If you’re considering having a driveway added to your home (whether as a first or to replace an existing driveway), you’ll want to know all about the best options out there in 2024.
In this blog, we’ll discuss our three favourite options, what makes them stand out, their pros/cons in general, and average costs. Let’s go!
Table of Contents
Gravel Driveway
One of the most popular options on the market is that of a gravel driveway. Gravel drives are known for being relatively affordable with average costs generally ranging from £1,000 to £7,000.
Among the key advantages of gravel drives (along with its relatively low pricing) include its long life expectancy once well-maintained and the wide range of colours and aggregates to choose from.
On the other hand, gravel drives require a lot of maintenance while the gravel itself can be displaced quite easily.
Concrete Driveway
Another top choice is the concrete driveway. Average concrete driveway costs often land somewhere between £1,000 and £7,000 making it, often, as affordable as the gravel option. That said, premium concrete drives will often take pricing closer to £10,000 or more.
Concrete drives are known for being durable while having a life expectancy of about 50 years but can last longer in some cases.
While this is not as much as a well-maintained gravel drives’ life expectancy of around 100 years, it is still substantial, allowing concrete drives to be a long-lasting investment that will likely only need replacing once in a human lifetime.
On the other hand, concrete drives need annual maintenance and visually speaking won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.
Tarmac Driveway
As for tarmac driveways, these are usually priced at approximately £1,500 to £7,500. It may end up costlier than the prior two options but likely not by much (or not at all depending on the supplier and other key cost factors).
Tarmac drives are not easy to have installed but can be added atop existing driveways by professionals. However, these drives generally last for only 20 years or so before needing to be replaced, even if maintained properly. What’s more, there aren’t as many design choices with tarmac drives as you might get with alternatives like gravel and concrete drives.
Other Options
While the types of driveways discussed above are arguably the best options on the market, there are quite a few other choices out there.
Some that may appeal to you include brick paving, block paving, resin drives and natural stone blocks.
Brick paving is known for being visually striking, durable and easy to replace. Beyond that, block paving, also a stand out choice for its aesthetic value, is usually quite affordable to have repaired. That said, block paving can be quite expensive.
Resin drives (one of the more affordable types of driveways on the market) is fairly easy and fast to have installed while providing a standout appearance. However, resin drives do need plenty of maintenance and are not able to manage heavy commercial vehicles being parked on them.
Lastly, natural stone blocks are considered relatively easy to clean and capable of ageing better than many other options. What’s more, they can usually resist frost better than concrete driveways.
Cost Of Hiring Professionals
When looking for a team of professionals to install a driveway, it’s best to obtain quotes from several local contractors/companies before making a decision.
This can allow you to compare their pricing, experience levels and any other relevant factors in deciding which contractor or company is right for you and the task at hand.
