A few questions !!

[blue70]

Hi
I'm after just after a few words of wisdom if possible.

I am about to pave my driveway which will take up about half of my garden. The total area is about 75m2. The new driveway will drain into the remainder which is lawn, flowerbeds etc so no planning permission or permeable blocks required.

I have estimated that I need to dig out about 19m3 and will then lay 150mm of DTP1 (about 22 tons) followed by a bedding layer and then blocks, probably Woburn Rumbled in graphite in a stretcher pattern.

My questions are-

One of my local builders merchants has offered limestone scalpings which he described as 40mm to dust with some clay. I know that this is not as good as Type 1 but presumably it wont conform to BS either and it's better to get DTP1?

I have picked the Woburn Rumbled block from Bradstone which I can get for £18.49 m2. Can anyone suggest a similar block that I can also consider. I'm looking for a weathered, natural look.

Finally with the hire of the plant, skips and all the materials it's going to cost just over £50 m2 for the entire project to do it myself. I've not had any quotes from contractors but I'm assuming that these would be a lot more than this?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as although I have a driveway veteran helping me (he has done 3!! :O ) this is the first driveway for me.

Thanks

[Injured]

Dont go with the scalpings you would only regret it. Get MOT type 1 and as you need a large amout you would be best to get it delivered straight from the quarry in a 20 ton load whihc will work out a lot cheper than buying ton bags. The 'builders merchant' should have told you this. Also try and independant local merchant they tend to be cheaper than the national ones.

Instead of skips can you not use grab wagons they get more in than an 8 yd skip and tend to be around the same price.

[lutonlagerlout]

ye MOT type 1 ,
clay in a subbase??? no thanks
if its costing you £50 a metre you are doing something wrong there
i would of guessed around £70 per metre for a contractor
LLL

[jay-Manor Driveways]

hahaha clay in the subbase cant beleive the merchant had the cheek to say it lol
contactor will cost you about £60-£80 m2

[mcelec]

after just having layed my own drive for the first time! here ia a few things ive learned;

1. use only genuine mot 1, i purchased 20 tonne of recycled which turned out to be mostly soil brick and wood metel etc! i ended up getting rid of it and orderining genuine mot 1

2. dont use skips, you will be suprised just how much material you actually excavate, i had a 8 tonne skip and filled it in about half hour, and still had enough waste to fill another 3 skips! so i arranged a grab hire firm to come and take it (cost £160)

3. the plant, i bought a plate compactor on ebay for £200 and have arranged to sell it to a local builder for £180 so only a £20 loss, plus there was no rush to get the job done as it wasnt costing me money daily!
I hired a 1.5t excavator from hire station on a bank holiday weekend, it got delivered on the friday morning and collected the tuesday after the bank holiday (cost £240)

4. expect to work long and hard days if you want the job to complete in a reasonable time! i worked from 7am till around 9 most days for almost a week and a half!

5. make sure you do plenty of research and ask plenty of questions, that way you should get it right first time!

as for cost, i got a couple of estimates all around the 6K mark, what it cost me was roughly the following

96m2 brindle 50mm block and 58linear metres of charcoal kerb from marshalls on ebay - £999
8 tonne skip - £125
grab hire - £160
digger hire - £240
block splitter hire - £45
compactor purchase - £200 (re-couped £180 by selling it after use)
20 tonne mot 1 - £316
6 tonne grit sand - £160
10 bags of kiln dried sand from wickes - £30
and a few sundries such as string lines and concrete etc - £100 approx

all in all i think i saved just under £4k

[lutonlagerlout]

what about your 10 (cough cough) 14 hour days mclec?
thats another grand on the bill even at minimum wage, in reality more like 2 grand for the work you have been doing

not knocking you ,but you need to factor everything in, to do a like for like
good work
LLL

[Rich H]

Woburn rumbled is the Bradstone equivalent of Marshall's Tegula. I like Bradstone products; good blocks and usually cheaper.

[blue70]

Many thanks for all your replies particularly the cost breakdown from mcelec.

I'll defintely go for the genuine DTP1. My local Buildbase will do a loose load for £26.55 per ton but I'm going to phone some quarries so as to cut out the middle man.

Just a quick question mcelec. The calculator on this site says that I need 22 tons of DTP1 for 75m2 compacted to 150mm. I notice that you have a bigger area (96m2) but only used 20 tons of DTP1. Was your layer only 100mm or did you already have a sub base for part of the area?

Definitely going to bin the skips. An 8 yd skip where I am is £200 plus VAT and I need at least 4. Presumably if you have a grab lorry they charge the same whether you fill the lorry or not?

I think I've done fairly well on the plant. I've got a mini digger for £200 for 7 days and also a mini dumper for £120 both of which should speed things up.

Thanks again for all the advice, if there's anymore from anyone else I'm all ears.
I'm looking to start in a couple of weeks so I'll let you know how it goes.

[mcelec]

Many thanks for all your replies particularly the cost breakdown from mcelec.

I'll defintely go for the genuine DTP1. My local Buildbase will do a loose load for £26.55 per ton but I'm going to phone some quarries so as to cut out the middle man.

Just a quick question mcelec. The calculator on this site says that I need 22 tons of DTP1 for 75m2 compacted to 150mm. I notice that you have a bigger area (96m2) but only used 20 tons of DTP1. Was your layer only 100mm or did you already have a sub base for part of the area?

Definitely going to bin the skips. An 8 yd skip where I am is £200 plus VAT and I need at least 4. Presumably if you have a grab lorry they charge the same whether you fill the lorry or not?

I think I've done fairly well on the plant. I've got a mini digger for £200 for 7 days and also a mini dumper for £120 both of which should speed things up.

Thanks again for all the advice, if there's anymore from anyone else I'm all ears.
I'm looking to start in a couple of weeks so I'll let you know how it goes.

the area i have paved is more like 75m2 because ive created a curved section to the pavement so i can put a rockery in, i originally contemplated paving the whole lot but i think it would of looked to overpowereing to have the whole area blocked, especially with having a brick wall at the front of the garden.

it is rewarding looking at the finished article, but it is hard work to get to that stage.

also forget to mention on my cost list the geo-textile fabric, i bought some from wickes they they sell rolls of 25x1m labelled up as driveway fabric for £10 per roll, i placed it between the base layer and the sub layer & between the sub layer and the bedding layer, i know that its not neccesarilly needed between the sub layer and the bedding layer but i had plenty left over and so decided to put it to use!

good luck with your project mate

[mcelec]

what about your 10 (cough cough) 14 hour days mclec?
thats another grand on the bill even at minimum wage, in reality more like 2 grand for the work you have been doing

not knocking you ,but you need to factor everything in, to do a like for like
good work
LLL

like i said it is hard work, and you find yourself working non stop for long periods of the day! but its a hell of a way to keep fit!
so just think of the money i saved in gym fees! lol

the whole reason i done it myself in the end was because i had various quotes, the cheapest was £1800 (how the hell they could of done anything like a proper job for that much is beyond me) and the highest was £7200 (a little bit out of my price range, when ive got so much work to still do on the interior of the house)
my neighbour got there drive block paved and i got a cost of the guys who done his and it was around 4.5k which seemed reasonable but then it rained and his block paved drive became a block lined pond! so i lost confidence and decided to have a go!

[lutonlagerlout]

as i said ,good job,and at least you wont have to go hunting for the contractor IF anything goes awry.
but I am a great believer in letting trades do their job, so for instance, i will not lift a paint brush at home

I am much better going and doing what i do best,then using the money to pay a professional decorator.

It makes me laugh that people spend up to 100k on an extension,then decide that the mother in law and 12 year old son can paint it,see it all the time in luton===> heartbreaking seeing your work ruined like that
LLL

[jay-Manor Driveways]

totally agree with LLL !!!!!!!!!
is it just me but i hate doing paving or anything else i do for a living at home?

[seanandruby]

Dont mind doing anything, although i hate the snagging list at the end. Have to get dozens of tools and materials out for a bit of touching up, or a missing screw etc

[lutonlagerlout]

i have to do snagging at the rear end of extensions and it never ceases to amaze me what grown men with 30+ years experience will do.
yesterday i had a call that water was coming through an extractor fan on a flat roof,
when i got up there ,the plumber had not put a cowl on the vent pipe
when i rang him and asked him why? he said " i thought that was the sparky's job"
and needless to say the sparky said " thats the flat roofer's job"

and the flat roofer said " thats the plumber's job"

can you see where this is going?

LLL

p.s. i glued it on in about a minute

[jay-Manor Driveways]

im in the middle of doing my garden 100m2 turfing,raised sleeper garden beds , water features etc , just cant get motivated at home , dont think i could ever work from home , nothing would ever get done