What does paving cost in Teesside?
Paving in Teesside costs £60 to £100 per square metre for block paving in 2026, £50 to £80 for slabs and flags, and £80 to £120 for a permeable build. Repairs start from £150 and edging runs from £200. Most of the price is the dig, the stone and the drainage, not the surface you see.
The 2026 figures by surface
Quoted rates include excavation, base, laying, cutting, edging and jointing. Materials sit inside those figures, which is why the choice of block or slab moves the rate so much.
| Surface | Typical price | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Block paving | £60 to £100 per m² | Drives, paths, mixed use |
| Slab and flag paving | £50 to £80 per m² | Patios and pedestrian areas |
| Permeable paving | £80 to £120 per m² | Front drives, SuDS compliance |
| Repairs and relaying | from £150 | Sunken patches, loose slabs |
| Edging and kerbing | from £200 | Restraint, borders, crossings |
| Commercial paving | quoted per job | Car parks, yards, forecourts |
Worked examples at real sizes
- Front drive on a 1930s semi, roughly 40m²: £2,400 to £4,000 in block, £3,200 to £4,800 permeable. Add a vehicle crossing application if the kerb is not already dropped.
- Back patio on a newer estate house, roughly 20m²: £1,000 to £1,600 in concrete flags or sandstone, more in porcelain.
- Path down the side of a terrace, roughly 12m²: £700 to £1,200 depending on surface and how the materials get to the back.
- Double drive on a detached house, roughly 70m²: £4,200 to £7,000 in block, with the rate usually easing a little at that size.
What pushes a quote up or down
- Depth of dig and spoil removal: a driveway dig of 200mm to 250mm over 40 square metres produces roughly ten tonnes of muck, and tipping it is a real cost that thin quotes quietly skip.
- Access: a drive a wagon can tip onto is cheapest. A back garden reached only through the house or down an alley, which is normal in Middlesbrough, Stockton and Hartlepool terraces, adds barrow labour to every tonne in and out.
- Materials: standard concrete blocks against clay pavers, or budget flags against porcelain, can shift the rate by 40 per cent on their own.
- Ground conditions: boulder clay, made ground on the old industrial fringes, and tree roots all add excavation and sometimes geogrid or extra stone.
- Drainage: a channel drain, a soakaway or a permeable build-up, plus the ACO and connection work, is a line worth reading carefully.
- Cutting: curves, circles and tapers eat labour and blocks. A rectangle is always the cheapest shape per metre.
Reading three quotes properly
Line them up on build, not on total. Ask each for excavation depth, sub-base thickness and material, laying course, block or slab specification with thickness, edge restraint detail, jointing type, drainage strategy, spoil disposal, and the workmanship guarantee in years. A quote that is 30 per cent cheaper is usually 100mm shallower, and that difference shows up in year three rather than year one. Once the shape of the job is clear, the surface comparison and the SuDS rules settle the remaining decisions.