Tarmac Driveway Rebuild in Guildford | Case Study

The brief

Tylers Green Homes was asked to rebuild a driveway at a 1960s semi on the Burpham side of Guildford, within the GU1 postcode district. The old surface was cracked, weed-strewn and pooling water every time it rained. The homeowners wanted a clean, durable tarmac finish with new edging kerbs and better drainage so that the front of the house matched the recently updated render and windows. They also wanted to widen the drive slightly on one side so that two cars could park more easily, which meant extending the excavation into the front lawn.

The front garden was small, the pavement was busy with pedestrians, and the road outside had double yellows for most of the day. That meant every aggregate drop had to be timed precisely and offloaded cleanly. The surfacing contractor was booked for a Friday, so the sub-base and bedding materials had to be in place by Thursday evening. The clients also wanted the work finished before a family party the following weekend, which gave Tylers Green a single week to strip, prepare and surface the drive. The builder had already warned the clients that rain on the Friday could delay the tarmac by several days, so the programme was built around the best available forecast.

We were asked to supply the sub-base aggregate, the bedding sand and the fixings for the edge rails. The tarmac wearing course, the edging kerbs and the drainage channels were part of the surfacing contractor's package, but the structural layers beneath the finished surface came through Star Hawk. The builder wanted the materials delivered in one coordinated drop so the groundworker could work continuously without waiting for a second load. We also agreed that if the weather changed, we could hold the load at the yard and redirect it to a different day at no extra charge, which gave the builder flexibility on a weather-sensitive programme.

• Client: Tylers Green Homes
• Location: Guildford, Surrey (GU1, GU2)
• Project: Tarmac driveway rebuild
• Duration: 1 week
• Star Hawk material cost: £1,040

The challenge

Driveway jobs are small but unforgiving. Three issues shaped this one.

1. No storage space. Once the old surface was lifted, the front garden was a hole. There was nowhere to stockpile materials, so the sub-base and bedding sand had to arrive exactly when the groundworker was ready to lay them. If the shingle arrived too early it would block access to the house; if it arrived too late the groundworker would be standing idle. The builder also had to make sure the skip was emptied before the sub-base arrived, because there was no room for both a full skip and a tipped load.
2. Road access. The road was narrow and the pavement could not be blocked. We used a 7.5-tonne tipper that could pull up and tip directly onto the stripped area, with the driver keeping an eye on passing traffic. Double yellows along most of the street meant the lorry had to be in and out quickly. The builder also stationed a labourer at the pavement edge to warn pedestrians and make sure no one walked under the tipping body.
3. Weather window. The surfacing had to be laid on a dry day. The sub-base and bedding were delivered on Wednesday so the surface could go down on Friday if the forecast held. When Friday looked wet, the tarmac contractor pushed to the following Monday and our materials sat compacted and ready. The shingle base actually improved over the weekend because the rain helped it settle, and the sharp sand was covered with a tarp so it stayed workable.

The homeowners needed the driveway usable by the following weekend because they were expecting visitors. That meant the programme could not slip, and every delivery had to be right first time. Tylers Green also had to coordinate with the surfacing contractor, who was only available on specific days because of other bookings in the Guildford area. The builder therefore needed a supplier who could promise the delivery date and stick to it, because any slip would have meant waiting another week for the tarmac crew and disappointing the clients before their family party.

Materials we supplied

Tylers Green sent us the groundworks schedule and we priced the structural layers:

• Sub-base and bedding: 15 tonnes of 20mm Shingle for the drainage layer and 5 tonnes of Sharp Sand for bedding the edging kerbs.
• Edging fixings: 2 boxes of Galvanized Nails and 2 boxes of High Performance Wood Screws for fixing timber edge rails and joining kerbs where the groundworker used timber forms.

The tarmac itself, the edging kerbs and the drainage channels were supplied by the surfacing contractor because they formed part of his package price. Our role was to make sure the sub-base and bedding materials were on site at the right moment. The shingle was supplied as a clean, graded aggregate that would compact well and allow water to drain through to the subsoil, while the sharp sand was washed and free of clay so it would not hold water against the kerbs. We sourced the shingle from a local quarry in Surrey to keep the carbon footprint low and to make sure the colour was consistent with other driveways in the Burpham area.

The fixings were used for temporary timber edge rails that held the tarmac line straight while the wearing course was laid. Once the tarmac had cooled, the rails were removed and the screw holes were filled. The galvanized nails were also used to pin the timber forms to stakes driven into the ground at the driveway entrance. The high-performance wood screws were chosen because they would not snap when driven into the hardwood stakes, and the galvanized nails were specified for the softer timber rails so they could be removed cleanly after the tarmac had set.

Delivery and logistics

A one-week driveway job needs timing more than volume. We structured the Guildford drops around three rules.

• Single coordinated drop. The shingle and sharp sand arrived together on Wednesday morning in a 7.5-tonne tipper. The driver tipped directly onto the stripped driveway, avoiding double handling. The load was split so the shingle came off first and the sharp sand second, which meant the groundworker could start spreading the sub-base while the sand was still being tipped.
• School-run avoidance. The drop was booked for 9.30am, after the morning rush and before the road became busy with shoppers. The driver waited around the corner until the school-run traffic had cleared, then pulled up and tipped in under ten minutes.
• Clean offloading. The driver swept the pavement and road after tipping, and the vehicle left within 15 minutes. No materials were left on the highway, and the builder took photographs of the clean street in case of any later queries. The neighbours had already expressed concern about mud and dust, so the builder also laid a dust sheet across the pavement during the tipping and removed it as soon as the lorry left. The site manager spoke to the immediate neighbours the evening before to let them know the delivery window.

The fixings were delivered the same morning in a small van so they were on site when the groundworker started the edge rails. The van driver carried the boxes to the front garden and stacked them on a pallet board so they stayed clean and dry.

The build

The build ran for 1 week on a weather-dependent programme.

• Day 1: Strip and excavate. The old tarmac and sub-base were broken out and removed in a skip. The levels were set and the edges were trimmed. The groundworker checked the fall towards the front gully and removed any soft spots in the existing subgrade.
• Day 2: Sub-base. The 20mm shingle was tipped, spread and compacted in two layers to form a firm, free-draining base. Each layer was wetted and rolled until the surface was solid enough to take the edging kerbs and the tarmac contractor's barrows. The groundworker checked the compaction with a plate tester and added extra shingle to a soft spot near the old manhole cover before rolling it again.
• Day 3: Edgings and bedding. Concrete edging kerbs were bedded on sharp sand and haunched with concrete. Timber edge rails were fixed for the tarmac perimeter using the galvanized nails and wood screws supplied by Star Hawk. The kerbs were laid to a string line so the finished edge would be perfectly straight when the tarmac went down.
• Day 4: Prep and inspection. The sub-base was checked for levels and compaction. Drainage falls were confirmed and any soft spots were made good. The surfacing contractor visited in the afternoon to approve the preparation and confirm the Friday start. The builder sent photographs of the prepared base to the clients so they could see the work even though they were at work themselves.
• Day 5: Tarmac surface. The tarmac contractor laid and rolled the wearing course in two passes to make sure the compaction was even. The drive was cordoned off over the weekend to cool. When rain threatened on Friday morning, the contractor brought the start forward by an hour and the surface was down by midday.

The surface went down on the Friday as planned and the homeowners parked on it the following Tuesday. The edges were neat, the falls worked and the puddles that had plagued the old drive were gone. The builder left the clients with a care note explaining that they should avoid turning the steering wheel while stationary on the new tarmac for the first few weeks, and that any oil spills should be cleaned promptly to prevent staining.

The result

The finished driveway is a clean, dark tarmac surface with new edging kerbs, a subtle fall to the front gully and no more puddles. The front of the house looks tidier and the surface should last 15 years with minimal maintenance. The new kerbs also protect the lawn edges, which had been crumbling where the old drive met the grass. The clients said the best improvement was being able to walk to the front door in heels without having to step around puddles or weeds growing through the old surface.

Tylers Green billed the homeowners £6,800 for the rebuild. The Star Hawk material pack was £1,040. The builder said the value was in the coordination: having the sub-base and bedding materials arrive as a single, clean drop meant the groundworker could finish the prep in three days and hand over to the tarmac contractor on schedule. The programme did not slip, the family party went ahead as planned and the builder has since recommended Star Hawk for two other driveway jobs in the Guildford area.

What we don't supply on a driveway

On a tarmac driveway rebuild like this one in Guildford, the following items sit outside our range:

• Tarmac, asphalt or resin-bound surfacing — supplied and laid by the surfacing contractor.
• Block paving, setts or pattern-imprinted concrete finishes.
• Specialist edging kerbs, decorative channels and bespoke drainage covers unless they are in our standard stock range.
• Mechanical compaction equipment, diggers and skips — hired by the groundworker.
• Landscaping, planting, fencing or lighting.
• Line marking, sealants and driveway cleaning services.

We supply the sub-base aggregates, bedding sand and structural fixings that go underneath and around the finished surface. We can also help you calculate the volumes you need from a simple sketch with dimensions, which avoids over-ordering and keeps the cost down on a small driveway.

Cost transparency

The materials Star Hawk supplied came to £1,040 and broke down as follows:

Category	Materials supplied	Cost
Aggregates & sub-base	15 tonnes 20mm shingle, 5 tonnes sharp sand	£840
Fixings & hardware	2 boxes nails, 2 boxes screws	£200

The remaining £5,760 covered the tarmac, kerbs, excavation, surfacing labour, skip hire and finishing supplied by other partners on the same site. The Star Hawk portion was the structural foundation of the drive, and the builder was able to show the client exactly what had been spent on the sub-base and bedding layers. This transparency helped the clients understand why proper preparation was worth the investment rather than simply resurfacing over the old, failing base.

Why Guildford homeowners choose Star Hawk

We are 10 minutes from the GU1 postcode district and our round covers Guildford, including Burpham, Merrow, Boxgrove and Slyfield. We also deliver to Woking, Farnham, Camberley and Dorking on the same day.

Most of our Guildford driveway customers are homeowners and landscapers who need a small, clean aggregate drop at exactly the right moment. They want a supplier who sends a suitably sized lorry, keeps the pavement clear and answers the phone if the weather changes. We keep 20mm shingle and sharp sand in regular stock at our yard because these are the most common driveway aggregates in the GU1 and GU2 areas. Our drivers know the narrow streets around Burpham and Merrow and are used to working around parked cars. If your Guildford driveway rebuild needs a measured sub-base pack, send your dimensions through the quote builder and we will come back the same business day.