Tarmac driveways in Hastings
A hot-laid bituminous surface, rolled to a dense finish. It is the most economical way to cover a large area properly, it's quick, and it wears extremely well — as long as nobody cut corners on the ground underneath it.
Tarmac driveway
Price by email
Lower end on straightforward overlays and large simple areas. Upper end for full excavation, drainage work or difficult access.
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 →Tarmac sheds every drop, so on anything over 5m² the water has to be given somewhere to go before the surface goes down.
- 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 tarmac is right — and when it isn't
When it's the right choice
- The area is large and fairly plain. Cost per square metre drops faster with tarmac than anything else.
- It's a long or shared driveway, or an access track, where hard-wearing matters more than decorative.
- You want the work finished quickly — laying is fast once the base is prepared.
- You want a smooth, quiet surface to drive on with no joints and nothing to re-sand.
When it isn't — say so and pick something else
- Kerb appeal is the main objective. Tarmac is plain, and no edging detail changes that much. Block paving will do more for the front of a house.
- You need permeable drainage without a soakaway. Standard tarmac is impermeable, which brings the planning rules into play.
- You'll need to dig it up for services. A tarmac patch never matches, and it always shows.
- There are tree roots close to the surface. They will lift and crack it, and the fix is usually a different surface, not thicker tarmac.
How we lay a tarmac drive
Excavate to depth, membrane, MOT Type 1 compacted in layers to 150mm. Edges — kerbs, block edging or a concrete haunch — go in first, because tarmac needs something to be rolled up against or the edge crumbles.
A base course is laid and rolled, then a finer wearing course on top, each rolled while hot with a vibrating roller. Falls are set away from the house and water taken to a gully or a permeable margin. Joints against existing surfaces are cut clean and sealed rather than feathered out.
Tarmac we've laid
Every photograph on this site is our own completed work. We don't name streets.
The block border isn't decoration: it's the restrained edge that stops the tarmac spreading and crumbling away at the sides.
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.
Tarmac carries ten years on the surface as well as the base — honestly stated: it's a flexible wearing course, so fuel and oil damage, hot-tyre scuffing, edge damage from overrunning, and fretting and loss of aggregate from age are wear rather than defects and aren't covered. Debonding from a base we built, and laying faults, are.
Common questions about tarmac
How long does tarmac last?
Twenty years or more on a correctly built base, kept free of standing water and fuel spills. On a thin or poorly compacted base it can start rutting inside two or three winters. Once again the base decides, not the surface.
Can you lay tarmac over the existing drive?
An overlay on sound, stable tarmac is legitimate and cost-effective. Over cracked or moving material it just reflects the cracks through within a couple of years. It also raises the level, which matters at thresholds, gullies and gates — we check that before proposing it.
Why does tarmac get soft in summer?
Bitumen softens in high temperatures. That's normal and it re-hardens, but in a heatwave sharp objects — motorbike stands, caravan jockey wheels, trailer legs, stiletto heels — can indent it. A pad under a point load solves it.
Can it be laid in winter?
Yes, but it has a working window. The material arrives hot and must be laid and compacted before it cools, so cold, wet or windy days shorten the time available and increase the risk of a poor finish. In genuinely bad conditions we'd rather reschedule than lay it badly.
Does it need sealing?
No. Sealants are sold hard door-to-door and are rarely necessary on a sound drive; on a failing one they hide the problem for a season. If someone knocks on your door offering to seal your tarmac with leftover material from a nearby job, that is the oldest scam in this trade.
Can I have a coloured or red tarmac?
Coloured macadam is available, usually red or green. It costs more, the colour is not as rich as photographs suggest, and it weathers. If appearance is the priority, block paving will give you a better result for the money.
Towns we cover
We cover Hastings and a 25-mile radius.
- Hastings
- St Leonards-on-Sea
- Bexhill-on-Sea
- Battle
- Rye
- Eastbourne
- Hailsham
- Robertsbridge