About us
Driveway & Patio Installers in Portsmouth
A local hard landscaping team building driveways, paving and patios properly — with the groundwork specified for the job rather than for the quotation.
How we work
Portsmouth Driveways & Patios is a hard landscaping contractor working across the city and Portsea Island. We install driveways, block paving, resin bound surfacing, paving and patios for homeowners, landlords and local businesses.
We are deliberately a small operation. The person who quotes your job is on site while it is built, which means nothing gets lost between the survey and the spade. We do not subcontract the labour out to whoever is available that week, and we do not run more jobs at once than we can properly staff — that is why we sometimes quote a start date a few weeks out instead of promising to begin on Monday.
What we will not do
We will not overlay a failing base to make a price look competitive. We will not lay slabs on five dabs of mortar. We will not tell you a permeable build-up is unnecessary because it is cheaper for us to ignore it. And we will not turn up unannounced at your door offering leftover tarmac from another job — if someone does that in your street, close the door.
Quotations you can compare
Every quotation is itemised: excavation area and depth, estimated spoil removed and disposal, sub-base specification, edge restraints, drainage, surfacing material with manufacturer and colour, and jointing. That makes it possible to compare our price against another honestly, line by line, rather than judging two lump sums that may describe completely different work.
Where a genuine unknown exists — a buried slab, an old oil tank, soft ground under a former border — it is identified on the quotation as a possible variation with a price attached, before you commit.
Insurance, guarantees and credentials
We carry public liability insurance and provide a workmanship guarantee alongside the relevant manufacturer warranties on materials such as resin systems and porcelain.
Note for the site owner: the exact insurance figure, guarantee period, company registration details and any trade accreditations have deliberately been left out rather than invented. Send us the real details and they will be published here and in the footer.
Materials
Why we are fussy about specification
Sub-base tonnage, block thickness, resin ratio, mortar bed depth, jointing compound: none of these are visible in a photograph, and all of them decide whether the surface still looks right in ten years. They are also the first things cut when a price needs to come down.
We would rather lose a job on price and explain why than win it by quietly reducing the dig by 75mm. If a cheaper quote you have received seems very low, ask that contractor to write down the excavation depth and the sub-base specification — the answer is usually revealing.
How we work
From first phone call to finished driveway
- 01
Initial enquiry
Tell us what you have in mind, roughly how big the area is and where you are. We will talk through options and rough cost ranges before anyone visits.
- 02
Site visit and survey
We measure up, check levels and existing falls, look at where surface water currently goes and assess access for machinery and material deliveries.
- 03
Design and material selection
You see samples and laying patterns, and we set out edging, borders and any steps. You receive an itemised written quotation covering excavation, sub-base, surfacing and disposal.
- 04
Excavation and preparation
Existing surfaces are broken out and removed, the formation is dug to the right depth, and the sub-base is laid and compacted in layers.
- 05
Installation
Edge restraints go in first, then the surface is laid to the agreed pattern and falls, cut in around gullies, manholes and thresholds, and finished.
- 06
Final inspection and handover
We clean down, walk the finished area with you, deal with anything you are not happy with, and explain curing times and aftercare.
Planning a new driveway or patio in Portsmouth?
Send over a few details and we will arrange a site visit, measure up and give you an itemised written quotation.
Call 07881 365851 or email portsmouthdrivewaysandpatios@gmail.com.