Has anyone had a DRIVEWAY put in?

[morningpaper]

I have planning permission for a driveway in my front garden. Reasonably large garden so reasonably large driveway but the quote I have had is 9k (including VAT) and this seems STEEP as I had expected around 5K. I want a bog-standard loose gravel finish.

If I wasn't 6 months pregnant I would be out there with the digger myself ...

Anyone got any experience of this?

[dropinthe]

My husband lays driveways-let me know how many square metres it is and I'll let you know!

[morningpaper]

You ARE fabulous!

It's about 90 square metres.

It is currently laid to lawn except for the boundary which is iron railing - I reckon they will be about 1-1.5K to replace with gate and extra railings?

It requires a drop to the existing highway which is currently a normal pavement.

[Fran1]

Think carefully before putting loose gravel down

I hate it, gets trampled indoors as it gets stuck in the grooves of your shoes and then falls out all over the carpet. And looks messy as spills out over onto pavement. And when wearing sandals goes all in your shoes.

Sorry to be a stick in the mud about it! But i have issues

[morningpaper]

I am thinking of the LARGE stuff, not chippings per se. Kind of like white/cream stones.

[Enid]

gravel is fine

cotswold gravel looks nicer and binds better, less roll-age

you can do that thing where you tarmac the slope then press gravel in so it looks gravelled

that sounds expensive btw

we have had ours done but part of a whole building project so have no idea how much it costs on its own

[noddyholder]

we just had ours done We had tumbled dark grey blocks To dig it out and lay plus 2 walls 4ft high down either side 18m square was 2100 inc

[KBear]

dropinthe - your DH sounds like a handy bloke to know - are you in the SE by any chance?

[morningpaper]

Noddy that sounds like a great price. I know ours is bigger but the price seems excessive to me, particularly for gravel which is about 30 quid a tonne.

[dropinthe]

Sorry not been around! He reckons a max of 6k-it really depends on how much needs to come out of it-a 16 ton lorry full would cost £400.00 per load and then if you need a drop level alot would have to come out.
We live in SE London-he is a handy man-he learnt the trade from his stout Irish Dad who has worked on the roads all his life and is an expert! He tends to do alot of friends' drives/patios and never ends up making much money as is too sweet to ask for the going rate!
Good Luck!
(I too don't like gravel-it gets everywhere,gets full of bits of rubbish and ruins your tyres! Give me a nice bit o block paving anyday!!)

[noddyholder]

the blocks were fairly expensive and the builder said it would have been cheaper to do gravel but I don't like the way it moves about although it is probably better in a large area Get at least 3 quotes before you decide

[anteater]

Would advise against gravel if the drive has a bend in it.. the gravel all ends up on the o/s edge when the post van comes racing down.. like ours!
We put our own drive in and found it LOADS cheaper to employ contractors on an hourly rate and then buy the hardcore and gravel in yourself..
Any quote you get will have profit (that you pay) built in.

Gravel in front of the house looks good tho, imo,cobbles are better!!

[nooka]

dropinthe,
Does your dh enjoy doing driveways? We're looking for a quote for our front. It's currently tarmaced and falling apart. We've had a quote of 6k to totally dig it out and replace it, but what I'd really like is to know if there are cheaper/quicker options. It's round a bend (space for three cars at a pich), and on a hill, so quite sloping. I'd like chippings, but agree with Fran about possible grief (still better than all the mud we had last winter!)

[dropinthe]

Its his livelyhood and he loves working outdoors but its v hard work and he will probably need hips/knees replaced like his Dad did in his 50's and he can expecta bad back too!
Don't think there would be a cheaper option but just get a few quotes on different types of work you could have done.