Should I Buy A Cheap Driveway?

Should I Buy A Cheap Driveway? My neighbour did. Here’s the true story of what happened…

There was a knock on the door, it was my neighbour Steve. He told me he was about to get his driveway done and apologised in advance for any inconvenience. He’d found some “good lads” that came highly rated on Checkatrade  and they had recently done a good job for his sister. He didn’t know I was a landscaper so I casually asked him about his plans.

Steve is an airline engineer, so he’s technically minded and understands the importance of doing things properly (or so I hoped). He told me they were charging him £2,800 and he laughed that the “quote” came on the back of an envelope.

Customers typically have very low expectations of the driveway industry and its players. They are almost resigned to the idea they will get stung by some rogue trader as they nervously hand over their hard-earned savings. It doesn’t have to be that way – in fact the New Driveway Company was set up to change that expectation and bring a new level of professionalism to the industry.

I offered Steve some suggestions and advice on his driveway. I wasn’t touting for his business but I warned him that his quote seemed very cheap and that I would have quoted twice that amount. “I’m not made of money”, he said with a smile and a cheerio.

Most customers don’t appreciate that driveways are subject to Planning and Building Regulations just like a lot of other work in the home. I follow most of my “competitors” on Instagram and Facebook and from what I see most “landscapers” either don’t have a clue or simply don’t care about these Standards and Regulations. Admittedly the finished product often looks nice from a layman’s perspective, but many are completely non-compliant, are poorly built and will start to fail in a few short years.

When I’m talking to a customer I always explain the Regulations and the rationale behind building a certain way. We build to strict specifications that will stand the test of time and selling cheap drives is not our brand. Long term relationships, customer care, reputation, referrals and building a business is our focus.

Over the next few days I watched the lads building next door. Yes, they were very polite and friendly but I collected an entire catalogue of errors and bad practice. Here are a few of the key points…

The blocks – Based on the size of Steve’s drive it was obvious that he needed to go down a permeable surface route in order to meet planning regulations. Traditional block paving with sand filled joints is NOT permeable. It’s easy to cut corners by using cheap materials and like many things in life, you get what you pay for. We work with brands like Tobermore who are regarded as the best out there. They will not wear and fade to the extent of cheaper blocks and come in some fantastic colours. Tobermore even back their products with a 25-year warranty.

Basework and using sand as a bedding layer – If we wanted to cut corners putting in an inadequate base would be an obvious strategy and the homeowner would be blissfully unaware until their driveway started to collapse a few months or years down the line.

Soakaway – A soakaway is a means of collecting surface rain water from a driveway and storing it underground in a way that allows water to slowly soak into the ground. The first image below is Steve’s soakaway, a collection of old bricks. This was common practice in the dark ages but modern soakaways are crates wrapped in geotextile. A soakaway should be located 5m away from a building to prevent saturating a buildings foundations, not 2m as in Steve’s case.

And here’s the shocker – It seems that Steve’s contractor thought it was a good idea to use an air brick as a drain. Air bricks allow ventilation under floors and within cavity walls to stop the build up of moisture. This will lead to damp in Steve’s house, which could have a serious impact on the structure of his home not to mention his health.

Of course, now Steve’s “good lads” are nowhere to be seen and don’t respond to any communication so Steve is facing faced with digging up his new drive and starting again. Sadly, this is a pretty common occurrence.

Should I Buy A Cheap Driveway?

In a word, no. Steve is another victim of an unskilled trader and whenever I see him out front these days he looks a little sheepish. There is an old saying, “buy cheap, buy twice” and that couldn’t be more true for landscaping products and services.

Adam Bromby – Director of Customer Services – New Driveway Company