Garden landscaping costs - any advice pls?

[Lindyboo]

Has anyone recently used a garden landscaping company? We need flagged areas and gravelling but I've no idea what sort of costs to expect. I've just levelled the garden using a mini-digger so the cost of that won't apply.

Thanks

 

[benmc]

Have a look here for an idea of price and how to construct.

http://www.pavingexpert.com/gravel01.htm

Ben

 

[JoceAndChris]

I haven't done this yet but would also like to. I'm expecting 2-3k for the landscaping we need. (around 20 sq metres) - That's for brick herringbone, and there's concrete to be broken up, and it's £1 per pretty brick.

Chatting with a painter/decorator groundworks man the other day (Grantham) and he said some of his mates are raising their fee to £200 a day, £150's been normal. How many days do you think it would take - how big's the area? You'd get a cheaper price by using an independent handyman than a flash company with a website, but I'd always go for company with the nice website/ photos/ recommendations / proven expertise/ some kind of guarantee.

My parents in law used a fly-by-night builder, the whole new tarmac driveway cracked and subsided and they had to battle for months to get it removed and lost a lot of money. It's an unlikely horror story, but it reinforces my belief that you get what you pay for!

The other potentially massive cost will be the materials - B&Q have got concrety slabs, I think they're around £3 each. Stone ones are of course vastly more!

http://www.stone-traders.co.uk/indian-sandstones/kandla-grey-sandstone.htm
http://www.stonepaving.co.uk/products/4/paving/26/antiquated-stone-paving

Let us know how you get on.

 

[Penners]

The other potentially massive cost will be the materials - B&Q have got concretey slabs, I think they're around £3 each. Stone ones are of course vastly more!

Yes, stone slabs are generally more expensive than concrete, but many are not as expensive as pretty bricks at £1 each (which I reckon tots up to about £45-£50 per m^2)!

We bought a "patio kit" from the people below - it was a bit too large for our needs, but left me several spare slabs to use for other things (like underneath a bird table). IMO the price was extremely good.

http://www.nustone.co.uk/

One word of warning - if you do plan on buying from them, be sure that you read their section on delivery. This gives you the cost of delivery (not bad) and the conditions - that is, the type of place that they will deliver to, and that they won't.

 

[AMc]

I used these people to supply my patios (Bradstone fossil buff sandstone), they were substantially cheaper than anywhere else including using my builder's discounts at the merchants.
http://simplypaving.com/

They also had some restrictions on delivery and dropped 4 pallets at the kerb using a hand truck. I spent a couple of hours moving the paving slab by slab to where I wanted it but I consoled myself with the £100s I'd saved by using them.

 

[Lindyboo]

Thanks all for your helpful replies and I'll check out the various links asap. As an aside I must say it's good fun using the digger - never used one before and had always assumed that such a task was do-able only by by burly, tattoed male persons with a penchant for loud music and colourful language. Not so!

Will let you know how I get on with the landscaping.

Regds

 

[Feltwell]

always assumed that such a task was do-able only by by burly, tattoed male persons with a penchant for loud music and colourful language. Not so!

Oy! What's wrong with said burly male persons then? (OK, I'm not tattoed and I only mutter colourful language very quietly, so the kids won't hear!)

You are of course quite right about the digger - what you need to be able to drive one well is good co-ordination. Physical strength is not required - well, apart from when changing the buckets, if you need to.

 

[Penners]

Here's the kind of digger that I got to drive, when I worked for Volvo Construction Equipment. Definitely the exclusive domain of big, burly blokes (who enjoy the ergonomic suspended seat, sound insulated cab, climate control and 8-speaker music system).

 

[Feltwell]

Here's the kind of digger that I got to drive

Now now Penners, isn't that a wheeled loader or a loading shovel rather than a digger?

Don't let standards slip :wink: :lol:

Flame proof suit & tin hat on, just in case I've got that wrong when I know full well Penners knows much more about them than I do!

 

[Penners]

You're absolutely correct, Feltwell, although the term "digger" is a kind of catch-all word that we honed professionals use to indicate a wheeled loader, an excavator, a backhoe-loader and/or all manner of digging machines, when we talk patronisingly to lay folk who know no better.

A category into which, clearly, you do not fall.

 

[Feltwell]

:lol:

 

[Lindyboo]

Mines only a girl's digger. Can't figure out how to post a pic of it though.

 

[Lindyboo]

Hang on, think I've figured it out ...

 

[Gareth Hughes]

You're absolutely correct, Feltwell, although the term "digger" is a kind of catch-all word that we honed professionals use to indicate a wheeled loader, an excavator, a backhoe-loader and/or all manner of digging machines, when we talk patronisingly to lay folk who know no better.

A category into which, clearly, you do not fall.

A full technical explanation is available from the 33 seconds mark in this useful video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTnVBoZQ4rA

 

[Penners]

Great stuff - a sketch that neatly encapsulates the attitudes of the entire male population of the construction plant industry!

 

[Feltwell]

Mines only a girl's digger.

Girls can have big diggers as well......



Please forgive the dodgy stereotype - I don't REALLY think that girls need to have pink spotty diggers.