation system with timer | around £2,150 |
| Rolled lawn turf, laid with final grading | £35–£40 per m² |
| Imported topsoil (priced per 10 m² batch) | around £200 per 10 m² |
| Decking installed, boards excluded | £105–£115 per m² |
| Solid concrete garden steps | £250–£275 each |
These are our own customer facing rates for London and the South East, including labour, materials, margin and VAT. Expect lower outside the region.
Permissions, fees and the dropped kerb
Two permissions come up on nearly every front drive, and both are the client's fees rather than part of your build price. Say so in writing before the job starts.
Planning permission is needed in England for a new or replacement front garden driveway of more than five square metres laid in an impermeable surface that does not drain to a permeable area on the property. Gravel, permeable block paving, porous asphalt, or a fall to a lawn, border or soakaway all keep the work inside permitted development at any size, which is set out in the government's guidance on the permeable surfacing of front gardens on gov.uk. Where an application is needed, a householder planning application in England is £528 since 1 April 2025.
A dropped kerb is separate again. Crossing a public footway needs the highway authority's approval under section 184 of the Highways Act 1980, and the work has to be done by the council or an approved contractor. Council application and assessment fees commonly run £150 to £350, and the finished crossing typically comes to £800 to £2,000 nationally, considerably more in parts of London and for double width crossings. Approval often takes four to eight weeks, so flag it early or your programme slips while you wait.
Pricing checklist before you quote external works
- Measure and record every area in m² and every boundary run in linear metres, on site.
- Open a trial hole to confirm the existing make-up and depth before pricing break-out.
- Check access: wagon size, barrow route, gate width, and whether plant can reach the back garden.
- Work out the muck-away route and tonnage, and whether the skip needs a road licence.
- Find the drainage outfall and confirm the drive will not discharge to the highway.
- Locate services under the drive: gas, water, electric supply and any old soakaway.
- Set levels and falls against thresholds, air bricks and the neighbour's boundary.
- Allow edge restraints on every open edge, both sides as a minimum.
- Price reinstating the lawn, verge or border the job chews up.
- Confirm in writing who supplies the blocks, slabs or deck boards and what the budget is.
Put all of this in writing before work starts. Our guide to a quote for building work covers what a proper written quote needs to include so a client can't dispute scope or price later.
Lifespan, maintenance and what to guarantee
A tarmac drive on a sound base lasts 15 to 20 years. Sealing is optional and largely cosmetic, and where a client wants it, every three to five years is the usual interval; edges and potholes need patching as they appear. Block paving lasts 20 years or more, needs kiln dried sand brushing back into the joints every couple of years and weed control, and has the advantage that single blocks can be lifted and reset after a service dig. Resin bound lasts 15 to 25 years on a correctly built base and is the lowest maintenance of the three, but it is unforgiving: if the base moves, the surface cracks and there is no patch that will match.
Guarantee your own workmanship and the base construction, typically 12 or 24 months, and say so on the quote. Do not guarantee against oil and fuel staining, tyre scuffing from turning wheels, colour variation in resin or sandstone, tree root heave, or settlement over services dug in by somebody else. Those exclusions belong in the quote, not in a conversation after the event.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a tarmac driveway cost in the UK?
A 40 m² tarmac drive typically costs £6,000 to £10,000 in London and the South East, and a 60 m² drive £9,000 to £15,000, including breaking out the old surface and building a new base. A heavy duty base and drainage push a 40 m² drive to £9,000 to £12,000.
Is tarmac cheaper than concrete and block paving?
Tarmac is cheaper than block paving, usually by £60 to £100 per m² all in, and it is quicker to lay. A plain concrete drive can come in below tarmac on surfacing cost alone, but it cracks more visibly and is far harder to patch neatly.
Does a new driveway need planning permission?
Only where more than five square metres of front garden is covered in an impermeable surface with no drainage to a permeable area on the property. Permeable surfaces and drives that fall to a border or soakaway are permitted development at any size.
Does a driveway add value to a house?
Off street parking is one of the few external works jobs valuers consistently recognise, particularly in towns with controlled parking. The value added depends entirely on local parking pressure, so treat any percentage figure quoted to a client with caution.
How long does a tarmac drive take to lay?
A typical domestic drive takes two to four days: a day or two for break-out and muck-away, a day for the base, and a day for the surfacing. Drainage or a brick edging adds a day.
When can a tarmac drive be driven on?
Light traffic after 24 to 48 hours once the surface has cooled and set. Keep heavy vehicles, caravans and trailer jockey wheels off it for two to four weeks while it cures properly, and warn the client about point loads from motorbike and caravan stands.
Getting a full external works estimate
These per m² and per metre figures are a solid starting point, but every garden has its own shape, access, levels and ground conditions underneath, and all four move the price. If you want the job priced properly, a Basic Estimate puts your client's drawings or site measurements through the same price book used on this page and returns a priced external works breakdown, phase by phase, so the figure you hand over matches the way the work is actually built, part of our wider construction estimating services. If you price your own jobs week in week out, our construction estimating software does the same job from your own measurements in minutes.
Prices change with material costs and with the season: tarmac and resin prices especially move with bitumen and resin costs, so re-check these figures against current supplier quotes before you issue a quote of your own. Last reviewed: October 2026.
External works cost calculator
Use this for a rough figure before a full estimate, or run the job through our construction cost calculator for a wider build cost check. It blends our own sub-base and installation rates with current UK market prices for the surface itself.
Driveway and patio cost estimator
- Removal of old surface
- £1,640
- Estimated total
- £9,500
Builder Expert's own sub-base and installation rates blended with current UK market prices for tarmac, resin, blocks, slabs, gravel and decking. Customer prices including labour, materials, margin and VAT, at London and South East levels; lower elsewhere. Indicative only, not a quotation.