The short answer: to get more driveway jobs, keep word of mouth going, work the street you’re already on, and add one paid source you control, such as your own Facebook ads. Then win the work after the enquiry: reply within minutes, and chase every quote once the visit is done. In all 7 driveway and paving reviews we’ve done, someone sent their details and was left waiting for a reply.
I run Facebook ads for driveway and paving firms, and when results dip I open their lead app and read every conversation. Across 7 driveway and paving reviews that’s 538 conversations, read one by one. This guide is what I’ve seen bring in driveway work, and where the work slips away once the enquiry is in.
Where do driveway installers get their work?
Most driveway firms get work from several places at once, and the busiest ones don’t lean on any single source. Here’s how the usual ones compare:
| Source | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Word of mouth and past customers | The best jobs, with the trust already there | Slow to build, and you can’t turn it up in a quiet month |
| A board and a leaflet drop on the street you’re working | Neighbours who’ve just watched you lay a drive | Reaches one street at a time |
| Lead sites | Getting started with no page, reviews or ads | Some send the same enquiry to several installers, so you’re racing on price |
| Google (your Business Profile, website and ads) | Homeowners already searching and comparing installers | Reviews and pages take time, and ads need managing |
| Posting your work in local Facebook groups | Free, and it shows real drives | Plenty of local groups don’t allow adverts, so it’s hit and miss |
| Your own Facebook ads | Homeowners in your area who’ve been putting the drive off | Only works if the ads are built properly and every enquiry gets a reply straight away |
A finished drive is an advert the whole street walks past, so never leave a job without a board up and a few leaflets through the neighbours’ doors. Lead sites have their place too, especially before you’ve got reviews or a decent website. I’ve compared them properly in lead sites vs your own Facebook ads, and the difference between exclusive and shared leads matters a lot on a job this size. Plan for the seasons too: in our data, driveway enquiries ran well above average in March and well below in December, both years (enquiries month by month).
Why do Facebook ads work for driveway jobs?
They work because a driveway is a planned job that people put off for years, and Facebook reaches them before they start ringing round. Google is good at catching someone who’s already searching for an installer. Facebook puts your finished work in front of homeowners in your area who’ve been looking at a cracked drive or a muddy front garden and haven’t asked anyone yet.
Reading driveway and paving lead apps, we saw the enquiries were mostly new drives and patios, with paving, fencing and garden hard landscaping mixed in. If patios and gardens are a big part of your work, there’s more on that side in how to get landscaping customers.
… I want to keep the advertising going it’s working well for me this time so I’m happy to continue.
James, driveways and paving, Paignton · WhatsApp, 8 Feb 2026, 21:00
What should a driveway ad show?
It should show real drives you’ve laid, in or near the area you’re advertising to. Homeowners judge a driveway firm mostly on how its work looks, and they can spot a stock photo. Take photos on every job, in daylight, from the pavement, the way a neighbour sees it, and keep a before shot of the old drive.
Show the surface you want more of. If you mainly want resin, show resin. An ad full of block paving brings in block paving enquiries, and the same goes for tarmac.
People check you out before they fill anything in, so your Facebook page needs to look like a real, active business before any ads go live. That’s why we set up or tidy every client’s page with a proper cover and a first post.
Expect comments under the ads, and don’t judge an ad on them. In one driveway review of 194 conversations, 24 were Facebook comments with no job behind them. We count those as junk, separately from real enquiries.
Leads is coming in good thanks mate👍🏽
Shaun, driveways, Blackpool · WhatsApp, 30 Jan 2026, 14:26
What should a driveway lead form ask?
It should ask enough for you to know whether the job is worth a visit, without putting people off. Every Lead Wave driveway form has people tell you the job and their postcode before they hit send, so you ring back knowing what it’s about and where it is.
If you’re building your own form, the useful extras for driveways are the surface they’re after, whether it’s a new drive or a replacement, and a rough size, such as room for one car or two. Each extra question puts a few people off, so keep it short and get the rest on the phone. Plenty of homeowners will happily send a photo of the old drive afterwards, so make sure the number they’re messaging can take one.
Some numbers will never get a text. In 5 of the 7 driveway reviews, some leads had a landline, a mistyped number or had opted out of texts. Those need a phone call, which is why you should look at every lead in the app, not just the ones who reply.
How fast should you reply to a driveway enquiry?
Within minutes, and automatically when you’re on the tools. Someone who fills in a form for a new drive is often asking more than one installer, and the first one back is in the best position.
In the two driveway reviews that counted both numbers exactly, 18 of 50 real enquiries (36%) never replied to anything. That’s why every Lead Wave enquiry gets a text in your name within seconds, and follow-ups that keep going until they reply, then stop on their own.
A text gets you in first, but it doesn’t book the visit. The quiet ones still filled in a form about their drive, and a call is how some of them turn into work. There’s more on this across every trade in what 1,282 lead conversations show.
Where do driveway firms lose the work?
Mostly after the enquiry, at the visit and the quote. These are the patterns that came up in the 7 driveway and paving reviews:
| What we found | Driveway reviews it came up in (of 7) |
|---|---|
| Someone sent their details or available days and was left waiting for a reply | 7 |
| A visit was booked or done, then no quote or outcome was recorded | 6 |
| Visits were only arranged by text, with nothing in the calendar | 6 |
| People who phoned the business weren’t rung back | 3 |
| A customer waited in for a visit that didn’t happen | 3 |
Fast replies aren’t enough on their own. Even firms that answered every enquiry within minutes lost track of work at the next step: visits agreed in a text thread with nothing in the calendar, and quotes that were never recorded or never chased.
“No quote recorded” doesn’t always mean no quote went out. Plenty of installers quote by WhatsApp or email. But each of those rows is a drive at risk, and none of it is the lead’s fault.
How do you turn a site visit into a booked drive?
Treat the visit as a booking, not a chat, and get the quote out while they’re still keen. What I’d do on every driveway enquiry:
- Put the visit in the calendar with a reminder, so it doesn’t live only in a text thread.
- Turn up when you said, or message before, never after. A homeowner who waited in for nobody won’t wait twice.
- Measure up and talk drainage and edging on the day. In England, a new or replacement front drive over five square metres generally needs a permeable surface, or water run off to a lawn or border, to avoid needing planning permission (GOV.UK guidance on front gardens). Raising it before they ask shows you know your stuff.
- Send a written quote while the visit is fresh, then follow it up a couple of days later, and again after that if it’s gone quiet.
- Judge it on cost per won job, not cost per lead. Put your own numbers into the cost per job calculator to see what each drive really costs you to win.
My ads [are] great had a few enquiries few quotes to do as well
Paving and landscaping firm · WhatsApp, 5 Oct 2026, 09:45
Should you run your own ads or have them done?
You can run Facebook ads yourself. You’ll need a page that looks the part, ads built around your own drives and your own area, a lead form, something that texts every enquiry straight away and chases the quiet ones, and the time to keep an eye on it when it slows. That last part is what most installers don’t have when they’re on a job.
With Lead Wave it’s all set up for you, usually within the hour, and the first enquiries usually arrive within 24 hours. Around 80 leads a month is typical. We only take on one driveway installer per area, so you’re never up against another Lead Wave client, and if leads dip I go through them, work out why and change the ads. More on the wider approach in Facebook ads for tradesmen, or see how it works for driveway installers.
Want driveway enquiries in your own area? Message Nick with your town. He’ll check your area is free and tell you what to expect. See how it works for driveway installers
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