Driveways & Paving in Edinburgh

Yes. Our workmanship guarantee covers the whole driveway, from the excavation and sub-base right up to the laid surface and edge restraints, so if anything sinks, lifts or moves because of how we built it, we return and sort it. The work is carried out to the Scottish Building Standards, and we finish every job with a walkthrough where we check the levels, falls, drainage and edging with you before we hand the driveway over.

They are. The block pavers, the sub-base aggregates and the jointing compounds we use all carry their own manufacturer warranties, and those sit alongside our workmanship cover rather than replacing it. We only lay materials that are rated for vehicle traffic and we install them the way the manufacturer specifies, so those product guarantees stay valid and you are covered on both the surface and the build beneath it.

We typically dig down to around two hundred and fifty millimetres. This allows for a one hundred and fifty millimetre compacted MOT Type 1 sub-base, a fifty millimetre sand bedding layer, and the paving blocks themselves. Proper excavation depth is what prevents the driveway from sinking over time.

Costs vary depending on the type of surface chosen, the ground conditions, and how much earth needs to be excavated. Standard concrete block paving costs less than premium natural stone or resin-bound systems. We give an exact written price after checking the levels and size of the site.

A standard two-car block paving driveway usually takes between five to seven working days. Bulk excavation and sub-base preparation take up the first few days, followed by the edging installation, block laying, and final compaction.

If a non-permeable material like standard concrete or tarmac is used over an area larger than five square metres, planning permission is generally needed to ensure surface water does not run into the public road. Using permeable paving or installing proper soakaways on your own land avoids this requirement.

For standard block paving or gravel driveways, vehicles can be parked on the surface immediately after the final compaction and sand sweep are complete. For resin-bound or concrete-based driveways, the surface should be left clear for around forty-eight hours to let the materials cure properly.

That usually comes back to a sub-base that was never compacted properly, weak edge restraint, or water getting into the base. Proper sub-base formation and compaction, with sound edge restraints, is what keeps a driveway stable under regular use and through the freeze-thaw cycles of a Scottish winter.

We lay a heavy-duty geotextile membrane beneath the aggregate sub-base to stop deep-rooted weeds from growing up through the soil. Any weeds that appear later usually grow from airborne seeds settling in the sand joints. Regular sweeping and refilling with kiln-dried sand will keep them from taking hold.