Every driveway and patio we lay comes with a 5 year guarantee on our workmanship. If something we built fails within that time, we come back and put it right, at no cost to you.
Below is exactly what that covers — and, just as importantly, what it doesn’t. We’d rather you knew now than found out in year three.
What’s covered
If the problem comes down to how we built it, it’s covered:
- Sinking or settlement caused by how we laid the sub-base or the surface
- Standing water — an area still holding water after rain once the rest of the surface has dried
- Failure of the jointing, edging or kerb restraint
- Cracking or movement caused by our construction
- Faulty materials we supplied and fitted — and we chase the supplier ourselves, so you don’t have to
That last point is worth reading twice. A lot of guarantees in this trade cover the labour and then send you to the manufacturer when a product fails. Ours doesn’t. You deal with us.
What’s not covered
A guarantee that claims to cover everything isn’t a guarantee, it’s a sales line. Here’s where ours stops:
- Fair wear and tear, and colour softening gradually over the years
- Efflorescence — the temporary white bloom on cement-based products. It’s harmless and it weathers off.
- Weeds and moss growing from airborne or bird-dropped seed
- Impact and accidental damage, misuse or neglect
- Staining from oil, fuel, chemicals, bleach or de-icing salt
- Heavy or commercial vehicles on a drive we specified for domestic use — tell us before we design it if you park something heavy
- Ground movement from outside the works: subsidence, heave, tree roots, or an old drain or void collapsing below the depth we dug to
- Work altered, repaired or added to by someone else
Some bedding-in when a new surface is first driven on is normal and doesn’t affect how it performs. If you’re not sure whether what you’re looking at is normal, ring us and we’ll come and look.
How to make a claim
There’s no short reporting deadline to catch you out. Tell us when you notice it.
Selling your house?
The guarantee transfers once, free of charge, to whoever buys the property. Just let us know their name in writing within 30 days of the sale completing and the remaining years carry over to them.
It’s a small thing that reads well on a listing.
Straight answers
Is the guarantee insurance-backed?
No. It’s given by Seastone Driveways & Patios Ltd directly, which means it depends on us still being here to honour it. Plenty of companies let people assume otherwise. We’d rather tell you, and let you judge us on the work and the reviews instead.
Does it cover the materials, or only your workmanship?
Both. Where a product we supplied and installed turns out to be faulty, we handle it — including making the claim to the manufacturer. You don’t get passed down the chain.
When does the 5 years start?
The day we finish, once the job is paid in full. We hand you a signed certificate with the completion date and the expiry date on it.
Do I have to maintain it?
Ordinary upkeep, yes — keeping the drainage clear, re-sanding joints now and then, pulling weeds. We give you written aftercare instructions on the day we finish, including how long to stay off the surface. Following them matters: driving on a new surface too early is the single most common cause of damage we see.
There’s a white haze on my new paving. Is something wrong?
Almost certainly not. It’s efflorescence, a natural reaction in anything with cement in it. It’s temporary, harmless, and weathers off on its own. It isn’t covered by the guarantee because it isn’t a fault — but it will go.
What if the ground moves?
If the movement is down to how we built the sub-base, that’s covered. If it’s the ground itself — subsidence, heave, tree roots, or something buried failing below the level we excavated to — that’s outside anything we can control, and it isn’t covered. We’ll always come and look before deciding which it is.
Your legal rights
This guarantee is on top of your legal rights, not instead of them. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 you’re entitled to work carried out with reasonable care and skill and to materials that are of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose. Those rights apply whether or not this guarantee does, and nothing on this page affects them.
We give you a signed copy of the full guarantee document on the day we finish. Our terms and conditions set out the rest of the contract.