This is the question we get asked more than any other, usually on the first visit, usually before we have even got the tape out. Resin or blocks? And the honest answer is that we fit both, we make roughly the same margin on both, and the right answer depends on the house, the frontage and how you use the drive — not on which one is fashionable this year.
So here is the comparison we would give you standing on your drive, with the parts most companies leave out.
What the two surfaces actually are
Resin bound is aggregate — usually a graded natural or marble stone — mixed with a UV-stable polyurethane resin in a forced-action mixer on site, then trowelled out over a solid base while it is still workable. It cures as one continuous sheet with no joints. It is not the same thing as resin bonded, which is loose stone scattered over a coat of adhesive and is a considerably cheaper, considerably worse product. If a quote seems remarkably low, check which of the two you are being offered.
Block paving is individual concrete or clay units laid on a screeded bed of sharp sand over a compacted sub-base, then vibrated in and jointed with kiln-dried sand. Everything depends on the edge restraints and the compaction underneath. It has been the default British driveway for forty years for good reason.
The planning rule most people miss
This catches people out constantly, and it is worth knowing before you choose a surface rather than after.
If you are covering more than five square metres of your front garden with a traditional impermeable surface that drains onto the road, you need planning permission. If you use a permeable surface — gravel, permeable block paving, porous asphalt or resin bound — or if you direct the rainwater to a lawn or border where it can soak away naturally, it falls under permitted development and you do not. The Planning Portal sets this out in plain English, and it has been the position since 2008.
In practice that means resin bound is almost always permitted development, and block paving is too provided it is a permeable system with the correct open-graded sub-base underneath — not standard blocks on sand with the water running to the kerb. Conservation areas and listed properties have their own rules on top, so check with the council first.
The short version
- Over 5m² and impermeable, draining to the road: planning permission needed.
- Permeable surface, or drainage to a soakaway or border: permitted development.
- Resin bound and permeable block paving both qualify — standard blocks on sand may not.
Why the base matters more than the surface
Here is the part that decides whether your drive is still flat in ten years, and it has nothing to do with which surface you picked.
Both systems sit on a compacted sub-base. On a typical domestic drive we dig out to around 200mm, lay a geotextile membrane over the formation, then build up in compacted layers of MOT Type 1 — compacting each layer separately rather than dumping the lot in and running the whacker over the top once. For a permeable build-up the sub-base changes to a clean, open-graded stone that holds water in the voids and lets it drain away, which is a different material and a different price.
The British Standard covering this is the BS 7533 series. Part 101, published in 2021, consolidated the old structural design parts into a single code of practice. Permeable construction now has its own current part, BS 7533-103, published in March 2026, which replaced the 2009 standard most contractors are still quoting from. If a company tells you their build-up is "to British Standard", it is entirely reasonable to ask which part.
Nine times out of ten, when we are called to look at a failed driveway, the paving is fine. It is what is underneath that has moved. Martin, on site in Widnes
Where resin wins
It is seamless. No joints means nothing to grow through. Block paving jointed with kiln-dried sand will get weeds, moss and ant activity in the joints eventually — not because it was laid badly, but because that is what sand joints do. Resin has none of that. If you are the sort of person who is irritated by a weed, this alone may make the decision for you.
It is smooth and quiet. Bins, prams, wheelchairs and bikes all move over it without the rumble you get on blocks. On sloping frontages this matters more than people expect.
It drains through itself. A correctly built resin bound drive over an open-graded base takes rainfall straight down rather than running it to the lowest point. On the flat, low-lying plots around Widnes and parts of Warrington, that is genuinely useful.
It looks contemporary. On a rendered or modern-brick house, resin sits better than blocks. We laid a resin drive on a white-rendered detached property last year and it lifted the whole frontage in a way blocks would not have.
Where block paving wins
You can lift it. This is the big one and it is underrated. Utility company needs to dig up your drive? Lift the blocks, dig, reinstate, relay. With resin you are cutting out a patch and it will never colour-match perfectly. Anyone who has had a water main replaced knows why this matters.
It handles turning loads better. Resin is tough but it is a surface course, not a structural one. Repeated tight steering on a small drive — the point-turn to get out of a narrow frontage — is hard on any surface, and blocks take it more forgivingly.
It suits period property. On a Victorian or Edwardian terrace, a clay paver in a herringbone bond looks like it belongs. Resin can look like a car park.
It is cheaper up front. Usually, though the gap is narrower than most people assume once a permeable sub-base is specified for both.
What the difference costs
Real numbers from jobs we have actually completed, not from-prices. A typical St Helens semi has a frontage of 30 to 45 square metres.
| Element | Resin bound | Block paving |
|---|---|---|
| Typical 40m² drive | £5,200 – £7,400 | £4,400 – £6,600 |
| On site | 4 – 6 days | 5 – 8 days |
| Weather dependency | High — needs dry, above 5°C | Low |
| Weeds in joints | None | Likely within 2–3 years |
| Repairable in patches | Poorly | Yes, invisibly |
| Expected life | 15 – 20 years | 20 – 25 years |
Real job, Runcorn
Full dig-out, 200mm compacted sub-base, new edge restraints haunched in concrete, and a block paved drive to a three-bed semi. See it and eleven others with their actual costs on our projects page.
How each one handles a North West winter
We are not in the south. We get more rain, we get freeze-thaw cycles, and any honest comparison has to account for that.
Resin bound handles frost well once cured, but it is fussy to install. It needs a dry surface and temperatures above about five degrees, which between November and March in Merseyside means we plan around the forecast and occasionally lose days. If you want resin, we would rather book you in for April than promise you January.
Block paving can be laid in almost anything short of standing water or hard frost, which makes it the practical choice if you need the work doing in winter. Its winter weakness is different: joints lose sand over the years, and once the sand goes the blocks start to move. Re-sanding every few years is a twenty-minute job that most people never do.
Both surfaces benefit enormously from getting the water away from the house. The RHS makes the wider case for permeable front gardens — the cumulative effect of thousands of paved frontages draining to the road is a real contributor to urban flash flooding, and the permeable options genuinely help.
Not sure which suits your frontage?
Send us two photographs of the front of the house on WhatsApp. We will tell you which we would recommend and roughly what it costs, before anyone comes out.
Which we would put on our own house
Modern house, wide frontage, and you hate weeding: resin bound. The seamless finish is the thing you notice every single day, and on contemporary brick or render it looks considerably more expensive than it costs.
Period property, narrow frontage, tight turning, or a house where the utilities are likely to be dug up at some point: block paving, in a clay paver if the budget allows. It will outlast the resin and you can put it back exactly as it was.
What we would not do in either case is spend money on the surface and save it on the base. A £7,000 resin drive on a 100mm sub-base will fail before a £4,500 block drive on a proper one. If you are comparing quotes, compare the dig depth and the sub-base specification first and the pretty picture second.
Maintenance, year by year
Neither surface is maintenance-free, whatever anyone tells you. Here is what each one actually asks of you.
Resin bound. Sweep or blow the leaves off in autumn, because organic matter left sitting will eventually let moss establish on the surface. Give it a wash with a stiff brush and mild detergent once a year. A pressure washer is fine at a sensible distance and a fan setting — held close on a pinpoint nozzle it will damage the surface. Oil drips need dealing with promptly; once soaked in they are difficult. Total effort: an hour or two a year.
Block paving. The joints need topping up with kiln-dried sand every two to three years, and this is the single most neglected maintenance job in British landscaping. Sand washes out, the blocks lose their interlock, and movement starts. It is a straightforward job — brush sand across the drive on a dry day, work it into the joints, sweep off the excess. Weeds want dealing with in spring, and a wash every couple of years keeps the colour up. Total effort: half a day every couple of years.
The honest summary is that block paving asks for a little bit of attention regularly and rewards it with a very long life. Resin asks for almost nothing and gives you fifteen to twenty years.
The dropped kerb question
If you are converting a front garden to a driveway for the first time, you will need a vehicle crossing — a dropped kerb — and this is a separate process from the driveway itself.
The application goes to the local highway authority, which for most of our customers is St Helens, Knowsley, Halton or Warrington Borough Council. They will assess sightlines, the position of street furniture, drainage gullies and lamp columns, and whether the footway construction can take vehicle loading. Approval is not automatic, and the works themselves are usually carried out by an approved contractor at your cost.
Two practical points. First, apply early — this often takes longer than the driveway does, and there is no sense having a beautiful drive you cannot legally drive onto. Second, factor it into the budget separately; it typically runs to four figures and it is not part of a landscaping quote. We will tell you at the first visit whether you are likely to need one.
More detail on how we build each: resin driveways and driveways and paving. If your issue is an existing drive that has sunk rather than a new one, read why driveways sink and how to stop it.
