Driveway quote

KaiserKeiser

We've received a quote for £2k+vat to remove a retaining stone wall and topsoil in order to widen an existing driveway. The quote includes a temporary gravel surface. The area is approx 5m X 3m and 1m high. The stones are large and heavy, requiring machine lifting. 

The guy is is a highly recommended builder and we were thinking of using him for a larger renovation project in the future which we have briefly discussed with him. We asked for the driveway quote at the end of Feb and he contacted us over a month later to say he could do the work this week, only providing the quote when asked again.

Is the quote overpriced? Admittedly we have nothing to compare with. Would it be rude to ask him how he arrived at this figure?

We are a little paranoid as we have found it hugely difficult to engage trades people in the current climate, and do not want to scare him off with unnecessary questions.

Thanks

Jon

Chronotrigger

The way I see it the trades are not shy to take your money so you shouldn't be shy to ask for a break down of the quote. It is worth trying to get more quotes for your driveway for comparison, this is probably the only way you will be able to tell if its overpriced.

Farside71

He's got some slack so is looking for work between jobs potentially otherwise he wasn't that interested. I managed to get some driveway work done a few months ago via the same route after trying for ages to get someone interested.

2k doesn't seem extortionate for getting someone out of bed to do that work,  in reality he may have somewhere to keep the soil and reuse it or he may have to tip it.  Either way the price is for the work so I can see from a builder's point of view that he might not have that much interest in breaking down the quote too much.