Driveway cost guide
What a driveway really costs — with the real numbers.
Our genuine trade prices for stone, sand and sub-base, and an honest breakdown of where the rest of the money goes. No teaser rates — just how the sums actually stack up.
Why ranges, not a price list
Any firm quoting a driveway price before seeing your ground is guessing — or planning to renegotiate on day two. What your driveway costs depends on what’s under the old one, how far the spoil has to travel, and what you put on top.
What we can do is show you real numbers: what materials actually cost on our trade account at Francome’s of Ollerton — taken from genuine supplier quotations, not a price list we made up — and how the rest of the job breaks down. Then a free site visit turns the range into a written figure that doesn’t move.
Our real trade prices — Francome’s of Ollerton, August 2026
What driveway materials actually cost
MOT Type 1 — our trade price
£29.99 /tonne
What we actually pay for 50mm-down MOT, bought loose by the tonne from Francome’s. The same stone in retail bulk bags works out at roughly three times that per tonne — and a proper drive uses 14 tonnes or more.
Cement & sands — our trade price
£5.85 /25kg bag
Cement at £5.85 a bag and washed grit sand at £38.69 a bulk bag on our trade account — the unglamorous materials every drive consumes by the pallet-load.
Block paving — retail
£27–£41 /m²
What standard driveway blocks list at retail merchants; tumbled and permeable ranges run £50–£80/m². Our trade buying comes in below these figures.
Indian sandstone — retail
£40–£56 /m²
Riven sandstone slabs list at £44–£56/m² individually at retail; project packs closer to £40/m². Again, trade terms bring it down.
Trade prices are ex VAT, taken from genuine recent supplier quotations on our account at Francome’s, the family-run builders’ merchant in Ollerton; retail comparisons are national merchants’ online listings including VAT, checked August 2026. Materials sourced through our trade account typically run 30–40% below retail — savings passed on in the quote, not taken out of the spec.
Where the rest of the money goes
Materials are usually less than half the story. Six things decide the rest — and a proper quote prices every one of them before work starts, not after.
Excavation & muck away
A driveway dig is 250–300mm deep. On a two-car drive that’s well over 20 tonnes of spoil to load and cart away — grab lorries, tipping charges, and the access to get them close.
The sub-base
Typically 100–150mm of compacted MOT Type 1, depending on ground conditions. On Cheshire clay this layer — not the blocks — decides whether the drive is still level in ten years.
Labour
Excavation, screeding, laying, cutting and compacting are the biggest single cost on most drives. Cheap quotes save it by thinning the dig — which is why they’re cheap.
Site access
A drive that machinery can reach costs genuinely less than one where everything travels by barrow. Access is one of the first things we look at on a site visit.
Drainage & the 5m² rule
Paving over 5m² of a front garden with an impermeable surface that drains to the road needs planning permission. Permeable surfaces or on-site drainage keep you compliant — and are designed in, not bolted on.
Replace vs new
Replacing an existing drive adds breaking-out and disposal, but the levels and drainage are often proven. A brand-new drive on virgin ground can need more engineering. Neither is automatically cheaper — the ground decides.
A worked example — 40m² block-paved drive
Take a typical two-car drive of 40m². The sub-base needs roughly 14–15 tonnes of MOT Type 1 — about £450 at our trade price of £29.99 a tonne, where the same stone bought retail in bulk bags would cost the best part of three times that. Blocks list at £1,100–£1,640 retail for the area; our trade buying brings that down too. Then sand, cement, membrane, edge restraints and usually a drainage channel at the garage or road.
Even on trade terms, the materials for a properly built drive run well into four figures — and the excavation, cart-away and skilled labour typically cost as much again or more. That’s why a “£3,000 driveway” advertised online can only be one thing: a thin overlay on whatever is already there.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a new driveway cost in Cheshire?
For a typical two-car driveway, expect materials alone to run into the low thousands: standard block paving lists at around £27–£41 per m² retail — we buy below that through our trade account at Francome’s in Ollerton — and the sub-base, excavation and edging often cost as much again. Labour is usually the largest single item. The honest answer is a written quote after a site visit — the ground under your existing drive changes the number more than the surface you pick.
Why do driveway quotes vary so much between contractors?
Almost always the groundwork. Two quotes for the same surface can differ by thousands because one includes full excavation, a compacted MOT Type 1 sub-base at 100–150mm, edge restraints and drainage — and the other is a thin overlay that fails within a few winters. Ask every contractor to specify the dig depth and sub-base in writing. If it isn’t in the quote, it isn’t in the job.
Is it cheaper to overlay my existing driveway?
Sometimes it looks that way, but rarely honestly. An overlay inherits every problem underneath: settlement, poor drainage, roots. If your existing drive is sound concrete on a good base, some surfaces can go over it — we’ll tell you if that’s genuinely the case. If it’s cracked or sinking, the money saved on excavation is spent twice on repairs later.
Where do the prices in this guide come from?
The trade prices are taken from genuine recent supplier quotations on our account at Francome’s, a family-run builders’ merchant in Ollerton, Cheshire, and are ex VAT; the retail comparisons are national merchants’ online listings including VAT, checked August 2026. Buying on trade terms typically puts us 30–40% below retail — a saving that’s passed on in your quotation. Prices move, which is another reason we quote in writing per project rather than publishing a fixed menu.
Get a written driveway quote.
Free, no-obligation site visits across Cheshire. A written quote, typically within 48 hours. No pressure, no hard sell — just honest advice.
07742 611273