Rumney, Cardiff

Anyone can lay herringbone. We design the drive first.

For driveways in Cardiff, we are your first and only choice. Twenty years of block paving, patios, tarmac and resin, with the inlay and border work most firms will not attempt.

Get your free quote Call free: 0800 696 5906

★★★★★ 4.6 out of 5 from 86 Google reviews

4.6Google rating

86Reviews

20Years in Cardiff

0800Free to call

Red block paved driveway in Cardiff with a dark diamond and Greek key inlay pattern

Pattern and inlay

The difference between a driveway and a designed one

Most drives in Cardiff are plain herringbone in one colour, because it is quick and it is easy. Setting a diamond, a Greek key border or a two-tone panel means cutting every block around it by hand and getting the setting out right before the first block goes down.

Diamond and Greek key inlays set into the body of the drive

Two-tone borders that frame the drive and follow its shape

Contrast soldier courses along edges, steps and thresholds

Sloped and stepped drives set out so the pattern still runs true

What we do

Driveways, patios and everything that goes under them

Block paving, patios, tarmac, resin, gravelling, drainage, turfing, fencing, brickwork, walls and landscaping. One firm, one price, one crew on your drive.

Sloped red herringbone block driveway with a diamond motif and carport in Cardiff

Block paving

Herringbone, stretcher and pattern work, laid on a full depth base with edges haunched in concrete.

Tarmac

Machine laid and rolled, edged with block or reclaimed cobble so the sides never break away.

Red and yellow block paved driveway at a garage

Borders and edging

Contrast borders, soldier courses and kerb lines, set out to suit the shape of your frontage.

Paths and passages

Side passages, garden paths and thresholds finished to match the drive at the front.

Brindle herringbone block driveway at a brick bungalow in Cardiff

Patios

Slabs, block and paving laid to fall, so water runs away from the house rather than sitting on it.

Excavation and groundworks in progress before a new driveway

Groundwork and drainage

Excavation, levels, soakaways and channel drains. Work in progress, before the surface goes down.

Our work

Drives we have laid around Cardiff

Our own photographs, our own jobs, taken on the day we finished.

Red block drive with dark diamond and Greek key inlay — Diamond and Greek key inlay

Sloped block paved driveway with carport — Sloped drive, diamond motif

Red and yellow block drive at a garage — Two-tone border

Brindle herringbone at a brick bungalow — Brindle herringbone

Tarmac drive with cobble edging and arched brick porch — Tarmac, reclaimed cobble edge

Site excavated to depth before a new driveway is laid — Groundworks: dug out to depth

If it has gone wrong before

A lot of our work is putting somebody else's right

Sunken blocks, a drive that holds water, edges that have crept, a pattern that runs out of true, or a firm that took a deposit and never came back. We get called to those every year in Cardiff.

Come and look at it with no obligation and we will tell you honestly whether it can be lifted and relaid or whether it needs to come out. Either way you get a written price before anything starts.

"The Guys at Designer Drives & Patios helped us out massively when we had problems with our previous driveway. They are sympathetic, professional and cost effective."

Rob Jones · Google review

How we build it

The pattern is the last day. The base is the whole job.

A drive with beautiful inlay work laid on a bad base is still a bad drive in three winters. This is what happens underneath ours.

STEP 01

Dig out and cart away

The old surface and soft ground come out to depth and leave on the lorry, rather than being raked aside and buried under your new drive.

STEP 02

Compacted sub-base

MOT Type 1 laid and whacked in layers. On the sloped Cardiff plots we work on, this is what stops movement later.

STEP 03

Falls, drainage, edges

Set to fall away from the house, drainage in where it is needed, and edge restraints haunched in concrete before any blocks go down.

STEP 04

Set out, lay, sign off

Pattern set out from a string line so the inlay lands square, then jointed, vibrated in, swept, and walked with you before we go.

Fully licensed and insured

The board that goes up outside your house

Designer Drives and Patios Limited is a registered company, number 13447145, working out of Rumney in Cardiff. Fully licensed and insured, and happy for the board to stay up while we are on your drive so the neighbours can see the work.

We hold no manufacturer badges and we do not claim any. What we have is 86 reviews at 4.6 stars and twenty years of drives around this city you can go and look at.

What people say

86 reviews on Google, averaging 4.6

★★★★★

"The Guys at Designer Drives & Patios helped us out massively when we had problems with our previous driveway. They are sympathetic, professional and cost effective."

Rob JonesGoogle review

★★★★★

"Outstanding work replacing our tired old driveway. Cost efficient, very professional and tidy. Can't recommend Designer Drives highly enough."

Stewart MachinGoogle review

★★★★★

"Great work on our new driveway. Very pleased and would definitely use again."

Kevin HallGoogle review

Where we work

Cardiff, Newport and the valleys

RumneyCardiffLlanrumneySt Mellons RoathPenylanLlanishenWhitchurch CyncoedPentwynNewportCaerphilly PenarthBarryCwmbran

Free quote

Call us, or send the details

We will come out, measure up and give you a written price with a drawing of the pattern if you want one. No charge and no obligation.

Freephone0800 696 5906

Office01633 505 847

Mobile07444 342 068

WhatsAppMessage us on WhatsApp

CompanyDesigner Drives and Patios Ltd, 13447145

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