£600 to level a garden and remove waste

corum_uk67 · 25 April 2019 at 7:14AM

Hi,

Garden area is about 7m x 5m and is in Plymouth.
Work includes stripping away existing turf and patches of gravel,. A bit of levelling out and removal of waste, including half a dozen shrub roots (aldeady dug up), old soil and gravel and some stones.

Quote is from groundwork company who are already on site with a digger next door.

This seems a bit expensive to me but thoughts and advice welcomed.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1rIFfvwpmsncOymvBOMgp-I01a568JrgQ

Thanks.

[Deleted User] · 25 April 2019 at 8:00AM

That seems pretty reasonable.

Their being next door won't be a pricing factor.

getmore4less · 25 April 2019 at 9:49AM

What's the cost of waste disposal for a 1 maybe 2 skips worth.

They may have recycling facilities but I suspect most dispose and just use new stuff on most jobs

Part of the cost if for them having the tools to do the job quickly.

corum_uk67 · 25 April 2019 at 10:12AM

Thanks. I don't think they use skips, so far they have been using big Brunel recycling trucks with grab bars to drop off and collect materials from a grassy area over the road which is I gather cheaper.

Having gear already on site also reduces their overheads ( no additional hire costs) and I can't imagine it would take more than a couple of hours given how fast they excavated the rear of next door.

Dan-Dan · 25 April 2019 at 10:37AM

I think its a price i would pay, they appear to know the score and sometimes lifes too short to try and save £50 or so

getmore4less · 25 April 2019 at 8:41PM

corum_uk67 wrote: »

Thanks. I don't think they use skips, so far they have been using big Brunel recycling trucks with grab bars to drop off and collect materials from a grassy area over the road which is I gather cheaper.

Having gear already on site also reduces their overheads ( no additional hire costs) and I can't imagine it would take more than a couple of hours given how fast they excavated the rear of next door.

They don't use skips if they have better kit.

DIY you would be paying for a skip.

You pay for the skill and kit to do the job quickly +commercial rates for disposal.

phoebe1989seb · 26 April 2019 at 12:54PM

DH has a business that includes this sort of work (in Wales where I think things are a bit cheaper). The guy he uses charges £300 per day to dig out (mini digger), clear and remove waste.

corum_uk67 · 3 May 2019 at 11:40AM

Thanks Phoebe, your estimate would certainly be closer to what I was would consider good value (as a seasoned MSE) whilst allowing the contractor some profit.

When I asked a few colleagues in the office what they would pay for a job of this type they tended towards the same figure and thought £600 was way overpriced, although admittedly they are not tradesmen.

Anyway by the time I'd returned last week the digger had gone and the chap said the price was based on the digger being on site so would be higher if they had to bring it back. He stated the bulk of the costs would be the removal of waste, which would likely be a few tonnes.

They are due to come back at the end of the job (my neighbours rear extension) to do the final groundwork and make good the damage from the digger/dumper to our shared path and my fence which runs between the semi's so I've asked him for a further quote but to include new topsoil and turf. I think he said a truck load of topsoil is fairly cheap (no actual price yet though) and the turf would be about £3 a roll. I'll be seeking a couple of alternative quotes though.

corum_uk67 · 22 June 2019 at 10:06AM

Just thought i'd post an update on this project in case it is of interest to anyone and to get some further opinions.

I bought a decent rake and tidied up the mess left by the digger (as shown in the pics in the original post) and the front garden now looks like this:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fgNcfmPwIBkhYP20tTGsNRu8lYuev4sR?usp=sharing

So I've been seeking quotations to either:

Option A: sort out the three patchy areas in the photo's (in the centre side and back of garden), to level them and re-turf and also level the area outside the front door which includes removing some rocks and shrubs and put an extra paving slab in.

Option B: all of the above but to the whole of the garden down to the first step, which is about 8x6m, so basically a new lawn.

Some contractors either didn't respond, were too busy, didn't have tipping licences or came out to measure up but were never heard from again. Others only quoted for one option despite being asked for quotes for both. The quotes actually received were as follows:

Option A:
£860 - not vat registered, indicated would do do digging with hand tools
£1,068 - vat registered, indicated would use mini digger

Option B:
£1,880 (same contractor as the £860 quote above)
£1,993 - vat registered, but has quoted for 88 square metres instead of the asked 8x6 area. Didn't actually get to meet this guy as he did a flyby appraisal of the job whilst i was away during the week, so not sure he's properly seen the rocks and stones near the house that need clearing. Anyway when I went back to him about reducing it to the 8x6 area as originally asked, he said it would be about £500 less, but couldn't be sure without another visit. If true that would be £1,500, including VAT, for all the work. This guy has lots of 5 star reviews on yell but they mostly seem to be from single review users who signed up especially.
At the moment i'm leaning towards the quote for £860. Does that seem like a good deal or should I try and get the other guy to confirm he can do the lot (50 square metres) for £1,500?

As an aside, a quick google suggests that to regrade and returf a 50 square metre lawn should be in the region of £750-£900, excluding things like digging out roots and removal of concrete, rocks etc.

bob99999 · 23 June 2019 at 8:51PM

Wow, looks like you have been really working hard, great improvement in before and after photos!

Sorry don't know about prices, but if was me now, I would start to bag up the loose stones, buy some bags of topsoil to level out and throw down some grass seeds.
Then do a tip run.
Any stubborn roots you can remove with a mattock (£20 screwfix).

Then see what is left to do.

Doozergirl · 24 June 2019 at 9:20AM

You're leaning towards a quote without VAT from someone who is VAT registered. Nice.

We don't get get to choose which days we're VAT registered and which we aren't you know!

I despair. People complain about trades and actively encourage and take part in tax avoidance, as if it isn't part of the problem. You can't even pretend you don't know as you've been given two prices for the same job.

No doubt he'll still reclaim the VAT on materials off his legitimate business, and the corporate loss of those materials to that business, whilst paying nothing on the actual profit.

If you want to save money, there's nothing there that can't be done with a bit of elbow grease and a packet of grass seed. I'd pay to get the stump removed and not much more.

£600 to level a garden and remove waste

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