Tarmac DrivewaysLaid Hot. Rolled Clean.Stourbridge & The West Midlands.
A properly laid tarmac driveway is the fastest, hardest-wearing surface money can buy — installed by our own crew on a full engineered sub-base, backed by a 10-year workmanship guarantee.
About OurTarmac Service.
Tarmac (bitmac / asphalt) is a hot-mix bitumen-bound surface laid and machine-rolled onto a compacted engineered sub-base. It's the surface that highways and airport aprons are built from — for good reason. Laid properly, it's dense, smooth, watertight and load-bearing.
It's the right pick for homeowners across the West Midlands who want a hard-wearing, fast-to-install driveway or long private access road at a lower cost per square metre than block or resin — with a proven 20-year track record.
Choose tarmac when you're surfacing a large drive, a shared access road, a farm or business forecourt, or when you want a clean fast finish over a stripped and prepared base without the pattern-and-jointing time of block paving.
Tarmac fails when the base fails or the mix is laid cold. Skip the compaction, lay it on a damp day at the tail-end of a load, and you'll see cracking, ravelling and puddling by the second winter. Our tarmac goes down hot, rolled the same shift, with edging set first.
The Failures WeGet Called To Fix.
Cutting corners on tarmac shows up fast. Here's what to avoid — and what we build into every install instead.
Cold-laid tarmac ravelling apart
Tarmac laid below its minimum working temperature never bonds properly and starts shedding aggregate within a season.
Sunken patches & puddles
Under-compacted sub-base compresses under vehicle load, leaving hollows that hold water and freeze in winter.
Unravelled edges
No block or concrete edge restraint and the edges of the tarmac crumble outward as vehicles clip them.
Weeds through cracks
Skipped herbicide + membrane at sub-base stage lets weeds push through as the surface ages.
How We InstallYour Tarmac.
Free site visit & quote
We measure, assess drainage falls and quote within 24 hours in writing.
Excavation & sub-base
Excavate to depth, lay MOT type-1 in compacted layers, set drainage falls away from the property, install herbicide membrane.
Edging installed first
Block edging or concrete kerb set and haunched before the tarmac goes down — the single biggest factor in edge longevity.
Base course + wearing course
Hot base-course tarmac laid and rolled, then a finer wearing course laid hot on top for a smooth, tight finish.
Cool, clean & guarantee
Cool-down, final tidy, walk-around and 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing.
Why It's WorthDoing It Right.
Fastest install per m²
Large areas can be surfaced in a fraction of the time of block paving.
Hard-wearing, high load
The same surface used on highways — designed for heavy repeated vehicle loads.
Lower cost per m²
Typically the most cost-effective large-area driveway surface.
Smooth, quiet finish
No joints, no clicks — a smooth ride on and off the drive.
Long service life
20-year-plus with occasional patching and a top-seal every decade.
10-year workmanship guarantee
Full engineered install, in-house crew only, backed in writing.
Everything We Install& How We Install It.
Materials we use
We lay 6mm and 10mm dense bitmac wearing courses over a 20mm binder / base course on a compacted MOT type-1 sub-base. Edging is either matching block set in concrete or precast kerb, haunched to spec. Tarmac is loaded hot from the batching plant and laid within its working temperature window — never at the tail end of a cooling load.
Our methods
Excavation typically 200–250mm for driveways, more for shared access or commercial. Sub-base laid in compacted 100mm lifts, drainage falls set at sub-base stage, edging installed and cured, then the tarmac laid hot in a base and wearing course pass. Rolled with a dedicated tandem roller from the outside in to lock the edges.
Where it applies
Tarmac is the right call for large driveways, long private access roads, farm entrances, and any surface where cost-per-m² and speed of install matter more than a decorative pattern. It's the wrong call over an unstable or wet sub-base — we'll always insist on the ground works before quoting the wearing course.
Residential vs commercial
Split roughly evenly. Residential large-frontage driveways and shared access strips, plus commercial forecourts, industrial yards, farm accesses and rural private roads across the West Midlands.
Variations of this service
Standard black tarmac
Classic dense bitmac wearing course — smooth, clean, hard-wearing.
Red tarmac
Coloured aggregate wearing course for period properties and driveways where black would look too utilitarian.
Access roads & farm tracks
Heavier build-up with a stiffer base course for repeat commercial vehicle traffic.
Overlays on sound tarmac
Where existing tarmac is structurally sound, we can plane, prime and overlay to save cost and time.
Every tarmac install is fully insured and backed for 10 years in writing. In-house crew, no sub-contracting, staged payments available.
Every driveway is quoted individually. Tarmac is typically the lowest cost per m² of the mainstream driveway surfaces — we quote free in writing within 24 hours.
You Might AlsoNeed These.
Block Paving Driveways, Patios & Pathways
Block paving is a system of pre-cast concrete or clay blocks laid over a compacted engineered sub-base, bedded in sharp sand, and locked in place with kiln-dried jointing sand. Done properly, it distributes vehicle load across the whole surface — no sunken tyre tracks, no rocking blocks, no failed edges.
Resin Bound Driveways
A resin bound driveway is a hand-trowelled surface made from washed, kiln-dried natural aggregate blended on-site with a two-part clear resin. It's laid over a properly prepared base — usually new tarmac or existing sound tarmac — to create a smooth, UV-stable and fully permeable driveway or patio finish.
Gravel Driveways & Pathways
A properly built gravel driveway is a compacted MOT type-1 sub-base, a weed-suppressant membrane, edge restraints all the way round, and a top layer of decorative gravel — often now laid over a plastic honeycomb grid to lock the stones in place.
Stourbridge · Halesowen · Kingswinford · Brierley Hill · Dudley · Hagley · Kinver · Kidderminster · Birmingham · Wolverhampton · Walsall · Bromsgrove · Droitwich
Ready For TarmacDone Right First Time?
Free site visit — usually within 24 hours. Detailed written quote. No pressure, no sales patter.