Cost of a new driveway 2021 (Surrey)?

[NoIdeasForWittyNickname]

We're looking at getting a new driveway installed (fingers crossed some time this year). At the moment the area in front of the house is 50/50 concrete and lawn, and we'd like to get all that dug out and create a new driveway for 2 cars.

We've had one company around who gave us an indicative quote for 2 options: paving blocks and resin. After doing some research online (and here on MN), I see that £75-100 per sq.m seems to be an acceptable average, so I think that company is asking way too much We'll definitely get more quotes in due course, but I now have a couple of questions:

Resin generally seems like a more expensive option but is it normal for it to be almost 30% more than blocked paving?

That company's suggested we have a drainage / soakway installed along the edge of the driveway in front of the house wall. The site is sloping down from the street towards the house so this kinda makes sense. Does this type of work usually add a lot to the average cost?

Ok, we've just had the second quote in and I'm in total shock, it's even higher than the first one.

It's a smallish area, totalling just under 50sq.m.

The first quote came in at £9K for resin an £6.2K for paving blocks - that's roughly £180/sq.m and £124/sq.m respectively. The second one came in at just under £9K for paving. Obviously this is nowhere near the averages of £75-100/sq.m mentioned everywhere.

Am I missing something and the prices have shot up recently due to multiple lockdowns? Are we being treated as complete mugs?

I’ve reported your racist comment @lunapeace

@NoIdeasForWittyNickname we paid £150sqm in the Home Counties for paving. All quotes came in the same. I was so shocked as I was expecting around £100sqm. I think a mixture of increased demand and difficulty obtaining materials due to Brexit/Covid has driven up prices sadly.

I was quoted £17000 to do the drive with paving slabs and a patio at the back of the house. Not a huge area, but a ridiculously huge price. Also in Surrey.

That was pre covid

Neighbour just paid £11K for his in Berkshire I still can’t get over that price we are sticking with what we have,

The drainage at the front of the house won't cost much extra at all, assuming there is a downpipe/drainage infrastructure already there to connect to. If there isn't, digging a soakaway isn't a huge job - would expect it to add a few hundred £ to the job.

Resin driveways do have a rep for being costly but those quotes are pretty crazy IMO for a basic 2 car driveway - must be a product of the demand the installers are seeing right now. I think you're right to be wary/wait until demand has dropped a bit.

Yes you will need an acco drainage channel otherwise you'll get water ingress into your house. I'd say allow £1k+ for that

Yes resin is much more expensive but does look good....BUT if you ever need to repair a patch, dig a section up for Any reason it's impossible to hide the repair

Block paving cost sounds about right. To bring the cost down why not have a block border and tarmac the rest?

Thank you all very much for such quick responses. Wow, the paving market must be really heating up due to Brexit / demand for home improvements during the lockdown, who would've thought?!

@FurierTransform we have a rainwater drain in the corner of the front garden, so there's something to connect to, yet we've been quoted £550+VAT for that particular option

I'm now wondering whether to pursue 1-2 extra quotes just to check it's not some sort of a conspiracy and if it's indeed the current average for our area, we'll just crawl back in our cave with the hope these mad prices will subside in a year or two.

@ivfbeenbusy yes, a very good point about not being able to patch up the resin, this has been nagging be a bit.
The tarmac + border has been mentioned as an option but we naively thought that would look too basic and cheap (Oh, the ignorance of driveway newbies! It suddenly looks so much more appealing now ). But that would also require planning permission, being non-permeable?

@lunapeace and @TitusPullo - I've clearly missed out on something here

Incidentally, our first quote was from a business run by a family from the local traveller community. They've been operating for over 15 years and are often recommended on the local residents' FB group as well as have 90%+ positive reviews on tradesperson rating websites. I have to admit, when I heard the quote, I thought we were taken for a ride (hence my first post).

The second company is run by a bloke who's British through and through, recently moved to our road, just a few doors up, so I don't think he'd be messing us up too much (we know where he lives )

It looks like pavers in our area in general have gone mad with their prices.

meant second bloke is kinda southern English chap through and through - Brexit stuff must be doing by head

@lunapeace - Jesus, calm down. Mumsnet obviously agreed with me and removed it. You were making a huge generalisation about a specific group of people. Whether you meant it positively or not, it didn’t come across well.

A couple of years ago I did my driveway. I wouldn’t get planning for tarmac but I have a large drive that will take 4 cars easily and the prices quoted were way over what I could afford.
So to reduce costs I managed the project myself.
I ordered my permeable pavers from Marshall’s clearance which I paid £4K for. You don’t get a massive choice of bricks to choose from and they could have been sitting around their yards for a year but you I’ll pay a fraction of the cost on their brochure prices. You can find them on eBay which I did but then rang them direct and ordered which saved me a bit more.
Edging stone, cement, aggregate and sand I ordered from a local builders merchants to be deliver on a schedule as the work was done.
Then I just paid for the Labour of the workmen.
With the massive savings on the pavers my total cost was about a third of the lowest quote given.

@lunapeace as a private company Mumsnet have the right to remove whatever they like from their website

And yes silly me, I am the racist for pointing out that you inferring all traveller companies will do building work for cash on the cheap is a racist generalisation. You are one strange cookie.

@Proudboomer an interesting point. DH mentioned something along these lines last night but I thought that would be too complicated. But maybe it is not such a crazy idea after all