What should I expect to pay for a patio?

[BennyC]

Hi,

I moved into my house (newbuild) almost a year ago and the current patio is just boring grey flagstones laid ontop of a screeded base.

I'd like to remove what's there currently and:

Increase it's size to around roughly 35 square meters
Be made up of 4 different flag sizes (900x900,900x600,600x600,300x300 - from memory) laid in a randomised pattern.
Have curves on the corners, 4 of them.
Have a block or brick edging meeting the grass.

I'd prefer a wet mix over a screed even though it's probably not necessary but for peace of mind and my moneys worth.

There's easy access down the side of the house down the drive leading onto the road.

I plan to excavate 95% of the earth and supply materials (flag stones) and some aggregate where possible.

I'm also happy to lend a hand if it's a sole trader or just him and a hired hand, if he'll accept my help of course.

Located in Bucks.

Anyone with experience that could give a rough estimate of how long it might take and how much, ballpark, I should expect to pay? So that I don't get bent over with 3 or 4 equally overpriced quotes.

Thanks in advance,

BennyC

 

[pitchfork]

When I was doing this kind of stuff, in the region of £4000-4500 start to finish from what you have described, with materials mind you.

It's preferable to let the tradesmen provide materials, you'll never get them as cheap yourself and they're often inferior quality from diy sheds.
What I used to do is get them cheap and cost them up at a small amount over what I paid for them, because it'd still be cheaper than what the customer would get them at.

If you wanted to cut corners with regards to material quality and do a lot of the work yourself you could get it down to £2500 probably.

 

[BennyC]

When I was doing this kind of stuff, in the region of £4000-4500 from what you have described, with materials mind you.
Without excavation probably less.

It's preferable to let the tradesmen provide materials, you'll never get them as cheap yourself and they're often inferior quality from diy sheds.
What I used to do is get them cheap and cost them up at a small amount over what I paid for them, because it'd still be cheaper than what the customer would get them at.

Thanks for the reply.

I'll have to have a look at the base under the existing patio as it's about 1/3rd of the total area of the intended extension. If all the hardcore there is good and the appropriate depth & height I could just remove the screed and leave it as it is. Which would save me a fair bit of digging.

Would the reign of £1000-£1500 for labour seem about right or a bit to cheap or too expensive?

The amount of stones I'd like come to around £1000, 22mm thick, natural sandstone, here

How much of the £4-4.5k you mentioned would be materials?

 

[Steeps]

We've just had a patio done with 14m2 of paving, raised 12cm above the grass with sleeper edges and pebble expansion space, 45' angle from the fence so a whole side needed to be cut. A further 16m2 of area raised beside it also filled with hardcore with sleeper edging. We provided the paving slabs and the stones to go on top, they provided the sleepers, hardcore, sand and pointing materials etc. Took them 3 days to complete at a cost of £800. Our first quote was for £1600 excluding materials.

 

[BennyC]

We've just had a patio done with 14m2 of paving, raised 12cm above the grass with sleeper edges and pebble expansion space, 45' angle from the fence so a whole side needed to be cut. A further 16m2 of area raised beside it also filled with hardcore with sleeper edging. We provided the paving slabs and the stones to go on top, they provided the sleepers, hardcore, sand and pointing materials etc. Took them 3 days to complete at a cost of £800. Our first quote was for £1600 excluding materials.

Thanks.

I'm hoping by digging it out myself and offering to lend a hand with the more laborius tasks such as shifting hardcore and mixing it can speed the job up and bring the price down.

Next door had an old retired chap do theirs very recently. Seems to have done a good job and I would imagine could come in cheaper even if it did take twice as long to finish the job. Should get his number really.