Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
Wellborn Driveway & Pavers: The Houston Owner’s Guide
We stock and install Wellborn-compatible driveway and paver components across Houston, with typical driveway replacement running $5,000 – $14,000 and full paver driveway installation landing between $7,000 and $18,000 depending on square footage, substrate condition, and paver grade. Most owners discover a failure the same way: a paver sinks after a heavy Houston rain, a concrete slab cracks along a control joint, or a driveway edge starts crumbling after a few summers of expansion and contraction. The part that failed is rarely the paver itself. It’s what’s underneath it.
Bradford Remodeling Co Houston is an independent service provider. We are not affiliated with Wellborn, though we work with Wellborn-compatible hardscape components and document every specification before work begins.
Which Wellborn Models This Applies To
Wellborn’s hardscape line spans three product families you’ll see in Houston driveways: the Estate Series pavers (larger-format units, typically 4×8 and 6×9), the Heritage Series (tumbled-edge, sized for tighter joint patterns), and the Architectural Slab line for driveway aprons and walkways. The compatibility gotcha most Houston owners hit: Estate Series pavers are manufactured 60mm thick, while Heritage runs 50mm. You cannot mix the two in the same field without a visible height differential at every joint.
Identifying your exact unit is straightforward. Flip over any loose paver. Wellborn stamps the series code and the mold letter into the underside. A stamp reading “EST-A” or “HRT-C” tells you the series and the specific mold shape, which matters when you’re replacing a partial section rather than the whole drive. On the OEM-versus-aftermarket question: Wellborn’s own units hold color consistency better across dye lots because they use a single pigment supplier. Quality aftermarket equivalents from Belgard and Unilock are dimensionally compatible in most cases but can shift a half-shade in Houston’s UV after two summers. For a partial repair on a visible front drive, we specify OEM. For a full replacement, aftermarket opens up more color and texture options at a lower material cost.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Wellborn Driveway & Pavers Is Failing
- Sunken pavers after rain. A single low spot means a sand base has washed out through a failed edge restraint. Left alone, the void spreads under adjacent units and the whole section starts moving.
- Spalling at the edges. Houston’s freeze-thaw cycle is mild, but repeated wet-dry cycles still cause paver faces to flake when the concrete mix absorbed too much water at install. This is a material or compaction issue, not wear and tear.
- Cracks running along the control joints on a slab drive. Those joints were cut to tell the concrete where to crack. When the crack runs parallel instead of in the joint, the substrate has shifted, and slab removal is usually the only fix that holds.
- Weeds pushing through joints every week. Polymeric sand was either skipped or underfilled at the original install. Joint stabilization is the real fix; weed killer is a bandage on a substrate problem.
- Standing water that never drains. Houston gets 50 inches of rain a year. If water pools for more than an hour after a storm stops, the slope was set wrong and no surface sealer will correct it.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
In the Houston market, plain concrete driveway replacement runs $4,500 – $12,000. Paver driveway installation on a standard two-car drive runs $7,000 – $18,000, with the spread driven by three things: total square footage, whether the old substrate can be reused or must be demoed and hauled, and the paver series you choose. A full paver patio replacement is a tighter $3,500 – $11,000.
What’s included in our price: demolition of the failed surface, substrate remediation (this is where most Houston drives actually fail – our crews compact to spec, not to a guess), new base material, the pavers or slab, edge restraint, polymeric joint sand, and a written line-item breakdown before any work starts. You get one number up front. No change orders, no numbers that move at the door. Every job carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the work fails inside a full year, we come back and correct it at no charge. That promise is in writing, signed, in your hand at close.
| Job | Houston Installed Price Range |
|---|---|
| Concrete Driveway Replacement | $4,500 – $12,000 |
| Paver Driveway Installation | $7,000 – $18,000 |
| Paver Patio Replacement | $3,500 – $11,000 |
| Asphalt Driveway Paving | $3,500 – $9,000 |
| Driveway Sealing (asphalt) | $250 – $700 |
This isn’t a “call for a quote” page. Those are the numbers. If your scope falls outside them, you’ll see why in writing before you sign anything.
DIY or Call Us?
There’s a safety line on driveway and paver work that’s easy to miss until you’ve moved three tons of material by hand. Replacing a single cracked paver in a walkway? That’s a Saturday job. Replacing a failed driveway base? That’s demolition, compaction equipment, and a trip to the disposal facility – and doing it wrong means the new surface fails the same way the old one did, just faster.
The part most Houston homeowners don’t see is the substrate. A paver is just the skin. The grading, the base compaction, the edge restraint – that’s what decides whether the drive holds up through five Houston summers. If you’re not sure what’s under your failed section, call (940) 289-7658 and we’ll tell you straight what you’re looking at. The estimate is free. The advice is free. The mistake you avoid is worth more than either.
FAQs
Wellborn pavers are rated for 25 – 30 years as a unit, but the installation underneath decides whether you get 10 or the full life. Houston’s clay soil expands and contracts hard with seasonal moisture, so a properly compacted base and solid edge restraint are the difference. The pavers themselves rarely fail first. Call (940) 289-7658 for a free assessment if your drive is showing its age early.
Sometimes. Single pavers or small sections with intact base can be pulled and reset in a few hours. If the base has washed out or the edge restraint is gone, a patch job will fail again within a season or two. We’ll write out exactly what we see and what each option costs before you commit to anything.
For a standard two-car driveway, expect 4 – 7 working days from demo to final joint sand, plus a day for the base to settle and be re-compacted if needed. Weather can stretch that – we don’t pour or compact through standing water. You’ll get a schedule in writing before we start.
We keep common Estate and Heritage series units in our Houston yard for quick repairs and match orders, but exact dye-lot matching for partial replacement often requires a short order window from the manufacturer. If the exact unit isn’t in our yard, we’ll tell you the lead time before any commitment. We carry the KraftMaid, Cambria, and Silestone lines for interior surfaces the same way – spec’d, documented, and matched to the original where it matters.
If your Wellborn driveway or pavers are failing, we’ll look at it, write you a straight scope and a straight number, and you decide from there. Call (940) 289-7658. Straight scope, straight number – that’s the whole conversation.
Written by Curtis Lane, Owner, Bradford Remodeling Co Houston, serving Houston and nearby areas.
