A new driveway is a groundworks job with a finish laid over it. We dig the base, drain it and lay the surface ourselves, in resin, tarmac, block paving, gravel or concrete, and a finished resin drive carries a 10-year product guarantee that transfers to a new owner if you sell.
Driveways are load-bearing structures rather than decorative surfaces. A driveway is an excavated formation, a compacted sub-base sized to carry a vehicle, restrained edges holding the whole thing together, falls that take water off it, and a wearing surface laid over all of that.
The surface you choose changes how the drive looks, how it drains and how you keep it. It does not change what holds it up. Ruts, dips, spreading edges and standing water are nearly always base and drainage problems working their way up through a finish that went down on ground never made ready for it.
That part of the job is groundworks, and it is what we do for a living. The finish is what you see every day. The base is what you are actually buying.
Stone and resin mixed together and trowelled down as a single seamless layer. Water drains straight through it, it stays clean with very little effort, and there is a wide choice of aggregate blends. It suits a modern frontage and any drive where run-off is the problem. Full detail on our resin bound driveways page, and our resin maintenance service keeps it looking new for years afterwards.
One unbroken black surface laid hot over a prepared base. It covers a large area as a single sheet, takes vehicle loads well when the sub-base underneath is right, and can usually be overlaid later rather than replaced. It is the sensible answer on long rural drives, yards and access tracks. See tarmac driveways.
Laid unit by unit on a screeded course and locked together by the jointing sand and the edge restraint. Individual blocks lift and go back, so a settled area or a service trench can be put right without touching the rest of the drive. It sits well against older Cornish stone and render. See block paving driveways.
Loose stone over a bound base, free draining by nature and simple to top up. It needs proper edging to keep it where you put it and a bound strip at the threshold so it does not travel onto the road. A gravel driveway suits rural entrances, long approaches and period properties.
A poured, reinforced slab with movement joints and falls designed in. Hard wearing and plain, it handles heavy loads and steep gradients, and a concrete driveway is often the right call for a working yard or a shared access.
Every one of the five needs restraint. Kerbs, block edgings, haunching and the threshold detail where the drive meets the road are what stop a surface spreading and dropping away at the sides.
Most weeks there is a drive somewhere between the Lizard and Truro with the old surface coming out of it. The mix is what this patch produces: resin over rebuilt bases on newer estates, block paving on older town frontages, tarmac on the longer rural drives and yards. Every photograph on this site is a job we did ourselves.
Our Google reviews are public, and they are the quickest honest read on us you will get.
Based on 4 Google reviews
Commenting as the owner of this property I can honestly say that Aaron was a pleasure to work with. Efficient, reliable, extremely hardworking, on schedule, amazing quality and just an all round lovely guy! Thank you Aaron! You can see the almost (steps leading up to the tub yet to be added as a finishing touch) finished project on the Boutique Retreats website: Kilter House, Coverack
Read more on GoogleWould definitely recommend. Our driveway was a mismatch of 3 different sections of gravel, some old concrete and a step. In two days he has completely overhauled it and it looks amazing. Very fast worker, polite and professional and reasonably priced as well. You won’t be disappointed by Michael’s team at all!
Read more on FacebookAaron laid us a wonderful patio for our back garden. From the start he was highly professional and courteous. He sat with us to discuss the best, most cost efficient options to get us exactly what we imagined. Aaron was very reliable and his after care has been exceptional ensuring he delivers the highest quality for his clients. Highly recommended!
Read more on GoogleMike and his son did a fantastic job on our sandstone patio. They provided a competitive quote and had expert knowledge. The job itself was completed to a very high standard. We are very happy with it. I highly recommend. Thank you again for the fantastic work.
Read more on FacebookReally happy with the work from Aaron Hunt Groundworks. Aaron and his team were super easy to deal with—friendly, reliable, and clearly know what they’re doing. They turned up on time, got stuck in, and made sure everything was done properly with a great finish. They kept the place tidy and checked in with us throughout the job to make sure we were happy. No fuss, no stress—just solid, professional work. Would definitely recommend them to anyone needing groundwork done. Top team!
Read more on GoogleWe had been waiting for along time for this small bit of garden to be finished…the original person we had booked just didn’t work out in the end. We booked Sunset Surfacing We are so pleased with the work and can’t wait for the summer to arrive. They were clean, tidy and professional…thank you
Read more on FacebookExtremely happy with my new patio. It wasn’t the most straight forward to lay but Aaron managed to get the finish I wanted and was completely flexible and accommodating to make it happen for our time lines. Would highly recommend.
Read more on GoogleA drive that does not moveA sub-base laid and compacted in layers on a formation dug down to sound ground is what prevents the ruts, dips and sinking that show up two winters after the surface went down.
Rainfall that stays under controlFalls are set off the threshold and the boundary and the run-off is designed into the job, so water is not finding its own way into the garage, the house or your neighbour's ground.
Edges that stay where they were laidRestrained, haunched edges are what stop a drive spreading and breaking down at the sides, and they are the first thing missing from a drive that was priced on the surface alone.
One firm from the first dig to the finished surfaceThe same team clears it, excavates it, drains it, builds the base and lays the finish, so the whole job runs to one programme and one standard.
A resin guarantee that outlives your ownershipOn resin drives we provide a 10-year product guarantee, which is transferable to a new owner if the property is sold.
Call or send the enquiry form with your postcode, the rough size of the area and a photograph of the frontage.
One of the two owners walks the drive with you: levels, falls, access for a machine and a lorry, what the ground is likely to be doing, and where the water can go. We bring photographs of previous work and material samples with us.
The quote sets out the excavation, the sub-base build-up, the edgings, the drainage and the surface, with no obligation to go ahead.
The old surface and the arisings leave site, the formation is checked, and soft ground is dug out rather than built over.
Sub-base compacted in layers, edges restrained and haunched, drainage in, levels checked, then the surface laid and the site cleared, with the resin guarantee confirmed in writing on resin drives.
A driveway is a drainage decision before it is a design one. Approved Document H of the Building Regulations sets the order in which surface water has to be dealt with: into the ground through a soakaway or another infiltration system where that is reasonably practicable, into a watercourse where it is not, and into a sewer only where neither is available. On a Cornish frontage that decision belongs at the survey, taken off the levels and what the ground will actually absorb.
The base is dug by the people who lay the surface. Excavation, formation, drainage and sub-base are our daily work. A driveway is that work brought to the front of a house.
Named tickets, not badges. Aaron Hunt holds CPCS 360 Excavator Above 10 Tonnes, a CSCS card, Street Works Operative and a dumper ticket. Mike Wherry holds CPCS 360 Excavator Below 10 Tonnes, a CSCS card, Street Works Supervisor and a dumper ticket. Between them, any size of excavator.
HW Contractors is Aaron Hunt and Mike Wherry, two Cornish contractors who each built a business and a local reputation before joining forces. Aaron brings 10 years in the trade, Mike brings 30, which is 40 years of combined experience, and one of them is on your job rather than behind a desk. Mike has spent the last five years working almost entirely on drives and patios around Helston. Aaron came up through groundworks and machines.
It is why the site visit starts with levels and water, and the finish is chosen afterwards.
People pick a driveway off a photograph, and then it is the ground under it that decides whether they still like it in ten years.Mike Wherry, co-owner of HW Contractors
40 years of combined experience, Aaron 10 years and Mike 30
CPCS 360 excavator tickets above and below 10 tonnes between them, plus CSCS cards and dumper tickets
Fully insured: public liability and full business insurance
We work from Porthleven and lay driveways right across the west of the county, from the Lizard up to Newquay. Helston is the core patch and Porthleven is home, with Mullion and the Lizard villages a short run south. We are on drives regularly in Penzance, Camborne, Redruth, St Ives, Newquay, Falmouth and Truro.
If your postcode sits between those towns it is inside the patch, and a call gets you a straight answer either way.
We do not publish rates for driveways, because two drives of the same size on the same street stop being the same job the moment they are opened up.
What you get instead:
Payment terms, where any apply, are set out in the same written quote before work starts. Nothing is agreed on a handshake and confirmed later.
Seamless, permeable and laid in a wide choice of blends, on a base we dig and drain ourselves.
Resin bound driveways
One continuous surface for drives, yards, parking areas and access tracks, built for the loads it will carry.
Tarmac driveways
Laid unit by unit and repairable a section at a time, in block or clay brick.
Block paving driveways
Excavation, drainage, footings and hard standings. The work that sits under every drive we lay.
GroundworksSend us your postcode, the rough size of the area and a photograph of the frontage, and one of us will come out, look at what is underneath it and put a written price to it. No charge for the visit and no obligation.
Call us on 07886 070245·Get a free quote online
Porthleven, Cornwall
Phone: 07886 070245
Email: info@hwcontractors.co.uk
Hours: Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm
Last updated: 22 September 2026