gardener quote - is £2k reasonable?

[jclm]

We would like a large (free standing) trampoline for our 10 x 8m garden. Our gardener will remove 5 raised beds and will level out the garden as it slightly on a slope, in preparation for the trampoline. The gardener has suggested either bark or limestone chippings to go on the floor - not sure what would be best? He will put a weed membrane on before the bark or limestone chippings.

The gardener has quoted £2k - it is quite expensive because access to the back lane is not possible. Is this a reasonable sum? We can't get another gardener for love nor money (they are all booked out now until September!) I might be able to do the work myself by watching You Tube videos but this would mean I have to take a week or so off work to get it done. Please give me any advice or information as I am totally at a loss (never had a garden before)!!!

A slight slope is often much more work than appears and if there is no access he is presumably barrowing the raised beds and dirt out one by one. Backbreaking and will take ages. Its on the expensive side but it doesn’t seem like a ‘nice job’. Eg the gardener will have added a premium which means if you say no he won’t care because he doesn’t want the job and if you say yes it’s a money maker.

You could always ask on a local group for a labourer to come and help, cash about £80-110 a day, he can do the grunt work.

I mean and do it yourself.

Having had my front and back gardens dug out levelled and paved over with raised beds installed earlier this year, for over 5 x that cost, this souds entirely reasonable to me! That sounds like at least a weeks work probably with heavy machinery to do the levelling and possibly multiple skips, plus materials. I guess you need to evaluated exactly how much value that trampolene will bring...

Bark, don’t put lime stone clippings anywhere a kid could hit coming off a trampoline. Also it’s loads cheaper.

Maybe contact a local landscaping company they will already have equipment and probably do it quicker.

Sounds reasonable to me, theres a lot of work there.

If you mean he will be doing the work by hand instead of a mini digger it will be really hard work.
Even a slight slope contains alot of earth.
He's probably inflated the price because it's really hard work to be doing by hand it won't be easy at all.

If he is digging out by hand that sounds cheap, if anything.

I agree it does sound cheap for what he is doing x

@Penistoe

You could always ask on a local group for a labourer to come and help, cash about £80-110 a day, he can do the grunt work.

I'm not sure what difference 'cash' would make.

Unless you're meaning to avoid them paying tax and OP to avoid VAT?

Pretty small garden to be putting in a trampoline. Sounds like a reasonable quote though.

Sounds reasonable, but I'd go for artificial grass, bark becomes a toilet for all neighbourhood cats generally.

I wouldn't get bark, if you go for limestone you could always put a thick, soft mat near the entrance to the trampoline for the kids to step onto when they come off the trampoline so they don't hurt their feet.
I have had a trampoline on limestone in my old garden and it was never an issue.

thanks all - this is so useful. Sounds like bark is best. We would love artificial grass but the quote came in at £6k!!!

This is a huge amount of money to install a trampoline, but we have a child with ASD and we have been told this will help him get his anger levels down. Let's hope so...

Yes we had a small garden levelled and it was 1200 😱 bad access here too. Sounds fair.

@Thisnameasnttaken123 ah just seen your recommendation of limestone with a thick mat. Can I ask what are your reservations re bark?

We have bark in our garden and it is softer than stone chippings but you get a lot of car pop in it! Seems to attract them like a litter tray and due to the colour is sometimes tricky to spot until the smell draws your attention to it!

Have you considered rubber chippings?

Car pop ! 🚘

I meant car poo 💩

Have you checked your child actually likes and will use the trampoline? My son had ASD and has not used his trampoline for years.

Arghhhhhh cat poo

Why does my phone change it to car pop 😆

If you're simply doing this for a trampoline, I've seen trampolines dug into the ground if you know what I mean. So they are level with the ground. No idea how it's done but might be worth looking into.

Are you having the trampoline above ground level, or is the gardener digging a hole to bury it within the ground. Therefore, your child just steps onto it from the ground level? Much safer if there is a fall and not such a nuisance to neighbours seeing a child's head popping up over the fence.

sunkentrampolines.co.uk/

This isn't actually gardening work, is it? It's just shifting stuff and disposing of it and putting down membrane etc. In which case you could employ a labourer or two from an agency for around £100 a day, organise your own skip (£200-300 would be about right), buy your own membrane and bark and supervise the job and have it all done for less.

If you are concerned, ask for a breakdown of the price - number of days and price for materials. That way if it (inclusive of VAT) is 5 days at £300 a day plus £500 for materials then you can think whether the day rate and material prices are reasonable. If the gardener only takes a day then this can give you a basis to discuss afterwards too.

Good luck.

@Thisnamewasnttaken123

If you mean he will be doing the work by hand instead of a mini digger it will be really hard work. Even a slight slope contains alot of earth. He's probably inflated the price because it's really hard work to be doing by hand it won't be easy at all.

This.

By hand is very hard work.
Always.

@Zilla1

If you are concerned, ask for a breakdown of the price - number of days and price for materials. That way if it (inclusive of VAT) is 5 days at £300 a day plus £500 for materials then you can think whether the day rate and material prices are reasonable. If the gardener only takes a day then this can give you a basis to discuss afterwards too.

Good luck.

This is a certain way of never hearing from or seeing this 'gardener' again and as the OP says, they're in short supply. You can break down the costs yourself by looking online: calculate the cost of a skip, skip permit (if necessary), the bark and materials required. The rest will be labour and overheads.

You don't know his overheads but they are likely to include an amount for the costs of running a van, equipment, his insurance etc. People forget this and assume that tradespeople are making far more per day than they actually are. And of course he has no idea what he's going to encounter when he starts trying to level your garden, so if he's wise he will have factored in a small percentage for contingency issues — like when he meets solid rock, or the concrete base of an old shed or live water or gas or sewage pipes or whatever.

It's not just a case of materials + labour.