Labour cost per sqm

[The-oracle]

Hi everyone

Could someone please give me an indicative guide regarding labour cost.

A friend of mine wants to have his patio done with Marshall's Riven flags (like mine). He lives in London and his patio size is circa 20 Sqm.

He needs to know how much should he expect to pay for laying 100mm sub base, the bedding & laying of flags to level.

He was quoted £1,000 for labour only and he thinks it is too much. The guy who quoted this figure has a list of referrences in the area, he is local to him and seems trustworthy. My friend checked his work and asked his previous clients and they were all happy with one or two exceptions out of 12.


He got a rough quote from a couple of Marshall's recommended contractors on the phone which came to £1,500 & £1,400.

All above quotes are labour only.

Any ideas?

[Tony McC]

Seems about right for that London place. Of course, if your mate lived in a big city like Warrington where there are far more tradesmen, a much more reasonable price would be quoted! :;):



Edited By Tony McC on 1182783985

[The-oracle]

Seems about right for that London place. Of course, if your mate lived in a big city like Warrington where there are far more tradesmen, a much more reasonable price would be quoted! :;):

Thank you Tony

It works out to be £60 per Sqm!! I knew London would be expensive, just didn't think it would be that much.

The Flags are £40 Sqm, and sub base at £35 Tonne and sand £30 Tonne and cement £5 per 25kg

which makes the patio cost about £110 per Sqm!!!

Dear God

[Rich H]

Very difficult to assess without seeing the location, access, what has to be dug out etc. There's a world of difference in pricing between these two scenarios:

- can get a skip on the drive
- easy access by path
- turf only to be dug out with a digger and skip loader
- 3t MOT in with the loader

Probably 3-4 hours including off-loading the tools

AND

- can't get a permit for a skip so it has to be hand-balled onto a tipper
- access through a house requiring dust sheets and ramps etc.
- all to be done by hand
- no room for materials so the same tipper has to off-load the muck and fetch the MOT etc.

Could take all day.

London rates are usually £20 per man hour. Based on that you could easily allow a day for set up and ground works, 1 1/2 days to fetch in and lay the slabs and half day for pointing and clear up. A two man team would therefore cost you £960.

Shouldn't think there are many clients in London willing to do that kind of work for £20 an hour. That's before subtraction of VAT, income tax, NI, and overheads like the bleedin tipper!

[The-oracle]

It is actually Scenario number one:
- can get a skip on the drive
- easy access by path
- turf only to be dug out with a digger and skip loader
- 3t MOT in with the loader

[Rich H]

£1,000 is therefore reasonable if you allow for digger, dumper, wacker, disc cutter costs. Not really high but you might get cheaper. It certainly helps if the client sorts out the skip, materials, etc.

Where is it in London?

BTW 100mm shouldn't really be necessary unless your friend wants to put cars on it.

[lutonlagerlout]

£110 per metre isnt a bad price for a patio oracle
for a quality finish
remember only 25% of the patio is the slabs/flags the rest is groundworks etc
LLL