Reasonable price for patio and fake grass install

Soldato
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Fareham
I'm looking at doing a simple garden overhaul. I like low maintenance so the resulting garden would be made up of 3 materials:

Patio, fake grass, bark mulch.

I've had a quote come through for the following work. Is this reasonably priced? All of the waste removal would be included in the prices below.

Patio

£80 per square metre for the patio, without the slab costs (I'm looking at a sandstone one at £25 per square metre). This would include a 3" sub base (hardcore and scalping), 2" of concrete, with the patio on top of that.

The paving would have a pointing gap with a hard resin rather than using cement for pointing.

Fake Grass

For the fake grass, the cost is £40 per square metre, again without the actual fake grass material included in the cost. Need to spend over £15 per square metre extra to get a reasonable looking fake grass.

Bark Mulch

£300~ to dig out 25 square metres of turf, lay a weed membrane, and then cover in bark mulch.
 
Having recently laid a reasonably sized patio myself, I would have paid double that for the privilege of someone else doing the work. You'll be surprised how much waste there will actually be also. I think i ended up with 5 tonnes of soil with quotes coming in as high as 1400 to remove!
 
Patio price is reasonable, sounds like a basic price actually, so assuming no retaining walls\lighting etc. Just at the end of a large patio install myself, so somewhat of an expert on the matter these days.

I did all of the groundworks myself. Indian stone came in at 19per sqm (£1,300 in my case), about £200 in sand\cement, and about £300 in 2 part resin grout. 2 guys, 7 days. That puts just the surface time and materials at £50 psqm so you can see how it adds up. Digging out\MOT\drains\electrics etc aren't cheap either! I think mine came to ~£140 a meter in total (about 9K), every one is unique.
 
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Patio price is reasonable, sounds like a basic price actually, so assuming no retaining walls\lighting etc. Just at the end of a large patio install myself, so somewhat of an expert on the matter these days.

I did all of the groundworks myself. Indian stone came in at 19per sqm (£1,300 in my case), about £200 in sand\cement, and about £300 in 2 part resin grout. 2 guys, 7 days. That puts just the surface time and materials at £50 psqm so you can see how it adds up. Digging out\MOT\drains\electrics etc aren't cheap either! I think mine came to ~£140 a meter in total (about 9K), every one is unique.

Yes it's a pretty basic patio, just going from wall to wall really. Looking at £105 per sq metre if slabs cost £25.

Just wondered if it wasn't a little high given that it would put the labour and other materials at around 80% of the cost of the patio itself.
 
Possibly consider the hidden costs though;

Plant hire (digger, powered wheelbarrow, whacker), waste removal (I had to dump 30t of spoil @£1K) - skip\grabs, time spent moving materials will depend on access etc, MoT 11t @£500.... it goes on..and on.
 
Don't put down a sandstone patio if you want low maintenance go ceramic!

What are you mulching with bark it will be a breeding ground for weeds and more hardwork avoid if possible.

Spend more on your fake turf get the absolute best you can afford it makes a massive difference.
 
Don't put down a sandstone patio if you want low maintenance go ceramic!

What are you mulching with bark it will be a breeding ground for weeds and more hardwork avoid if possible.

Spend more on your fake turf get the absolute best you can afford it makes a massive difference.

You mean the porcelain stuff? Looking into it I think you are right it does look better if I don't want maintenance.

Shortlisted a few:

https://royalestones.co.uk/argento-gris-virtue-vitrified-porcelain-paving-slabs-900x600-pack.html
https://royalestones.co.uk/mid-grey-virtue-vitrified-porcelain-paving-slabs-900x600-pack.html
https://royalestones.co.uk/silver-g...fied-porcelain-paving-slabs-900x450-pack.html
https://royalestones.co.uk/ardesia-nero-virtue-vitrified-porcelain-paving-slabs-900x450-pack.html

This could be an interesting one, more like a big plank than a paving slab:

https://royalestones.co.uk/eclipse-...rcelain-paving-slabs-mix-size-patio-pack.html

For the bark mulch I assumed it would be reasonably low maintenance as long as a weed membrane is put down under it?

Certainly don't want cheap fake grass, anything I should check for on this to ensure I don't get junk?
 
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Having recently laid a reasonably sized patio myself, I would have paid double that for the privilege of someone else doing the work. You'll be surprised how much waste there will actually be also. I think i ended up with 5 tonnes of soil with quotes coming in as high as 1400 to remove!

I had 30t to remove - 3 12.5t grabs at £286 quid a pop. Someone is having your pants down at 1,400 for 5 measley tonnes!
 
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