New, widened driveway

Furts

huwy123 wrote: »

Thanks I can see I have plenty of things to consider!
Appreciate the input.
H

My comments are just pointers. The greater concern follows on from this. All the signs are something is wrong here. Is the contractor competent?

The quote is the work of somebody who is clueless. So what about their work? If they cannot write a simple sentence stating the depth of a stone layer then alarm bells ring loudly.

An alternative is the work is being sub contracted and you are paying a middle man. The middle man is clueless, but the workers may be good. But with a clueless boss, who is controlling these workers?

buglawton

The builder who did mine has been a block paving specialist for 25 years and had a proper portfolio book of completed local projects, plus has block paving samples to show, Yet the quote was still just a pro forma thing, pretty sketchy tbh.

I didn't base my choose on the lengthiness of the quote but on the fact it was a long-standing local company with some good and plausible reviews in Google.

I should mention that where I live, any good tradesmen are in high demand so the idea that you can collect 3 good quality quotes and pick among them is a bit fictional for me.

Doozergirl

Sorry, completley random, but I remember once someone showing me the Marshalls catalogue and pretending it was his work. :rotfl:

whatsthenews

Furts wrote: »

Ponder a couple of points ... the drive is being widened. Where do you stand with Planning and porosity/drainge?

Where do you stand with crossovers and access to the highway?

The wall is being rebuilt .. what bricks, bond, mortar pointing, mix, foundations, frost resistance ...?


The drive is being dug out ... to what depth and what material is going back in ? Compacted how, and in what layers?

Where are your levels, how are you achieving falls, what is the drainage detail ...?

"A retention paving product...!" What the boll--ks does that mean? A piece of paper, some manky old stone .. come on somebody is having a laugh here.

"Similar to the neighbours opposite..." Another piece of pure boll--ks. What is "Similar" and what if the neighbours is already wrong. Do you blindly repeat mistakes?


Clay paviors...why? And what colour choice are you expecting when it is clay?

Step to the front door... where do you stand with the ethos of Part M of the Buildings Regulations?

Enough said. You get the idea. This quote is 100% pure boll--ks!

This.
Especially re permeability ( if the drive isn't permeable or drain to a purpose built soakaway and is more then 7m2 then it requires planning permission) ,drainage and height .Any drive should meet current building reg's.
Just in process of buying a property with very smart looking block paved front and drive done in the last 2 years but it's too high in relation to the DPC, (so doesn't meet building reg's) and was apparently laid over the old gravel and flagstone drive/front "garden" so doubt it's classed as permeable or has a soakaway and no planning permission. Stuck wondering what to do, indeed whether to do anything or just buy it anyway!

huwy123

Depends how much you like the house really IMO. You could use it to negotiate a discount.

whatsthenews

huwy123 wrote: »

Depends how much you like the house really IMO. You could use it to negotiate a discount.

Property (bungalow) is for my parents who're in their 80's. If it's anything like up here where you are decent bungalows without access issues are like hens teeth and we're all keen (understatement!) to get them out of their current unsuitable home. It's been well modernised including rewiring, new combi/radiators, walls/ceilings re plastered, new joinery , kitchen, bathroom etc etc and the block paving!

So we want it and don't really know how much of a problem it is or could be because we don't really know what's underneath it but clearly whoever did it didn't take enough care to make sure it was 150mm below the DPC. Again, not really sure how much of a risk for developing damp 75mm below the DPC is and if it became necessary to do remedial work what that would entail.

I suppose in the worst case scenario if the whole lot had to come up the blocks would still be OK so it would just be removing whatever's there, excavating down and redoing the base etc and relaying the blocks so maybe 2 or 3 grand.
Solicitor is going to ask the vendors solicitor how it's constructed.
Think the general feeling is just to go with it.

ajshaws

Hello there,

Just wondered how you got on? Did they complete the job for you? I have just had a verbal quote for a 5 x 3 m driveway creation and it was £6.5k. There is quite a bit of earth to remove but still seems a bit steep!