Space outside our house totals 69 sq m, currently comprising badly laid tarmac drive to the side and a grass/gravel/weeds combo to the front. We've decided to get it block paved and have had 3 quotes so far, which has sent us into a bit of a quandry.
First quote was £5k (£72 per sq m). Guy turned up when he said he would, presented me with a brochure, spent 20 mins talking me through the work involved, drainage (using those things that look like milk crates which are apparently good), gave me the address of another drive he did a few years ago to go and inspect, answers my calls, gets 9.9/10 on Checkatrade, all seems pretty legit. Don't know anyone that's actually used him though.
Second quote was from a company well known in the local area, and recommended by a couple of local friends. Friends did say however that they were pricey. Their quote was £8k - £116 per sq m. When I told them we'd had a quote for £5k they immediately said that anyone doing it at such a low price was basically a pikey and the whole thing would probably collapse in two years (at which point, presumably, we'd go crying back to them on bended knee and ask them to fix all the mess the pikies had left us with). Anyway, I didn't really get a good feeling from this company, the representative called himself a 'designer' and turned up in a massive flashy new 4x4 (I have nothing against 4x4s, just made DH and I wonder how much of our £8k would be going towards funding £60k cars) and I didn't like the way he slagged off other companies, but on the basis of anecdotal evidence they are a professional outfit who do a good job.
Third quote was again a Checkatrade guy and his quote also came in at around £8k, which threw me a bit as I was expecting the second company to be the most expensive. Wasn't keen on this guy anyway, he was a nightmare to get hold of and took a week to send me the quote. So probably wouldn't go with him in any case.
DH and I have an ideal budget of up to £6k - could go to £8k but this would mean not being able to do other works on the house that also desperately need doing. Obviously we'd ideally get the work done at the lowest price possible but I'm now worried by what company 2 said about company 1 being too cheap and the whole thing falling apart, or being uneven or leaky or whatever else. But from what I've read about this, quotes seem to vary wildly from one supplier to another so I just don't know whether his quote is suspiciously cheap or just a reasonable amount made to look cheap by two high-end quotes. A lot of online reviews say that £60-£70 per sq m will get you a good quality job but I'm now quite paranoid and not really sure what to believe. (or do).
The £5k quote includes removal of all current grass/gravel/weeds/tarmac, laying a hessian membrane, 300mm of type one scalping, rolling and compacting and laying line drains.
Would really appreciate hearing from others who have had block paving done in the last couple of years with good/bad experiences. We're in the SE (not London).
Thanks!