Tarmac and pothole repairs
Cut-out repairs done properly — square edges, sound base, compacted material — rather than shovelling cold material into a hole and hoping.
In short
A durable pothole repair means cutting back to square, sound edges, removing the failed material, checking what caused the failure, then laying and compacting new material in layers and sealing the joint. Filling a hole without cutting it out is why so many repairs fail within a season.
On this page
How a repair should be done · Defects we deal with · Safety and liability on commercial sites · When repairs stop being economical
Most potholes are not really potholes. They are the visible end of a process that started with water getting into a crack, freezing, opening the crack, and washing out the material below. Fill the hole without dealing with that and it comes back, usually slightly larger.
We carry out reactive and planned repairs for commercial sites, managed estates, private roads and homeowners. On larger sites, a defect survey and a prioritised repair schedule usually costs less over three years than reacting to each failure.
How a repair should be done
- Mark out beyond the failure, back to material that is sound
- Saw-cut or plane square edges — not tapered, not ragged
- Break out and remove the failed material and any wet or contaminated base
- Check why it failed: a leaking gully, a soft spot, a services trench that was never reinstated properly
- Repair the base and compact it
- Tack the edges, lay the new material in layers, compact each one
- Seal the joint so water cannot get back in at the perimeter
A repair done this way lasts. A repair done without cutting out will not.
Defects we deal with
- Potholes and localised failures
- Cracking — crazing, linear cracks and reflective cracking from below
- Rutting and deformation in wheel paths and turning areas
- Edge breakup where there is no restraint
- Sunken or proud manhole covers and gullies, and the trip hazards they create
- Failed utility reinstatements
- Ponding where levels have settled
Safety and liability on commercial sites
On a site the public or staff use, a surface defect is a liability issue before it is a maintenance one. Trip hazards around covers and kerb edges, potholes in a car park, sunken gullies in a walkway — these are the things that generate claims.
A regular inspection with a written, prioritised defect list gives you evidence of a managed process as well as a maintenance plan. [Confirm whether Cooper Jackson offers scheduled inspection and repair contracts]
When repairs stop being economical
There is a point where repairing is more expensive than resurfacing. As a rough rule, once defects cover more than roughly 20–25% of an area, or once patches are being patched, the cost of repeated visits outweighs a single resurfacing job — and the surface looks considerably better afterwards. We will say so when we see it rather than keep returning.
How projects run
The same five stages on every job, scaled to the site.
Site survey
We measure the area, assess the existing surface and ground conditions, and check access for plant and deliveries.
Specification and quote
A written quote setting out the build-up, depths, materials, drainage, edgings and what is excluded.
Preparation
Planing or excavation, removal of arisings, sub-base laying and compaction, plus any drainage and kerbing.
Laying
Binder and surface courses laid and rolled to the specified depth, with joints and levels set out against falls.
Handover
Line marking where required, site cleared, and written guidance on when the surface can take traffic.
Questions we get asked
Anything not covered here, call 0208 050 7207.
[Confirm realistic response times, including any emergency or same-week service, before publishing] For anything creating an immediate hazard, call 0208 050 7207 rather than using the form.
As a temporary measure to make something safe, they have a place. As a permanent repair they do not compare to a hot-laid, cut-out repair, and we would not present one as a lasting fix.
Yes. Most repair work we do is on surfaces laid by somebody else.
Yes. Localised repair is usually the sensible first step, and we will tell you honestly if the area has gone beyond the point where patching makes financial sense.
Water and traffic. Water gets into a crack or a porous surface, freezes and expands, weakening the material; traffic then breaks up the weakened area and pumps the base material out. Which is why drainage and early crack sealing matter more than the repairs themselves.
Related services
Get a price for your tarmac repairs
Send the site postcode, rough area and what's there now. A photo helps more than anything else.