removing slab paving & laying new lawn turf

illusionek

Hello

I live in Greater London, just got in a quote to remove slab paving and lay new lawn turf in my garden. The size is 7mx3m and I was quoted £2 900 for the whole job inc waste removal. It seems high to me but not sure whats the average for this type of job.

olliebears

Biggest cost is labour, Do it yourself and you'll feel better plus you can do it in bits ie 1mx3m Spend just one day a week for seven weeks so you don't over do it. You can sell the slabs to offset turf costs and managing new turf will be easier done in strips. Just a thought.

somethingcorporate

I agree with Ollie's advice. Someone will buy or take away for nothing the slabs as long as they are in reasonable condition and laying topsoil and turf is not a particularly difficult job.

illusionek

How can I remove slabs without damaging them? I was thinking about using a sledgehammer if I was to do it myself but then that would damage slabs. I dont mind doing it myself but my DIY skills are pretty poor.

olliebears

most slabs are laid on loose compacted hard-core, some have blobs of mortar in the corners but if you use a spade as a lever they can be lifted quite easily

illusionek

Unfortunately they are not laid loose. There is mortar between all of them. I cant see a way to lift any of them. Any suggestions how to overcome this?

glasgowdan

Use the pick end of a mattock and they will lift out.

Even if you get someone to take them away free (I wouldn't hold out hope of selling them!) you will still need at least one skip for digging out the base. You'll then need to get in around 75mm topsoil for the area (2 builders bags), then turf. If I were doing this on my own I would take 2 days. You can lay 20m2 turf in an hour once the base is prepared.

I would NOT try and spread out the job over weeks and weeks. This will allow weeds to grow in topsoil areas, and you'll need to buy several sets of turf. Once you have the skip on site you need to graft and get the waste in there so you can get rid of the skip again.

So, ballpark prices, say 3 days labour at £250/day, plus £250 for a skip, £100 for topsoil delivered and £75 for turf delivered, comes to about £1200 plus a profit figure.

BUT... there may be access issues we don't know about, or other site-specific issues that make it more difficult.

As with any job, you should get more than one quote though. Focus on that for now.

greatgimpo

glasgowdan wrote: »

... 3 days labour at £250/day...

I wish I could get that!

glasgowdan

greatgimpo wrote: »

I wish I could get that!

I'm a gardener and that's a bad day during the March-December season.

London prices I think you'll be lucky to find someone to work for that.