Removing concrete and installing pacers, how much?

[FoofOfTheWalkingDead]

We've got a sunken area outside our back door that is around 5m x 2m. It is currently done in concrete but we want to put in sandstone pavers and gravel to allow for better drainage (and to look less like a prison yard).
Does anyone know approximately how much it would cost to have someone break up and remove the concrete and then put in pavers? Access is through the house as we're mid-terrace so that will affect the price, I'm sure. We're in Edinburgh.

Aw crumbs. PAVERS, we're installing pavers! Flipping auto-correct.

Hopeful bump

Think that is massively going to depend on how deep the concrete is, how it's connected/butted up to the house, with easy access and no house to consider is probably a quick job with heavy duty equipment, that sounds unlikely in your case and so probably far more manual... Then depending how thick the concrete and what's underneath is going to have a huge bearing on the cost of laying the paving well...

Any chance you could get someone to have a look and see if they could just add extra drainage and then lay the slabs on top?

Does it all need to come out? Without seeing a picture it's hard to visualise. We did something similar to our front garden last year. We spent £65 on a hammer drill with the right attachment from Screwfix and did it ourselves. But we only took out the concrete where it met other things and the gravel needed an edge and a few of the high points. Cotswold gravel and pots is much nicer than the grey cracked concrete.

One thing to consider is that gravel is usually delivered in ton bags. That's going to be hard work through a house. While things like composite decking are expensive, it might be worth considering alternatives that are easier installed or don't require so much taking away of existing material that will ramp up labour costs.

Thank you @Calmdown14 and @Whyareblokesonhere .

We had wooden decking down over it for the last 15 years but because of the poor drainage it was always wet and slippery. The concrete is not very thick, just a couple of centimetres with earth/rubble beneath it. You can see from the photos that it a mess so it really needs removed and to start over. It also abuts the house and is quite high up to the door so laying pavers on top wouldn't work.

Crikey that does look like a classic, should not be much work but is bound to turn into a lot more.

I'd assume you need 3 days approx to break that up and carry through the house - doesn't look like masses, that as a ballpark is going to be around £500 (3x£150 ish day rate)

Skip for the rubble (unless you have a suitable vehicle to go via recycling center but that's not great for you car and they charge anyway) so around £250, Hippo Bag might work/ be cheaper but weight likely to be an issue.

Then paving wise it's going to very a lot dependent on materials used and how good a job you want doing on the base layer. This bit would be easier to calculate if you Google search for a estimator tool but again labour wise maybe £150-£200 a day for 2/3 days I'd suspect

Just guessing though really so would definitely get some local.quotes...

Half of my garden looks like yours as it was used as car hard standing before I moved in. I'm considering having self binding gravel put down to save the horrendous job of taking all the concrete up ( mine is 50 m square) It'll work out at around £700 for the gravel, I can borrow a roller and put it down myself ( with help from my brother) There's nothing else that really works on concrete
I've had concrete taken up before but in a previous house and the labour was factored in to the landscaping job so unsure what it cost

Thanks @hesbeen2021 and @Whyareblokesonhere , I will get some labourer quotes. I think it's a small enough job that we can schlep the rubble to the tip ourselves over a couple of days. We don't have to pay a fee for disposal in Edinburgh if you're not a business.