Asphalt Surface Course: 40 mm Overlay – cost per m² – UK 2026 Rate Guide

Budget rate for supply & lay · typical budget rate before your adjustments

Labour, plant, materials, outputs and waste — yours to edit, as an Excel. Three free.

Rates are UK national (non-London): central London and constrained urban sites typically run dearer — adjust the labour, plant and access lines in the build-up accordingly.

Asphalt surface course (40 mm overlay)

per m² · supply & lay

£20 – £37 / m²

What is it

The supply and laying of a 40 mm asphalt surface course (wearing course) as a machine-laid overlay to a prepared, structurally-sound carriageway, priced per m² of finished surface. A sprayed tack (bond) coat, then the surface course laid to line & level by the paver and compacted by the roller. This rate prices the wearing-course overlay ONLY — the binder course beneath, planing of the old surface, kerbs, ironwork, markings and traffic management are separate items. The rate carries three operations:

Tack coat — a sprayed bitumen-emulsion bond coat to key the new asphalt to the prepared base.
Machine-lay — the 40 mm AC10 (or SMA) surface course laid to line & level by the paver train.
Compaction — the mat rolled to density and a closed, even finished surface by the tandem roller.

Rate range by surface-course spec

Close-graded AC10£20 – £25 / m²

AC10 dense (standard)£23 – £30 / m²

SMA / polymer-modified£29 – £37 / m²

Budget rate per m².

3 key cost drivers

Substrate, run length & access

A sound base with long, open paver runs lays fastest. Short runs, many joints, ironwork to box out, night working with traffic management and restricted access all slow the gang and lift the rate per m². The London & South-East market runs dearer. It is the key driver of the labour per m²; region rides this note, not a dropdown.

Surface-course spec

A dense AC10 close-graded surface course is the priced default. A close-graded AC10 is the lighter-duty option; an SMA or polymer-modified wearing course, for heavily-trafficked or high-stress sites, runs dearer. It is the driver of material cost — the calculator flexes the surface course across its delivered price band. Material dominates the m² rate, so the spec is the main lever.

Location

London and the South East typically add around 20% to labour.

Estimator

Budget rate generator

Surface-course spec

£23 – £30 / m²

Covers the tack coat, the machine-laid surface course, the surfacing gang, paver & roller and O&P · excl. planing, binder course, kerbs, ironwork, markings, traffic management & VAT

Exclusions

Lifting & material distribution — telehandler / forklift, hoist and site-distribution labour (an attendance, in main-contractor prelims)
Planing / milling of the old surface, and the binder course beneath (a separate carriageway-resurface line)
Kerbs & edgings, ironwork adjustment, road markings, traffic management, prelims & VAT
Scaffold supply (usually in preliminaries)
Preliminaries — main-contractor site set-up, management & welfare
VAT