Garden novice

[firsttimekat]

We want to revamp our garden, currently we have concrete thanks to the previous person. I'd like a nice paved garden with some beds and trellis to grow some plants up.

We've had some quotes and it's loads more than we thought £8k! Has anyone tried to lay paving themselves? I just can't see why it's so expensive. We are willing but have no experience, bil said he'd help and he is handy but don't think he's done much paving.

Are we being stupid to consider doing this ourselves? Should we opt for a different design? Grass?

Unless you have a large garden £8K is way to expensive for just laying some slabs and putting a few raised beds. Have you tried getting a couple more quotes from local builders?
What are are you in as someone might be able to recommend someone. If you are in sussex i know several small firms who could do the job for a lot less.

He said its about 75square meters, not huge but a very odd shape.

We do have other people coming to quote but I was thinking of cancelling as I don't want to waste people's time if I know we can't afford it.

We do live in the outskirts of London/Surrey so don't know if that is adding to the cost.

I would get as many quotes as possible as quotes can vary widely.
I wouldn't worry about being seen as a time waster as going out to give quotes is part of their job and they know not every quote given will lead to work.

To cut down on any strange angles that might need extra stone cutting can you put raised beds in these areas? or even just have slabs laid in the middle section and have some sort of chipping put around the edges.

If you can get a personal recommendation for a local builder who you trust then you could discuss your budget with him and see what sort of finish he could do for the money you have to spend.

I wouldn't try to lay paving yourself as it really does need an experienced person to do it.

A good rule of thumb for quotes is to work it out like this:
Go here
Scroll down to 'Calculators for flags' and you can work out how much the materials would cost. Use both 'metric flag coster' and 'bedding for flags' and add them up.

To calculate the labour it is normally double to cost of the materials.
This is how quotes are worked out.

If you have a lot of concrete to dig up and take away then that will add to the price.

Thanks for the advice. I think we were being overly ambitious and have decided for a smaller paved area to stick the table on and then grass. Hopefully just get in someone to mend the fence and do the basics and try and do most of it ourselves. I just want somewhere we can sit and that looks pretty if we get some nice days.

Cant you lay your own paving over the concrete? Do you have to dig the concrete up? I would have thought that would be a good groud layer for paving?

I suppose it depends on the finish you want...if you are happy with something that may not be slick but more....rustic, I think for way less than 8K you could do something really nice.

You really can make it look nice yourself and for way less than that price.

Goodness even getting some large pots for trees would be better.