A resin bound driveway in London costs between £75 and £130 per square metre in 2026, installed on a sound existing base. For a typical single car drive that means roughly £2,500 to £3,500. A two car drive of 40 to 50m2 usually lands between £3,400 and £6,000. If the sub-base needs rebuilding, budget another £25 to £50 per m2 on top.
Those are honest numbers, not bait numbers. The rest of this guide explains what moves a quote from the bottom of that range to the top, what should be itemised in any written quote, and how to spot the corners that cheap quotes quietly cut.
London prices by driveway size
National guides quote £60 to £120 per m2 for the UK as a whole. London sits at the upper half of that range, and sometimes above it. Labour, parking suspensions, congestion charges, skip permits and waste disposal all cost more here. The resin does not know it is in London. Everything around it does.
| Driveway size | Typical area | Overlay on sound base | Full dig-out and new base |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single car | 20 to 30m2 | £2,500 to £3,500 | £3,200 to £4,800 |
| Two car | 40 to 50m2 | £3,400 to £6,000 | £4,500 to £7,500 |
| Three car | 60 to 80m2 | £5,000 to £9,000 | £6,800 to £11,500 |
| Large or corner plot | 100m2+ | £8,000 to £12,500 | £10,500 to £16,000+ |
Two things to know about this table. First, price per m2 falls as area rises. A crew that has set up mixing equipment for the day lays 80m2 far more efficiently than 20m2, and you benefit from that. Second, the overlay column only applies if your existing concrete or tarmac is genuinely sound. More on that below, because this is where most pricing confusion starts.
Where the money actually goes
A proper resin quote is built from five parts. If a quote does not separate them, you cannot compare it against anything.
Materials. UV stable resin and kiln dried natural aggregate typically run £30 to £50 per m2 at a proper 15 to 18mm depth. Cheaper quotes often use non UV stable resin, which yellows in sunlight, or stretch the mix thinner than specification. You will not see the difference on day one. You will see it by year three.
Labour. A trained two or three person crew in London costs £350 to £550 per day. Most residential drives take one to two days on a prepared base, longer with groundwork.
Base preparation. The biggest variable in any quote. A sound base might only need cleaning, crack repair and a primer. A failed base needs excavation, type 3 open grade stone, and compaction. That swing alone explains why two quotes for the same drive can differ by £2,000.
Edging. Resin needs a firm edge to finish against. Existing kerbs sometimes work. Otherwise block, granite sett or aluminium edging adds £20 to £45 per linear metre depending on the choice.
Waste and access. Skip hire, muck-away, parking suspensions if the crew cannot park outside. In some boroughs this is a few hundred pounds before anyone mixes a batch.
Overlay or dig-out: the £2,000 question
If your existing concrete or tarmac is stable, free of major cracking, and drains adequately, resin can be laid directly over it. You skip excavation, skip the new sub-base, and save somewhere between £25 and £50 per m2.
If the base is cracked, sinking or breaking up, an overlay is wasted money. Resin bound surfacing is around 15 to 18mm thick. It follows whatever the base does. A crack underneath becomes a crack on the surface within a couple of winters, and base failure is rarely covered by any guarantee.
This is exactly why we do free site visits before quoting. Nobody can tell you over the phone whether your base is overlay ready. We have seen drives that looked rough but had a perfectly sound slab underneath, and tidy looking drives sitting on rubble. Read more in our guide to laying resin over concrete, tarmac and block paving.
What pushes a quote up
- Failed or missing sub-base. The single biggest cost driver. Adds £25 to £50 per m2.
- Poor access. Narrow Victorian frontages, no parking, materials carried through by hand.
- Drainage work. ACO channels at a garage threshold, soakaway adjustments, or linking into existing drainage.
- Complex shapes and steps. Curves, multiple levels and tight detailing take longer to lay well.
- Premium aggregate. Most of our 59 blends sit in the standard band. A handful of statement aggregates cost more per tonne.
What pushes a quote down, and whether it should
Some savings are legitimate. A sound overlay base, a simple rectangle, good access, standard aggregate. Take those savings happily.
Other savings are not savings. Resin laid at 10 to 12mm instead of 15 to 18mm. Non UV stable resin. No primer on the base. No itemised breakdown so you cannot see what was left out. A quote well under £60 per m2 in London should make you ask exactly which of those corners is being cut, because at that price at least one of them is. We wrote a separate guide on the red flags in cheap resin quotes if you want the full checklist.
Resin against the alternatives in London
| Surface | Installed cost per m2 (London) | Realistic lifespan | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resin bound | £75 to £130 | 15 to 25 years | Quality depends heavily on installer |
| Block paving | £90 to £150 | 20+ years with maintenance | Weeds, sinking blocks, re-sanding |
| Tarmac | £60 to £95 | 8 to 12 years | Cracks, often needs planning permission |
| Gravel | £35 to £60 | Ongoing top-ups | Migrates everywhere, weeds, ruts |
Resin is rarely the cheapest option on day one. Over 15 years, counting maintenance and the tarmac resurfacing you will not need, it usually comes out ahead. The full breakdown is in our resin vs block paving cost comparison.
Does a resin drive add value?
Estate agents consistently put kerb appeal near the top of what shifts first impressions, and a front drive is most of the kerb. A tired, cracked or weed filled drive on a London street where neighbouring houses are finished well costs you at viewing stage. We would not promise a specific percentage uplift — anyone who does is guessing — but a £4,000 drive on a £750,000 house is one of the cheaper exterior improvements relative to the asset it sits in front of.
The £500 project credit
We run a local project credit scheme for eligible London postcodes. Qualifying projects receive £500 towards installation, applied after the site survey confirms the project. Check your postcode on our homepage or mention it when you book a site visit.
How to get an accurate price for your drive
A real price needs eyes on the base, the access, the levels and the drainage. The process with us is simple. We visit free of charge, measure and assess, and deliver a written, itemised quote within 48 hours. No obligation, no doorstep pressure.
If you want a faster steer first, send photos of your driveway over WhatsApp and we will tell you straight away whether it looks like an overlay candidate or a dig-out, and roughly where it would land in the bands above. Call now for a quote, or use the estimate calculator above for an instant guide price.
Related guides: Why resin driveways fail · Resin bound vs resin bonded · Resin bound driveways service page
