New driveway installation in Macclesfield

A new driveway is a groundworks job with a decorative finish, and almost every difference between a good one and a bad one is buried before the surface goes down. The excavation depth, whether a membrane went in, how many layers the stone was compacted in, whether the edges were bedded and haunched in concrete, and where the rain is going — those five things decide whether you get five years or twenty-five. None of them are visible on handover day, which is exactly why they belong in the written quote.

The sequence is much the same whatever you choose to walk on. The area is set out and dug down to formation, normally somewhere around 200–250mm below finished level for a domestic drive and deeper on soft ground or where a heavier vehicle parks. A geotextile membrane goes over the subgrade where it is needed, to stop the stone and the soil migrating into each other. Crushed stone sub-base goes in and is whacked in layers rather than in one lift. Edgings are set on concrete with a haunch behind them. Then, and only then, the surface.

Choosing the surface is the last decision, not the first. Block paving, tarmac, resin bound, imprinted concrete, gravel and stone all sit on that same build-up, so the honest conversation is about how you use the drive, how it drains, what the house looks like and how much maintenance you want — not about a brochure. What is decided early is the drainage, because in a front garden that is a legal question rather than an aesthetic one.

That legal question is the one most homeowners have never heard of. Since 1 October 2008, laying more than five square metres of impermeable surface in the front garden of a house in England has needed planning permission — unless the water is directed to somewhere permeable within your own boundary, such as a lawn, a border or a soakaway. Choose a permeable surface, or drain a solid one properly, and no application is needed. Choose an impermeable one that runs onto the pavement and, strictly, you have built without permission.

Levels and thresholds get worked out at the same time. A drive should fall away from the house, and the finished surface should sit at least 150mm below the damp proof course. Where a garage floor or a door threshold makes that impossible — which it often does on a house where the ground has been built up over the years — the answer is a linear channel across the opening, designed in from the start rather than added after the first time the garage floods.

One practical note about how the work runs. Expect a skip or a grab lorry, several tonnes of muck away, and a drive you cannot park on for the duration. Most domestic drives are a three to seven day job depending on size, surface and whether a crossover is being formed. Resin bound and imprinted concrete both need dry weather and a cure period on top of that, so the programme is honest about the forecast rather than optimistic about it.