[themoid]

Anyone recently had their drive done ? Not looking for anything fancy, just tarmaccing, but have no idea of a price. Anybody able to give me a ball park figure of what it costs per square metre ?

Cheers

Stu

[BrianC]

Are you looking at having a "top coat" of tarmac put on top of what you already have, or are you planning on having the existing drive dug up? Also are you planning on making the drive bigger?

Just a top coat of tarmac will be a lot cheaper than putting down a decent layer of hard core first.

[themoid]

just want a new top coat putting down. although there are a few 'holes' where the tarmac has worn away.

suppose i should just get a couple of companies round for quotes

cheers

Stu

[njp]

I presume you are aware that the tarmac business is notorious for cowboy operators, especially those who have some "left over from a previous job". I saw the results of such a job recently. I assume they'd simply dumped a thin layer of tarmac over the existing lawn, because every time I walk past the house, I see more grass growing through it than before!

[Ayub]

Originally Posted by themoid

just want a new top coat putting down. although there are a few 'holes' where the tarmac has worn away.

suppose i should just get a couple of companies round for quotes

cheers

Stu

You could go to the local " diy" centre and buy some ready to lay tarmac. It would cost you not much really i would say around £30 or so and you simply heat it up ( gas torch on a low setting is ample) and lay it down. It would cost you less than £100 to do what your thinking of.

I had my garden dug up 1ft of concrete then 3 inch of tarmac. garden size 20ft long 25ft wide.
Total cost of concrete £300 including mixer hire ( did it myself)
Total cost of trmac ( they were re surfacing the road, it prompted me to do this too) £cost £100
Skip £145 ( midi/second one up)

300
100
145
my job. Can post a pic of the final result if you want.

[IronGiant]

I was quoted £2000 to have a proper tarmac drive put in, ie dug out, skipped away, proper foundations, full layer of tarmac. What put me off was that I didn't know whether the vague wave of a hand that accompanied the "we can do that for £2000" was for the specific area my car was standing on (about 8m by 5m) or all my hardstanding, which is a fair bit more, also it was a cold call because they were "in the area" THe latter was true as they were doing 3 or 4 brick drives in my street.

Dave

[eFGee]

Originally Posted by IronGiant

I was quoted £2000 to have a proper tarmac drive put in, ie dug out, skipped away, proper foundations, full layer of tarmac. What put me off was that I didn't know whether the vague wave of a hand that accompanied the "we can do that for £2000" was for the specific area my car was standing on (about 8m by 5m) or all my hardstanding, which is a fair bit more, also it was a cold call because they were "in the area" THe latter was true as they were doing 3 or 4 brick drives in my street.

Dave

If in doubt, I'd always get any quote in writing for any type of work - it usually sorts out the cowboys from non -cowboys and will define the extent of the works they are quoting for. In addition, it will give you a contact address and phone number in case things go wrong. If a deposit or stage payments are required, insisit on sending them to the quotation address.

It's not a bargain if it's faulty, you've paid for it and you can't get it put right.

[IronGiant]

A good point. In my case I didn't ask for clarification as I didn't want to look as if I was interested, they were hard enough to get rid of when I simply said no. As it was 3 different members of the crew visited me a further 3 times during the week to ask if I wanted my drive doing...

They seem to have done a good job of the 4 drives they did in the street (all brick pavers) , but I do wonder how many of the 4 were talked into a drive they didn't really want.

Dave

[m4rky_m4rk]

Check if any work done is guaranteed and if yes make sure you know where their business office is located.

An elderly neighbour asked for my opinion when some guys came knocking and bamboozled her with technical talk (Irish gypo speak ) saying her drive was in bad shape and they just so happened to have some left over tarmac to fix it but and at a discount; but only if she said yes there and then. They were doing 4 other drives on the same street, all elderly folk, so she was going to have it done!!

I convinced her drive was in fact OK and the boss man wasn't amused when I asked for his business address. Her drive was still fine 5 years later!!

Isn't the left over tarmac normally free from the council

[zircon3035]

My mother had so many layers of dubious tarmac dropped on her drive that there was no room for the wrought iron gates to go on the hinges. So the dodgey tarmac guys got rid of them for her.

The worst part was when we came to sell the house; we had to pay a couple of grand to get the drive dug out and replaced as the tarmac was covering the damp course.

[paulyoung666]

please do your homework properly for this , the house across the road didnt , they went for cowboys that were NOT cheap , the drive looks a right mess now and it is less than 2 years old

[qwerty321]

Originally Posted by jojones55

I always think it is best to get a written quote. The waving of the hand and the price of 2k sounds fishy. Don't be suprised if they are overcharging you or going to add on extras later{ URL="http://link removed"].[/URL]

I see a nice little link sneaked in there with the full stop.

Originally Posted by m4rky_m4rk

Isn't the left over tarmac normally free from the council

They should pass it on to my local council. They can use it to fill up the damn potholes! Its like a slalom course going down the high street!

[GasDad]

Originally Posted by qwerty321

I see a nice little link sneaked in there with the full stop.

Blimey - that is subtle advertising

[IronGiant]

It was subtle advertising
bumping my three year old post to do it wasn't very cool though
Dave

[qwerty321]

Originally Posted by IronGiant

It was subtle advertising
bumping my three year old post to do it wasn't very cool though
Dave

Didn't even look at the date of the post

[GasDad]

Originally Posted by IronGiant

It was subtle advertising
bumping my three year old post to do it wasn't very cool though
Dave

Oh I don't know - he's probably wasted on the black stuff - if he's going around hiding stuff in micro dots, he ought to be working for the MI6

[m4rky_m4rk]

I should have spotted that too. There were enough clues!

[Tempest]

Also, what grade of Tarmac is something to consider.

Tarmac is not just Tarmac

[SeanT]

Lol @ spamming via a moderators three year old thread!

[ps3mad]

Just watch out for the pikeys

[IronGiant]

time to let this one die

Dave