In short
MyJobQuote's 2026 guide puts a fully installed tarmac driveway at £45 to £100 per square metre, so a 60m² drive comes out at roughly £2,500 to £5,000. The spread is almost all groundwork. A relay over a sound base sits at the bottom of that range; a full dig out with a new sub base, edging and drainage sits at the top.
This is a job for our Driveways service.
The figures, and whose they are
We do not publish a price list because no two drives need the same amount of work underneath. For a sense of scale, MyJobQuote's tarmac driveway guide, updated for 2026 from real quotes on its platform, gives these ranges for a full installation.
| Driveway size | MyJobQuote 2026 range |
|---|---|
| 30m² (single car) | £1,300 to £3,200 |
| 60m² (two cars) | £2,500 to £5,000 |
| 90m² (large or turning area) | £4,000 to £7,500 |
The same guide puts the installed rate at £45 to £100 per square metre. Our written quotes set out the construction, so you can see which end of that range your drive is in and why.
What moves the price
- What is there now. Overlaying a sound existing tarmac or concrete base is the cheapest job. Digging out a failed drive, a lawn or a gravel drive that has sunk into clay is the dearest, because the whole sub base has to be built from scratch.
- Depth of base. A drive that only ever sees two cars needs less stone than one used by a horsebox, a delivery lorry or farm machinery. We build to the load, and the extra stone and compaction show in the price.
- Drainage. Planning Portal rules mean an impermeable drive over five square metres needs planning permission unless the water runs to a permeable area such as a lawn, border or soakaway. Getting the falls and a soakaway right is part of the job, not an extra.
- Edges and features. Concrete edging, block borders, a dropped kerb, steps or a turning head all add to it.
- Access. A drive a lorry can tip straight onto is cheaper to build than one where every load has to be barrowed round the side of the house.
How tarmac compares with other finishes
MyJobQuote's wider 2026 driveway guide lists installed rates of £40 to £100 per square metre for gravel, £60 to £90 for tarmac, £70 to £120 for resin and £115 to £175 for block paving. Tarmac is the value option for a large area, which is why it is what most of the farm entrances and long drives we lay in Hampshire and West Sussex are finished in. Resin and block paving buy a different look rather than a stronger drive, and all three depend on the same base.
What a quote from us includes
A free site visit, the dig out and removal of spoil where needed, the sub base built and compacted in layers, edge restraint, falls and drainage, and the tarmac itself laid hot and rolled. We say what depth of stone and what thickness of tarmac you are getting, so you can compare our figure with another on the same basis.