Spec me a driveway.

[tuckenator]

Hey guys, i could really do with some advice on what to do with my driveway.

It's been the same since i moved in a few years back, but not some of the bricks and cracks are starting to become a problem (The driveway wall, step outside my porch).

As well as the front garden, I own all of the grass to the right of the picture (left of the house), which i would like to make into a driveway, perhaps tarmac it and then have some steps going up to the house. Maybe whilst still keeping some of the garden at the back.

I have been quoted 10k to level off my driveway, take some bricks round to the side of my garage and, make some steps going up. As well as pave my driveway etc.

I'm really just wondering what you guys would do? If it were to cost 10k, would i see a decent return on my investment?

Here's the pics:

Spoiler: Pics

Appreciate any advice.
Thanks,
Rich

 

[Buffman]

When you say "return on investment" do you mean to sell fairly soon?

Basically then you would need to make an extra 10k which is very dependant on Area. Even if youre in Solihull as per your location it depends on which part etc. How much is the house worth? I'm guessing circa 300k? If it was nearer 200k I'd definetly say no, just spend a couple hundred fixing the brickwork (or yourself fairly cheap..)

Your drive does look in pretty bad disrepair so it may put some buyers off, but 10k is a lot! To be fair I wouldn't expect it much cheaper though..

Do you mean you're trying to get another layer of parking up adjacent to your car?

 

[Jonnybmac]

Why don't you DIY a resin driveway. Costs about £40-£50 a square meter

 

[Furton]

Why don't you DIY a resin driveway. Costs about £40-£50 a square meter

Got any pictures of what you did?

 

[Jonnybmac]

Got any pictures of what you did?

I haven't needed to do one as my drive is pretty new but if i did need to refresh the drive I'd probably use that stuff.

 

[tuckenator]

When you say "return on investment" do you mean to sell fairly soon?

Basically then you would need to make an extra 10k which is very dependant on Area. Even if youre in Solihull as per your location it depends on which part etc. How much is the house worth? I'm guessing circa 300k? If it was nearer 200k I'd definetly say no, just spend a couple hundred fixing the brickwork (or yourself fairly cheap..)

Your drive does look in pretty bad disrepair so it may put some buyers off, but 10k is a lot! To be fair I wouldn't expect it much cheaper though..

Do you mean you're trying to get another layer of parking up adjacent to your car?

Yeah that's the plan, I had purple bricks round and they estimated around the 230 mark. They said that i probably would get back my investment on the driveway, as in it's current state it may put off some buyers. (Not that i'm necessarily looking to sell right now, but i thinking investing in my house is probably better than any ISA or savings accounts right now. So i'm basically looking for bang for my buck.

I'm thinking of parking down on the grass, which would levelled off and paved or resin, and putting in a retaining wall with some steps upto the house. Something like below (Yes, i have some serious paint skills)

Spoiler

 

[tuckenator]

Why don't you DIY a resin driveway. Costs about £40-£50 a square meter

I'll check it out cheers.

 

[Abyss]

Yeah that's the plan, I had purple bricks round and they estimated around the 230 mark. They said that i probably would get back my investment on the driveway, as in it's current state it may put off some buyers. (Not that i'm necessarily looking to sell right now, but i thinking investing in my house is probably better than any ISA or savings accounts right now. So i'm basically looking for bang for my buck.

I'm thinking of parking down on the grass, which would levelled off and paved or resin, and putting in a retaining wall with some steps upto the house. Something like below (Yes, i have some serious paint skills)

Spoiler

Are you doing it to make money or to get the benefit out of it?

Doing the driveway is unlikely to add more value to the house than the cost of doing it, but what does it matter if you get the benefit aswell?

Say it costs £10k and adds £7k to your house, you are getting a lot of benefit in terms of parking for a net £3k...

 

[j.col]

Why don't you DIY a resin driveway. Costs about £40-£50 a square meter

The going rate around where i live is £60-£70 per square meter for standard block paving, and thats getting everything done for you.
There are some very nice new block paving types now. not just the old regular ones, so look at Marshalls, Brett, Stonemarket etc.. and if you see something you like, all you do is pay the difference in price of what it costs to buy the better/newer blocks as installation costs are the same.

@ OP, is that a corner house? as planning regs can be funny about putting/extending driveways near a road junction.
also if you do use the garden as a driveway, you are not allowed to have the rain run off, flow onto the footpath, so you will need to use channel drains along the border of your new driveway and the existing footpath.
You may also have to adjust the height of the fencing beside your garage, as i presume you will want to get a constant gradient upto the existing level of the driveway, or if you are willing to have steps from the garden to your existing driveway level, you may have to rebuild most or all the existing retainging wall.

If you are going to hire a contractor, make sure they are good!!!! as there are a lot of cowboys about.
Get multiple quotes, ask for previous jobs done and actually go and knock on their doors and ask how they got on with the contractors.

 

[tuckenator]

@ OP, is that a corner house? as planning regs can be funny about putting/extending driveways near a road junction.
also if you do use the garden as a driveway, you are not allowed to have the rain run off, flow onto the footpath, so you will need to use channel drains along the border of your new driveway and the existing footpath.
You may also have to adjust the height of the fencing beside your garage, as i presume you will want to get a constant gradient upto the existing level of the driveway, or if you are willing to have steps from the garden to your existing driveway level, you may have to rebuild most or all the existing retainging wall.

If you are going to hire a contractor, make sure they are good!!!! as there are a lot of cowboys about.
Get multiple quotes, ask for previous jobs done and actually go and knock on their doors and ask how they got on with the contractors.

Thanks J.col, really useful information. I may look at the costs of just re-surfacing the existing driveway and widening it to the left hand-side (where the front garden is), as this will be aesthetically pleasing, and I shouldn't have to worry about any new infrastructure / retaining walls.

Sometimes i just seems a waste to have all of that grass to the side and do nothing with it. Well except for gardening ha.

 

[samcat]

The driveway looks fine, its the low walls that really need some attention. Get a bricky in to tidy those up, clean the drive (a good pressurewasher will do it will) and it will look much much better. Thats if you are wanting to sell soon-ish

If you do your 'paint' picture, ensure you keep access to the garage available and not a retaining wall blocking it... Some people like to use garages as garages (motorbike etc)

 

[Syla5]

Just got my driveway done last year by a Brett Approved installer. Roughly 100m2 (fits 4 cars 2 by 2, with an inlaid path that's 1.5 m wide at least) including full drainage, 1 manhole cover, new front door stop. All in this cost £9.5k with the work guaranteed for 5 years and the materials for 10 years.

I had 3 companies quote, and all 3 were within a total range of £2k. Compared to how the driveway used to look, we had comments from a valuer who says the costs of the work were more then likely completely offset by the appeal value added to the house because of how much tidier and clean it looks now.

 

[tuckenator]

Thanks for all the good info!

I'm going to spec up some options, but i think focusing on the brickwork for now will be my best option.

If you do your 'paint' picture, ensure you keep access to the garage available and not a retaining wall blocking it... Some people like to use garages as garages (motorbike etc)

Good point, that had completely gone over my head. Cheers

 

[Gredawarha]

The going rate around where i live is £60-£70 per square meter for standard block paving, and thats getting everything done for you.
There are some very nice new block paving types now. not just the old regular ones, so look at Marshalls, Brett, Stonemarket etc.. and if you see something you like, all you do is pay the difference in price of what it costs to buy the better/newer blocks as installation costs are the same.

@ OP, is that a corner house? as planning regs can be funny about putting/extending driveways near a road junction.
also if you do use the garden as a driveway, you are not allowed to have the rain run off, flow onto the footpath, so you will need to use channel drains along the border of your new driveway and the existing footpath.
You may also have to adjust the height of the fencing beside your garage, as i presume you will want to get a constant gradient upto the existing level of the driveway, or if you are willing to have steps from the garden to your existing driveway level, you may have to rebuild most or all the existing retainging wall.

If you are going to hire a contractor, make sure they are good!!!! as there are a lot of cowboys about.
Get multiple quotes, ask for previous jobs done and actually go and knock on their doors and ask how they got on with the contractors.

As j.col advises you will need to be mindful of planning. My proffesion is planning enforcement for a local authority

The driveway will require planning permission, Class F, Part 1, Schedule 2 of The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (as amended) grants permission for home owners to provide hard surface incidental tot he enjoyment of the dwellinghouse. The permission is subject to conditions and limitations. I have copied the relevant text below. If your hard surface does not comply with this permission you will need express permission from your local planning authority.

The legislation can be found here:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/596/contents/made

Hope this helps

Class F – hard surfaces incidental to the enjoyment of a dwellinghouse

Permitted development

F. Development consisting of—

(a)

the provision within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse of a hard surface for any purpose incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse as such; or
.

(b)

the replacement in whole or in part of such a surface.
.
Development not permitted

F.1 Development is not permitted by Class F if permission to use the dwellinghouse as a dwellinghouse has been granted only by virtue of Class M, N, P or Q of Part 3 of this Schedule (changes of use).
Conditions

F.2 Development is permitted by Class F subject to the condition that where—

(a)

the hard surface would be situated on land between a wall forming the principal elevation of the dwellinghouse and a highway, and
.

(b)

the area of ground covered by the hard surface, or the area of hard surface replaced, would exceed 5 square metres,
.
either the hard surface is made of porous materials, or provision is made to direct run-off water from the hard surface to a permeable or porous area or surface within the curtilage of the dwellinghouse.

​

Hope this helps

 

[tuckenator]

As j.col advises you will need to be mindful of planning. My proffesion is planning enforcement for a local authority

The driveway will require planning permission, Class F, Part 1, Schedule 2 of The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (as amended) grants permission for home owners to provide hard surface incidental tot he enjoyment of the dwellinghouse. The permission is subject to conditions and limitations. I have copied the relevant text below. If your hard surface does not comply with this permission you will need express permission from your local planning authority.

​

Hope this helps

Massively, and that's why I love this forum! ha

So if i were just to re-brick the driveway wall, and maybe widen it a little to the left-hand side, i wouldn't require any planning permissions for that would I?

 

[Gredawarha]

Massively, and that's why I love this forum! ha

So if i were just to re-brick the driveway wall, and maybe widen it a little to the left-hand side, i wouldn't require any planning permissions for that would I?

If you don't alter the driveway itself then you only need to worry about the wall. If necessary I can provide you with legislation (I'm back at work and on a smart phone so not easy to link to the legislationl) but walls, fences and other means of enclosure are pretty straightforward for houses. If the wall is adjacent to a highway used by vehicles then you can build up to 1 metre in height and it will have permission by the legislation. If it's not adjacent then 2 metres.