Block paving vs resin bound
These are the two surfaces most people are choosing between, and the comparison is usually presented as price against looks. It is not. The real difference is what happens in year twelve: one of them can be taken up and put back, the other one gets patched. Here is the honest version of both.
Comparing 2 of 2 surfaces
Block paving
- Guide cost
- From £150/m² installed. A 50m² two-car drive typically £7,500–£11,250.
- Realistic lifespan
- 20–30 years if the base is right. The blocks outlast the base every time.
- Maintenance
- Occasional wash, re-sand the joints, treat weeds. Individual blocks lift and go back.
- Permeable?
- Only if permeable blocks over an open-graded base. Standard blocks are not.
- How it fails
- Rutting and dips where the sub-base was too thin, or edges spreading where the restraint was not haunched.
Resin bound
- Guide cost
- From £140/m² installed, and higher for premium aggregates. Needs a sound base underneath.
- Realistic lifespan
- 15–20 years on a properly built base. UV and traffic dull it before it breaks up.
- Maintenance
- Sweep and jet wash. Very low. Moss will take hold in shade if it is left.
- Permeable?
- Porous as a surface — but only permeable overall if what is beneath it drains too.
- How it fails
- Delamination or crazing where the base moved or was damp at install. Repairs show as a patch.
Indicative installed prices for the Aylesbury area. Every figure moves with access, ground conditions, excavation depth, spoil removal and drainage.
Where the money actually goes
On both surfaces, most of the cost is under your feet. Excavation, muck away, geotextile, sub-base and drainage happen identically whichever wearing course you pick. A cheap quote is almost never cheaper blocks or cheaper resin — it is a shallower dig, less stone, no membrane, no channel and an unhaunched edge. That is why two quotes for the same drive can be thousands apart and both be describing "block paving".
Which one we would suggest
- Choose block paving if you want the longest life, want repairs to be invisible, park heavy vehicles, or expect to have services dug up under the drive at some point.
- Choose resin bound if you want a seamless, quiet, level surface with no joints, easy wheelchair and pushchair use, and you accept that a future repair will show.
Questions people actually ask
Is resin bound cheaper than block paving?
Per square metre the surfacing can look cheaper, but resin bound is a topping — it needs a sound, stable base beneath it, either new permeable asphalt or new concrete. Once that base is priced in, a properly built resin drive and a properly built block drive land in a similar bracket. Where resin looks dramatically cheaper, check what it is being laid on.
Which lasts longer, block paving or resin bound?
Block paving, generally. Clay and concrete blocks are extremely durable and a settled area can be lifted and relaid. Resin bound has a shorter practical life because the binder ages, and a failed area is patched rather than relaid invisibly.
Can you repair resin bound driveways?
You can, but honestly: a repair is visible. New resin and aggregate next to weathered resin will not match, and the patch edge stays a line. Block paving is the opposite — lift, fix the base, put the same blocks back and it disappears.
Which is better for drainage?
Resin bound is porous by nature, so on a permeable base it is very good. Block paving is only permeable if you specify permeable blocks with grit-filled joints over open-graded stone. Both routes can satisfy the planning rules; neither does so automatically.
Which looks better after ten years?
Different failure modes. Block paving keeps its colour but shows any base movement as dips and undulations. Resin bound stays flat but dulls, and shows shade and moss more. Both look better for longer if the drainage was set out properly at the start.