Resin bound driveway - some questions

vitaminz

Hi all, so I’m looking to get a new driveway for our house which is roughly measuring 45sqm. Our favourite option so far is the resin ones, so I’ve been looking around for some quotes. The first company quoted about £10k which seemed very steep (maybe it’s not though?)

We had another contractor come out today to look and he said the existing concrete on our driveway, despite having a crack which they will fix, looks to be a suitable base for a resin bound drive. There are patches of gravel and artificial grass that will need tarmacing though 

He quoted us just £4200 for this which seems crazy to me. It comes with a 1 year workmanship warranty and a 5 year manufactures warranty.

Does this seem too good to be true? From my searching it seems concrete is a fine base but the low cost has me a bit concerned

dinosaur66

i have not had a resin driveway - 2 of my neighbours have / i would guess that there would be 50 sq m approx

1 paid 12k about 7 years ago and 15k for other one in 2023

kind of burgendy finish / but word of warning 2023 job she does not maintain it at all and there is now moss in 50% of the resin and it looks poor compared to lovely finish it was when newly laid

no matter what surface you go for all todays quotes seem outrageous to me

how bloody english weeds grow on any surface is beyond me

i had to mortar my block paving in all the bad spots where weeds reocurred/ a few weeds even grew in tarmac i laid ./ sand i have for drainage on my boundrys still weeds grow in it /

i use aldi white vinegar to keep weeds at bay as i have a dog and do not want to use a weedkiller

stuart45

The second quote is cheap because he's not doing a full dig out and therefore you're getting a short warranty.

pseudodox

My resin drive is 7 years old.  About 50 sq m.  Looks almost good as new.  I use an algae spray 2 or 3 times a year to deal with any light moss/algae growth caused by shade from overhanging trees.  It cost £10k, but considering how much of the old tarmac & sub-material was excavated & replaced with a deep stone substrate then a thick layer of coarse tarmac to allow drainage before a final good depth of resin bound stone it was good value.  A main part of the installation was allowing the sub materials to completely settle for 3 weeks before the resin was applied - I was told to keep driving on what initially looked like a cheap rough tarmac surface.

My neighbours had a half price job, with the resin laid on top of their old crumbly tarmac.  3 years on they have cracks, moss & weeds growing through.  Another neighbour has a drive half way in quality (& price) of construction between mine & the second one.  It has a surface like a swelling sea, cracks & more moss than mine despite having no trees or vegetation overhanging.

All got what we paid for.