Laying a new lawn

freddykrueger

My garden currently resembles a grey faceless entity and we are looking at establishing a new lawn to inject some colour and at least give us a base to consider what we might do with the rest of the garden.

The area at the moment is basically compacted type 1 aggregate and the area I am looking at turfing is roughly 12m x 7m. I know the base is probably not ideal but the drainage seems to be ok. I am guessing that I will need to have perhaps top soil and maybe some weed control down before the turf so I am looking to get an idea of what this may cost roughly - I'm in the process of arranging a couple of quotes but always worried I am getting ripped off. We are based in scotland.

Thanks in advance if anyone can give me guidance what this may cost.

freddykrueger

I just realised that this may not be the right forum as I don't actually have a quote yet! I have 1 person coming to look at the job tomorrow.

Procrastinator333

It will cost more than you are expecting.

You will need a decent amount of topsoil to cover it. £200-£300 would be my guess.

Your choice is then on seed or turf. You get what you pay for on turf. £3-4 a sq mt on some decent rolawn turf if you decide to turf it will be money well spent. Yes someone will offer £1 a sq mt. But it will be filled with weeds and half dead.

Or buy seed. A lot lot cheaper. But you then have to put the work in to water it every day if it doesn't rain. And wait 8-10 weeks for a decent lawn.

Ask them to quote for the 2 options and ask them to specify how many tonnes of topsoil and what turf / seed they will use. Then just google to work out their material costs. What is left is labour.

My overall guess is £500 to have turf down done properly. £300 to soil and seed it for you.

wallbash

Mine was done a couple of years ago, about the same size, paid £650

A lot of money, but its looks good.

Nile

Hi, we move threads if we think they’ll get more help elsewhere (please read the forum rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

I’ve moved your thread from the ‘In my home’ board to the ‘Greenfingered’ board, where it is better suited.

Regards

Nile

spaceboy

There are many different types of grass, and thus many types of grass seed to grow them from.

Cheaper turf and seed mixes will be full of inferior grasses.

This company seem to so some good seed mixes:

https://a1lawn.co.uk/our-products-1/lawn-seed-1.html

They even have a Premiership pro grass seed mix:

https://a1lawn.co.uk/our-products-1/premiership-pro-grass-seed/premiership-pro-grass-seed.html

I_have_spoken

Due to the high rainfall in Scotland, I had the lawn laid over 6cm of grit, paid £9/sqm laid (inc. the grit).

freddykrueger

Looks really good!! When the chap came out he said he would be putting a lot of soil down to level out etc but did not specify quantity and also mentioned something about a vapor barrier? I'm still waiting for the quote which will hopefully details quantities.

freddykrueger

Ok well the quote came back - I got my measurements a bit wrong so the quote says to supply 110 sqm of soil to level ground for new turf and I had also asked for a 4ft by 12 metres fence - total £1700.....seems high?

freddykrueger

Breakdown of quote - 6 tonne of soil ( grade A ) £240.
110 metres of grass £440.

Labour for grass and soil £500.

Slats £155, rails £55, 12 posts £60, 12 bags of post mix £50.
Hinges and lock for gate £20.

Labour for fence £180.

Procrastinator333

The fence quote looks decent. Both materials and labour.

The quote for the topsoil is ok. The quote for the turf is ok - £4psqm is the price of decent quality turf. Just be sure it is decent quality you are getting.

The labour for the grass and soil? I'm not so sure. It depends a bit on access. Is the area to be turfed a long way from the main road? Deliveries will only be kerbside. But £500 seems a bit high. Might get £100, or £200 of it.

If you want to save money. Ask about seed. The labour shoudl reduce as no turf to shift. The seed will cost < £100 compared to £440, but you will have to water it for next 8+ weeks.

Other way to save money is to DIT the soil yourself. Any builders merchant can deliver topsoil. Then a wheel barrow, spade and a day or 2 of grafting and it will all be shifted.