Would you cancel these works?

[Ohfeckohfuckohshit]

Before I really understood the gravity of what is going on with corona, we booked around 5k worth of work on the garden, which is currently and mud bath unusable horrible mess for the kids. Fences falling down etc.

I am self employed and cannot work from home in my industry. Husband is employed but we are both in jobs that require visiting peoples homes or work places every day.

In the event we have to self isolate, or get ill, the impact on our finances will be HUGE.

We only have 10k in savings. I know "only" is ridiculous to say, but our outgoings are high and this will only cover us for 3months max with cutbacks.

Added to this is that I have very bad asthma and honestly, I'm fucking terrified.

Wibu to cancel the works? I feel awful because i know businesses are losing money and folding left right and centre right now, and I'm scared for my own business too... it's already losing me around 800per month so I'm particularly anxious about how long this will go on for.

It feels reckless to spend half our savings on this. Equally being self isolated with kids and no useable outside space makes me feel like my lovely home could quickly become hell on earth!

I wouldn't dream of spending £5k on the garden out of total savings £10k. Adding in self employment and economic armageddon (possibly) would make it a total no-no for me.
I'm cautious with money. Others may behave differently!

Probably should have given some context. Our monthly income is around 5.5-6k. Sometimes a bit higher, but I personally bring in around 4-4.5 of that pm, riskier being SE ofc.

The reason our savings are so low is because we've just renovated the whole house. Usually our reserve is bigger, and I had expected to build it all back up by end of year. Before this significant health threat, I wasn't too worried about running savings down as we can fairly quickly replenish.

I want to cancel the works. DH thinks its poor form to cancel so late (due to start in about a week and a half) I would usually agree but under circumstances think everyone would understand?

I'd probably try to reschedule if I was really worried or see if they could slow down the work (ie fences one week, turf a couple of weeks after).
But if I was quarantined, I'd rather have the garden usable for the kids.

Tend to agree with Zark, I could never imagine spending such a huge amount on a garden if it eats into your savings so much, but I am financially very cautious. You can never be sure that your earning capacity will remain the same .... as seen currently.