Patio Costs - Am I being ripped off?

[p1stonhead]

UTH said:

p1stonhead said:

UTH said:

DanL said:

To replace and extend a ~5m x 12m patio I was quoted around 10k + VAT all in, in Berkshire. This is with them supplying all materials, but I get the impression that the materials cost is a small part of the quote...

I know this sounds so naive/ignorant.....but what actually costs so much? Isn't it basically like a giant bathroom floor tiling project? Fair enough maybe slightly harder to keep level, but especially if it's replacing an old patio I can't see why the labour would be SO expensive?

Of course I know nothing about this yet, so I'm sure it's easily justified.

Labour should be about £50/70m2 including a sand bed, mortar and pointing. An internal (good) tiler is about the same actually

The materials themselves is whatever you choose but you can easily buy stuff that costs £100/m2 for example.

Ok good to know, thanks. Guess I should get on with working out how many m2 I'll need to get done. Any simple way of doing that when it's not straight lines? Or just measure with a tape measure at best guess?

Biggest square area you can measure first then everything else into triangles as small as you need.

Everything in the universe is made of triangles

[UTH]

PrinceRupert said:

UTH said:

Uncle John said:

I’m in Surrey, 75 square meters Indian sandstone, get rid of old patio & removing an old pebbled path, some turfing/topsoil & installing a side gate was 10.5 k all inclusive.

Trying to picture how big 75m sq is......do you have any photos?

Why don't you measure your own patio ... ?

I don't live there yet

[XJ75]

Thanks for the replies, when I made this post I think I deep down I already knew the answer, but it's been good to have it confirmed.

[p1stonhead]

XJ75 said:

Thanks for the replies, when I made this post I think I deep down I already knew the answer, but it's been good to have it confirmed.

Don’t let it lie. You don’t give someone an estimate and come out with triple the costs. Even if you met him half way he’s done very well.

[boxy but good]

p1stonhead said:

Labour should be about £50/70m2 including a sand bed, mortar and pointing.
.

Do your prices include removal of existing, type one,skips etc ?

[anonymous-user]

Admittedly this is York, not Surrey, but I'm getting a limestone patio installed by my builder for a complete price, including the slabs and all materials, of £66/sqM

[Bad Ash]

His guys must be getting £500+ a day, can you see if he wants any more labourers? :-)

[p1stonhead]

boxy but good said:

p1stonhead said:

Labour should be about £50/70m2 including a sand bed, mortar and pointing.
.

Do your prices include removal of existing, type one,skips etc ?

No.

[Trophy Husband]

XJ75 said:

Trophy Husband said:

Bejaysus what!!!!



Seriously though, how long did it take them? How big was the team? Was it a complex lay with lots of cuts?

It took two guys about a week and a half. Hardly any cuts as it was just a rectangular patio, going out from the house they just laid complete slabs, so it was only the side that needed any cuts.

£9300 divided by 8 days is £1162.50/day for the team. Add in the fact that there is no way it should take even half of that time to lay 55m2. So double your daily team rate to £2335. You need to be having a strong word and keep your wallet closed. He'll be paying no more than £20/hr for the pavers.

If I were you I'd get another quote on the same basis as the work was carried out and stick it under your 'builders' nose?

[Robertj21a]

XJ75 said:

As part of a large extension project, we had our builder create a new patio area from what previously was part of the garden.

This includes a rectangular patio and side path, nothing fancy, just square 800x800 porcelain slabs, no edging or anything. Total area is 55 square metres.

We supplied the slabs, so all I had to pay the builder for was labour and materials (hardcore/sand/cement/grout etc).

Total cost has come in at £9.3k inc VAT, not including the slabs.

I'm based in Surrey. Stupidly we didn't get a quote beforehand, it was all done as part of the building works.

Not sure where to go from here, although I suspect we will have to swallow it and learn from the experience.

Thanks.

I think he's quickly realised that you have too much money to worry about the cost of anything.

[XJ75]

I'm going to get a couple of quotes and then go from there.

[DanL]

UTH said:

DanL said:

To replace and extend a ~5m x 12m patio I was quoted around 10k + VAT all in, in Berkshire. This is with them supplying all materials, but I get the impression that the materials cost is a small part of the quote...

I know this sounds so naive/ignorant.....but what actually costs so much? Isn't it basically like a giant bathroom floor tiling project? Fair enough maybe slightly harder to keep level, but especially if it's replacing an old patio I can't see why the labour would be SO expensive?

Of course I know nothing about this yet, so I'm sure it's easily justified.

Well, I’m on a steep slope which probably doesn’t help, and I was told it’d be around 2 weeks work. I’ve had a couple of estimates at the same level - it may just be what things cost in Berkshire! Had my drive redone in bricks, and the cost is less than that on a time and area basis...

[Uncle John]

UTH said:

PrinceRupert said:

UTH said:

Uncle John said:

I’m in Surrey, 75 square meters Indian sandstone, get rid of old patio & removing an old pebbled path, some turfing/topsoil & installing a side gate was 10.5 k all inclusive.

Trying to picture how big 75m sq is......do you have any photos?

Why don't you measure your own patio ... ?

I don't live there yet

Ha, here’s a pic.

[UTH]

Uncle John said:

Ha, here’s a pic.

Great thank you, it does look very nice!!
Not far off the size of area I think I'll be doing......but £10.5k is probably more than I was hoping it would end up being.
I guess I'll start getting quotes etc and see how I get on.

[PositronicRay]

Similar size, but 4 skip loads of concrete to break up, everything had to be barrowed 50m.

£3000 Labour only I supplied materials skips etc.

[ChocolateFrog]

That's an absolute joke.

Suppose you're unlikely to get rich charging a fair price.

Did the parents garden including a fair bit of landscaping, 60 sleepers, 55sqm of patio, decent quality artificial grass, automatic lighting and irrigation systems, materials came to about £5.5k.

[addey]

We had a load of work done on our house about 6 or 7 years back and the final part of the renovations was the patio. Can't remember the exact numbers but I think it was £12k ish for ~100 sq. metres of slabs (its a large patio across the back of the house that continues down the side and into a front path). Included bringing the level up as the garden slopes away slightly so there is a retaining wall. I thought it was expensive at the time, and I'm pretty sure the price was bumped up to claw back some money as I reckon we underpaid for the extension and internal work! This is Surrey too

[ChocolateFrog]

UTH said:

DanL said:

To replace and extend a ~5m x 12m patio I was quoted around 10k + VAT all in, in Berkshire. This is with them supplying all materials, but I get the impression that the materials cost is a small part of the quote...

I know this sounds so naive/ignorant.....but what actually costs so much? Isn't it basically like a giant bathroom floor tiling project? Fair enough maybe slightly harder to keep level, but especially if it's replacing an old patio I can't see why the labour would be SO expensive?

Of course I know nothing about this yet, so I'm sure it's easily justified.

It's quite hard physical work, often working on your knees laying slabs that can weigh 40/50kg or more. It's outdoors in potentially inclement weather too.

Getting the finish to a high standard takes a bit of effort and skill.

All that means you can add a nice fat margin it seems.

[UTH]

ChocolateFrog said:

It's quite hard physical work, often working on your knees laying slabs that can weigh 40/50kg or more. It's outdoors in potentially inclement weather too.

Getting the finish to a high standard takes a bit of effort and skill.

All that means you can add a nice fat margin it seems.

Yeah fair enough, makes sense. I think I'll certainly wait until next Spring before starting the work, no need to do it in the winter......

[ChocolateFrog]

Uncle John said:

UTH said:

PrinceRupert said:

UTH said:

Uncle John said:

I’m in Surrey, 75 square meters Indian sandstone, get rid of old patio & removing an old pebbled path, some turfing/topsoil & installing a side gate was 10.5 k all inclusive.

Trying to picture how big 75m sq is......do you have any photos?

Why don't you measure your own patio ... ?

I don't live there yet

Ha, here’s a pic.

That was £10.5k?

FML I'm in the wrong job.

That looks about as simple as a patio gets, about 2 cuts as well from what I can see.

Less than £1500 in materials and I could do that on my own in 4 days to a higher standard.