FAQs
Questions we get asked a lot
Materials, preparation, planning permission and what actually happens on the job.
- What areas do you cover?
- We work across north Nottinghamshire, north-east Derbyshire, the southern edge of South Yorkshire and into Lincolnshire — Worksop, Mansfield, Retford, Chesterfield, Nottingham, Derby and Lincoln, along with the towns and villages between them. There is a full list on our areas page. If you are just outside the towns listed, get in touch anyway and we will tell you straight whether we can get to you.
- What sort of work do you take on?
- Driveways in resin and block paving, patios in Indian sandstone and porcelain, general paving, garden landscaping, artificial grass, and garden and retaining walls. That covers most outdoor work on a domestic property, from replacing a single worn driveway through to laying out a whole garden from scratch.
- How do I get a quote?
- Send us a message through the contact form with a rough idea of what you are after and where you are, and we will come back to you to arrange a look at the job. Quotes are free and there is no obligation to go ahead. We would always rather see the site in person than price something blind from a photograph, because the ground and the levels are what actually decide the work.
- Do I need planning permission for a new driveway?
- For most homes, laying a driveway at the front is permitted development and does not need a planning application — but there is an important condition attached. If the area is more than five square metres and you are using a surface that is not permeable, you generally need to either use a permeable material or direct the surface water to a soakaway or border within your own property rather than letting it run onto the road. Resin bound surfacing is permeable, and block paving can be laid with permeable jointing or drained to a soakaway. Rules differ for flats, listed buildings and conservation areas, and dropping a kerb is a separate approval through the council. We will talk you through how it applies to your property, but always check with your local authority before work starts.
- What is the difference between resin bound and block paving?
- Resin bound is a smooth, seamless surface — aggregate mixed with resin and trowelled out by hand — so there are no joints, no loose stone, and it flows around curves and awkward shapes easily. Block paving is individual blocks laid to a pattern, which means you can lift and replace a single block if one ever gets damaged, and you can use borders and contrasting colours to define the shape of the drive. Both work well when the base underneath is built properly. Which one suits you usually comes down to the look you want and the shape of the area.
- Can you lay a new patio or driveway over the existing one?
- Sometimes, but not as a default. Resin bound can be laid over an existing surface where that surface is sound, stable and correctly drained. What we will not do is lay a new finish straight over a base that is broken up, moving, or draining the wrong way, because the new surface will simply follow whatever the old one does and fail in the same places. We look at what is underneath first and tell you honestly whether it can be used or whether it needs lifting.
- What is involved in laying artificial grass properly?
- Most of the work is under the grass rather than in it. The existing lawn is lifted and the ground excavated, then a compacted, free-draining base is built so water goes away instead of sitting underneath. A weed membrane goes down, the grass is rolled out and left to settle before it is cut in, joints are glued on tape with the pile direction matched so the seam does not show, and the edges are fixed and trimmed tight against paving, walls and borders. Skipping the base preparation is the reason poorly laid artificial grass ends up rippling, holding water and showing its joints.
- Do retaining walls need anything special?
- Yes — a retaining wall is a structural job, not a decorative one. It is holding back the weight of the ground behind it plus any water in that ground, so it needs footings dug to a suitable depth, the right construction behind the face, and drainage built in so water pressure can escape rather than building up. A wall built without that will usually look fine to begin with and then start to lean or bulge after a few wet winters. Low decorative walls that are not retaining anything are a simpler proposition.
- Will you match new walling to the existing brick or stone?
- Wherever the materials allow, yes. Across a lot of the villages we cover — Whitwell, Clowne, Creswell, Blyth, Tickhill, Southwell — local stone is a defining feature of the streets, and new work that relates to it looks settled while an imported material tends to stand out permanently. We will look at what is already on the property and tell you what can realistically be matched.
- When is the best time of year to have this work done?
- Most of it can be carried out year-round. Groundwork, base preparation, walling and block paving all continue through the colder months. The parts that are genuinely weather-sensitive are resin bound surfacing and mortar work, which need dry conditions and temperatures above a certain point to cure properly — so those get planned around the forecast rather than pushed through in the wrong conditions. We would rather wait for a suitable day than lay something that will not cure correctly.
- Do you only work on houses, or commercial property too?
- Most of our work is domestic, but the same services apply to commercial and business premises — car parking areas, forecourts, paths and boundary walls. Get in touch with what you have in mind and we will let you know whether it is something we can take on.
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