Concrete Driveways

A strong, low-maintenance poured surface with plain or patterned finishes

A poured concrete driveway offers real structural strength for its cost, and finishing options — from a plain trowelled surface to a patterned, imprinted texture — mean it doesn't have to look purely utilitarian, even though durability rather than decoration is usually its main appeal.

Concrete driveways are formed by pouring ready-mixed concrete over a prepared, compacted sub-base within a formwork boundary that defines the driveway's edges and shape, then finishing the surface while the concrete is still workable. The finish makes a real difference to the final look: a plain trowelled or brushed finish gives a clean, understated surface, while pattern-imprinted concrete uses textured moulds pressed into the surface before it fully sets, giving the appearance of block paving, stone or brick at a lower relative cost, along with a coloured surface hardener applied at the same stage. Concrete's real strength is load-bearing capacity for its cost — it handles regular vehicle weight well and, correctly laid with adequate depth and reinforcement where needed, is a genuinely low-maintenance surface over the long term, without individual joints or blocks that can work loose. The trade-off is repairability: unlike block paving, a damaged section of concrete generally can't be lifted and relaid, so cracks or damage typically need a visible surface repair or, in more significant cases, replacing that section entirely. Expansion joints are built into the pour at intervals to control where any cracking from thermal movement occurs, rather than leaving it to crack randomly across the surface.