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CWS Driveway & Pavers: The Los Angeles Owner’s Guide
We stock and install CWS-compatible driveway and paver systems throughout Los Angeles, and a typical paver driveway installation runs $8,260 to $21,240 depending on square footage, substrate condition, and paver line. If you have a CWS product with a failed section, whether it’s heaving, sinking, or cracked at the stress points, we can usually match the part and get it replaced without tearing out the whole drive. Most Los Angeles homeowners discover the failure after winter rain exposes a low spot, or when a paver shifts under a car tire and the edge starts crumbling.
Bradford Remodeling is an independent service provider. We’re not affiliated with CWS, but we work with their paver and driveway systems regularly and know which parts interchange and which don’t.
Which CWS Models This Applies To
CWS driveway and paver systems in Los Angeles fall into a few distinct product lines, and the replacement part has to match the series, not just the visual style. The most common CWS lines we see are their Holland stone pavers, the larger-format plaza slabs, and their permeable paver systems designed for LA’s stormwater runoff requirements. Each line has different joint widths, thickness tolerances, and base course specs. A Holland stone from one CWS production run will generally interlock with another from the same series, but mixing a 60mm paver with an 80mm paver on the same driveway creates a height mismatch you’ll feel every time you drive over it.
The fastest way to identify your paver is to lift one and check the underside. CWS stamps their series code and a date code there in most runs. If the stamp is worn off, measure the thickness in millimeters and the length and width. Those three numbers plus a photo of the surface texture are usually enough for us to match it. On the OEM-versus-aftermarket question: for CWS driveways, we recommend staying with CWS or a direct equivalent from a paver manufacturer who specifies the same compressive strength and freeze-thaw rating. Aftermarket pavers can look close in the showroom and then weather differently in Los Angeles sun, leaving you with a patch that’s visible from the street in two years.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your CWS Driveway & Pavers Is Failing
- Heaving or lifting at the edges. This is almost always a base failure underneath, not a paver problem. Water gets under the edge, the base erodes, and the pavers lose support. In Los Angeles, this shows up most after a wet winter.
- Sinking in tire tracks. CWS driveways installed over insufficiently compacted base will settle along the exact lines your car travels. The pavers themselves are fine; the sub-base wasn’t.
- Cracked or spalled pavers at stress points. Turn areas and the first few feet of the driveway apron take the most load. If you’re seeing cracks there, the pavers are doing their job but exceeding their rated compressive load, usually because the base shifted.
- Joint sand washing out. If you see a fine sandy residue collecting in the gutter after rain, your joint material is leaving. Unfilled joints let pavers shift, then crack, then fail.
- Standing water that didn’t used to pool. A CWS driveway that drained fine for years and now holds water has a low spot from base settlement. The fix is lifting the affected section, re-compacting the base, and resetting the pavers, not just adding more sand.
See the difference
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After
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
In Los Angeles, CWS-compatible paver driveway installation runs $8,260 to $21,240. For a failing section rather than a full driveway, the price comes down based on square footage and what’s underneath. A paver patio runs $4,130 to $12,980. Driveway replacement, where we remove the old surface and start fresh, runs $5,900 to $16,520.
Every Bradford Remodeling job comes with a written price before work starts. That means the number you approve is the number you pay. The scope includes removing the failed pavers or full driveway surface, inspecting and correcting the base where needed, installing the matched CWS-compatible pavers with proper joint material, and compacting to spec. All completed work is covered by our 365-Day Done Right Promise, a written one-year guarantee. If the work fails inside that window, we come back and correct it at no charge.
DIY or Call Us?
You can safely check a few things yourself: note where the water pools, mark the spots where pavers have shifted, and document the paver thickness and series code if you can lift one. That information helps us give you a straight answer on the phone. What we don’t recommend is pulling up a section of driveway and trying to re-base it yourself. The failure is almost always underneath the pavers, and the base material, compaction, and grading have to be right or the same problem returns in six months. Curtis Lane grew up in the Crenshaw district and trained in construction technology at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, and he’ll tell you the same thing: the pavers are the easy part, the base is where the job succeeds or fails. If you want to talk it through first, call (903) 568-7222 and we’ll walk through what you’re seeing.
FAQs
Done right, a CWS paver driveway in Los Angeles lasts 25 to 30 years before the base needs attention, though the pavers themselves can last longer. What shortens the lifespan here isn’t the paver, it’s water working through the joints and eroding the base. If you’re seeing settlement before year 10, you’re looking at a base problem, not a paver problem. Call (903) 568-7222 and we’ll tell you what’s actually going on.
Yes, in most cases a failed section of CWS driveway can be lifted, re-based, and reset without replacing the whole drive. The catch is that you need pavers that match your series and thickness, or the repair will look like a patch. We stock or can source CWS series pavers and direct equivalents, and we’ll tell you honestly if a repair is worth doing or if the base is too far gone. Estimates are free.
Most section replacements, where we’re repairing a settled or cracked area rather than a full driveway, take one to two days in Los Angeles. A full driveway replacement runs three to five days, depending on size and what the old base looks like once we open it up. You’ll walk the site with us at the end and get the written guarantee in your hand before we leave.
We stock commonly used CWS-compatible pavers in the Holland stone and plaza slab lines, and we can source others within a few days. For older or discontinued CWS series, we’ll match by thickness, color, and surface texture from a direct equivalent. We’ll show you the match and get your sign-off before any paver goes into your driveway. Straight number, real scope, no surprises at the punch list.
Written by Curtis Lane, Owner, Bradford Remodeling at Bradford Remodeling, serving Los Angeles and nearby areas.
