Most Poole homeowners pay £4,500 to £7,000 to have a double frontage laid in resin bound. The resin is a thin layer, around 15mm to 18mm, and it is glued to a base that somebody has to build underneath it. Ask what that base is made of before you compare two prices, because that is usually where the gap between them sits.

What a resin driveway costs in Poole

Resin bound is priced by the square metre and then by whatever the ground underneath needs. Measure your frontage and read across.

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Those figures assume the base is already sound. If the old surface has to come out and a new one goes in, add £30 to £50 a square metre for digging out and carting away, and the cost of the new base on top of that.

Checkatrade’s cost guide for resin surfacing puts jobs between £4,070 and £10,100, with an average of £6,450. That average sits above the middle of the table above because it includes drives that needed a full new base, and the base is the biggest item in the price.

What goes underneath a resin drive

Resin bound is a surface course. It carries no weight of its own and it takes its strength from whatever it is stuck to. This is the part of the job that decides whether the drive is still flat in ten years, and it is the part you cannot inspect once the resin is down.

• The layer itself is thin. Resin bound is at least 12mm thick, and on a driveway it is normally laid at 15mm to 18mm. Everything below that is base.
• For a drive, the recommended base is tarmac. The specification is at least 50mm of compacted dense or close graded bitmac, made with 14mm stone or smaller, laid over a prepared sub-base by a surfacing gang before the resin team arrives.
• Concrete works as a base as well. An existing concrete drive in sound condition can be surfaced over. So can an existing tarmac drive, which is why resin is often the cheaper answer on a tired but stable surface.
• Edge restraint is not optional. A layer that thin needs something to hold it at the perimeter, either a kerb, an edging, or a metal edging strip fitted before the resin goes down.
• Small dips can be corrected in the resin. Minor unevenness in the base is taken up by the surface layer. Larger low spots have to be made good in the base first, and a quote that leaves that step out is priced for a flatter drive than the one you have.

Where the water goes

Resin bound is sold as permeable, and the surface layer is. Water passes straight through the gaps between the stones. The drive as a whole is only permeable if the layers below it let the water carry on down.

• Two different builds are sold under the same name. One uses a permeable base, made with an open graded asphalt or a cellular sub-base system. The other uses ordinary solid tarmac or concrete.
• On the solid build the water stops. It soaks through the resin, meets a sealed layer, and then runs sideways to whatever is at the edge of the drive. That may be a border, a channel, or the pavement.
• Poole ground makes this a real question. Clay changes where rainwater from a drive is allowed to go, and we have set that out in full on our block paving in Poole page.
• The paperwork follows the whole build, not the top layer. If a drive is being described as permeable so that it stays inside permitted development, the base has to be permeable too.
• Get the answer in writing. Ask which of the two builds the price covers, and where the water goes once it is through the surface.

Why some resin drives turn yellow

Two families of resin are used on driveways. They look identical on the day they are laid and they behave differently after a few summers.

• Aliphatic resin is UV stable. It holds its colour in direct sunlight and it costs more.
• Aromatic resin is not UV stable. Sunlight oxidises the binder and the surface drifts towards yellow over a few years. It is cheaper, and on a shaded path it may never be noticed.
• Both are strong surfaces. The difference between them is colour, and it shows most on pale aggregates such as buff and silver grey.
• South facing frontages show it first. A lot of Poole drives face open sky with nothing shading them, so this is worth settling before you choose the stone.
• Ask for the word on the quote. “UV stable” or “aliphatic” written down is a different thing from “UV stable” said at the door.

What a full quote should include

These are the small items that get left out of the cheaper price and then turn up as extras once the job has started.

• Access covers have to move. Manholes and inspection covers are lifted and re-seated so they finish about 10mm above the base layer, and that work needs doing at least 24 hours ahead so the bedding mortar has set. The alternative is a recessed tray cover filled with the same resin, which almost disappears into the drive.
• Grip goes on at the end. A fine silica sand is scattered over the surface before the resin has fully cured. It takes the tackiness off and it gives the surface traction for the first few weeks.
• Curing takes a day. The drive takes foot traffic after about six hours. Cars should stay off it for 24 hours.
• No heat and no rolling. Resin is mixed cold and trowelled flat rather than rolled, so there is no hot material and no roller on your frontage.
• The guarantee has two parts. Ask how long it runs and whether it covers colour as well as cracking, because those are often written separately.

Where resin suits a Poole drive

Resin is the right surface for a lot of frontages here and the wrong one for some. It is worth knowing which before the first quote arrives.

• It suits a sound existing drive. A tired tarmac or concrete surface that is still stable is the cheapest starting point resin has, because the expensive part is already there.
• It suits prams, wheelchairs and bikes. The finish is continuous with no joints and no loose stone, so nothing scatters onto the pavement and nothing catches a wheel.
• It suits a frontage you want to keep looking new. There are no joints for weeds and no sand to re-brush, so the maintenance is sweeping and the occasional rinse.
• Look elsewhere if the base is moving. A crack with one edge standing proud of the other is a sign of movement below. Resin laid over it splits again in the same place.
• Look elsewhere if you want to lift and relay. Block paving comes up in sections and goes back down. Resin is patched by cutting the damaged area out and refilling it, and getting a fresh patch to match a drive that has weathered for years is the hard part.

What people ask before they buy

These are the questions Google shows most often alongside resin driveway searches, answered plainly.

• How long does a resin drive last? Installers quote 15 to 25 years. That figure describes the base as much as the resin, so a surface laid over a good tarmac build lasts at the top of the range and one laid over a failing base does not reach the bottom of it.
• What happens after five years? A drive laid in UV stable resin should look close to new after a rinse. Colour drift by year five points at the cheaper aromatic resin. Loose stone coming away at the edges points at a missing or failed edge restraint.
• Can it be jet washed? Yes, at a moderate setting and with the lance kept back from the surface. Held close, a jet wash can lift stone out of the resin.
• Do you need planning permission? A permeable drive of any size normally stays inside permitted development. The 5m² rule that decides it, and the conservation area exceptions, are set out on our Bournemouth driveways page.
• Is it slippery? The traction grit applied at laying is what gives the surface its grip. On a steep drive, ask what grit is being used and how it goes on.

Getting resin quotes in Poole

Send the postcode and the rough size. Say what is already on the ground as well, because a sound tarmac base and a broken concrete one lead to two very different prices.

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What do you need Choose one New block paving driveway New tarmac driveway New resin driveway New gravel driveway Driveway repair or patch Patio or path Dropped kerb Not sure yet

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Where we cover

All of BH12 to BH17, from the Old Town and Hamworthy across to Canford Cliffs, Broadstone and Canford Heath.

• BournemouthCheck Now
• PooleCheck Now
• ChristchurchCheck Now

Comparing surfaces rather than committing to resin? Every option with prices side by side is on our driveways in Poole page, and block paving has a page of its own at block paving in Poole.

Looking at resin over in Bournemouth instead? The sandy ground there makes a fully permeable drive easier, and it has its own page at resin driveways in Bournemouth.