Pattern imprinted concrete driveways in Hastings
One poured slab, coloured and imprinted with a pattern before it cures, then sealed. It gives you a seamless surface with no joints for weeds and no individual units to sink or rock — and it comes with two real trade-offs we'd rather set out before you choose it.
Pattern imprinted concrete
Price by email
Guide range for this region. Lower end on large, open, simple shapes; upper end for small or awkward areas, extra borders and drainage work.
See how the price is built up → · Why we're not the cheapest quote you'll get
Before anybody digs: three things to check
Planning permission, the kerb crossing and where the water goes. We work these out with you at quote stage — these pages explain the rules so you can check them yourself.
- Where the water is supposed to go →A concrete slab is completely impermeable — falls and channel drainage are part of the design, not an extra.
- Do you need planning permission? The 5m² rule →
- Dropped kerbs in East Sussex — who approves it and the order it goes in →
East Sussex Highways: dropped kerb (vehicle crossing) applications (opens in a new tab)The highway authority's own page, with its current fees, criteria and approved-contractor process.
Download the “Before anybody digs” checklist (PDF)Two pages you can print and take round the drive — planning, kerb, drainage, and the questions to ask before accepting anyone's quote.
When imprinted concrete is right — and when it isn't
When it's the right choice
- It's a large area and you want one seamless surface rather than a field of units. Cost per square metre falls as the area grows.
- You don't want joints. There is nowhere for weeds to germinate and nothing to re-sand.
- You want no individual blocks to sink, rock or creep out of line over time.
- Run-off can be taken to a lawn, a border, a channel drain or a soakaway inside your boundary — which keeps you clear of the planning rule.
When it isn't — say so and pick something else
- You need repairability. It is a single slab: if it cracks you cannot lift and replace one unit the way you can with block. It has to be patched or resurfaced, and the repair will show.
- You won't want it resealed at all. It needs doing every few years or the colour fades and the surface looks tired — we cover the year-three reseal ourselves, but the ones after that are yours.
- It's a front garden over five square metres draining onto the road and there's nowhere else for the water to go. It is impermeable, so that needs planning permission — a permeable surface avoids the question entirely.
- Services may need digging up later. Opening a patterned slab and closing it invisibly is not possible.
We reseal it at year three and year six. Both included.
Imprinted concrete has to be resealed every few years or it fades and stains, and the sealer is what keeps the ten-year surface guarantee alive. Most companies write that into the small print as your job to remember. We'd rather just do it: two visits, at year three and year six, included in the price you were quoted. You don't book them, you don't chase them and you don't pay for them — we turn up, clean it down and reseal it.
The year-nine reseal is yours to arrange — we'll quote for it — and if it's skipped the surface term lapses from that point. The full guarantee terms →
The planning rule, plainly
More than five square metres of impermeable surfacing in a front garden, draining onto the highway, needs planning permission. Imprinted concrete is impermeable. Send the water to a lawn, a border, a drainage channel or a soakaway within your own boundary and you stay within permitted development. We work out where the water goes before we quote, not after. Permeable driveways and drainage →
How we lay it
Excavate and cart away, separation membrane over the formation, then MOT Type 1 compacted in layers — the same base discipline as any other driveway, because a slab over soft ground cracks no matter how good the pour is.
Formwork and edges set to the finished levels and falls, steel mesh or fibre reinforcement in the slab, then the concrete poured, levelled and floated. Colour hardener is worked into the surface, a release agent applied, and the pattern mats are laid in and lifted while the concrete is still green — there is no second chance at that stage, which is why it is a whole-day, whole-team job.
Once cured we cut control joints to govern where movement goes, wash off the release agent, and seal. A border in a contrasting imprinted colour frames the drive; a slate gravel bed along a boundary takes the edge run-off and stops the slab dying into a wall.
Imprinted concrete we've laid
Every photograph on this site is our own completed work. We don't name streets.
A fixed price before anyone starts digging
We measure, agree the build-up in writing and give you one price. It doesn't move. Not for hard ground, old concrete, rubble, roots or a soft spot — that's our risk and it's already in the number.
Zero deposit option for jobs that qualify — we confirm the terms with your fixed price.
Everyone else quotes "subject to survey" because they haven't checked the job properly. We do the survey first — measuring properly, checking levels and where the water goes, what planning rules apply, what has to come out, manholes, ducts, and access for digger and skip. So by the time we write the number down, we know what the job needs. That's why the price doesn't move, and why we can put it in writing before we start. If we ever do hit something, we stop, show you, and agree in writing what happens before we carry on. Ask your other quotes what they checked before they priced.
Ten years on the sub-base, ten years on the surface
Most guarantees quietly stop at the surface. Ours starts underneath it: the excavation depth, the membrane, the compacted sub-base, the falls and the edge restraints carry ten years, because that is the part that sinks and the part you can't check. The paving on top carries ten as well, because the laying is our workmanship — wear, staining and fair fading are the only things it doesn't cover, and the full terms say exactly which.
Ten years on the surface, conditional on the sealer being maintained — and we do the first two reseals ourselves, at year three and year six, both included in the price. The year-nine reseal is yours to arrange. Hairline cracking is inherent to concrete and isn't a defect.
Common questions about imprinted concrete
What actually is pattern imprinted concrete?
A single slab of concrete, poured over a compacted sub-base with reinforcement in it, coloured through and on the surface, then stamped with a patterned mat before it cures — brick, riven stone, cobble or slate effect. Once cured it's cut with control joints and sealed.
Does it crack?
It can, and this is the honest weak point. Concrete moves as it cures and with temperature, so control joints are cut in to decide where any cracking happens. A crack outside those joints can't be lifted out and replaced the way a block can — it gets patched or the surface gets resurfaced, and a patch on a coloured, patterned slab is very hard to hide.
How often does it need resealing?
Typically every three to five years, sooner on a drive in full sun. The sealer carries the colour depth and the sheen; leave it too long and the surface dulls and looks tired even though the concrete is sound. Budget for it — it's the running cost of this surface.
Do I need planning permission for it?
Quite possibly, because it is impermeable. For a front garden, more than five square metres of impermeable surfacing draining to the road needs planning permission. If the run-off goes to a lawn, a border or a drainage channel and soakaway inside your own boundary, it doesn't. We design the drainage before we quote, and we'll tell you which side of that line you're on.
Can it be laid over my existing driveway?
No. It's a structural slab and it needs its own compacted base, so the old surface comes out. Anyone offering to pour a thin skim of imprinted concrete over an existing drive is selling you something that will delaminate.
Is it slippery?
A worn or over-sealed surface can be, particularly a smooth pattern on a slope. A sealer with an anti-slip grit added into the final coat deals with it, and we'd specify that as standard on anything with a fall to it.
How does it compare with block paving on price?
Over a large drive it's usually cheaper per square metre because there's no cutting and no laying by hand. The trade-off is repairability: block is the most repairable surface there is, and imprinted concrete is one of the least.
Towns we cover
We cover Hastings and a 25-mile radius.
- Hastings
- St Leonards-on-Sea
- Bexhill-on-Sea
- Battle
- Rye
- Eastbourne
- Hailsham
- Robertsbridge