A few questions !!

[Rich H]

Me neither. The client is also a bit demanding and never pays.

[seanandruby]

Last few weeks been doing the garden, make hay etc; Thought would have a feet up weeend till ....wife came home with paint, door bolts and more. B******s. Just sat down for a pint and remembered, i dont drink

[lutonlagerlout]

i get these weird and wonderful visions of stuff at home,like the bar in the garden
took me 2 years to complete and is built entirely of stuff that was left over or reclaimed on jobs we were doing over 2 years
all i had to buy was approx 15 bags of cement,the glass ,fridge ice maker, and optics
anyway nearly a year on from its completion we have used it maybe 4 times
TBH i cant be asked sitting drinking at home
and the pubs are as a dead as a dodo round here ,unless you are 18 and like blue or green drinks
LLL

[henpecked]

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

+10

HP

[Bob_A]

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)

Never considered grab hire before
Is £160 a typical price in the north.

Granted it was only a quick google but I found this in the south east
http://www.grabtrucks.com/whatdoesitcost/
Grabtruck Size, Approx skip equiv, Tonnes, inert waste
4 wheel 1 9 £200+vat
6 wheel 2 13.5 £240+vat
8 wheel 3 18 £260+vat


A local skip company charges 6 yard=£150+vat, 8yard=£170+vat, 12 yard =£240+vat.

Am I right in saying that.........
6 wheel, approx skip equiv=2, 13.5 tonnes
is the same as a 12yard skip?

If that's the case then you'll only make a saving if you need 12yards+

Is that typical or have I used a bad example?

[Rich H]

You'll find cheaper grabs than that, I'm sure. Usually 13.5t round here is £250 all in. You'll be lucky to get that in a 12 yard skip, and even luckier if you did get it in and lifted! 12y skips are a bugger to load; forget wheelbarrows unless you're keen on masochism!

Anything over about 8t, a grab should be cheaper but they will only take soil & hardcore. No plastic, wood, metal, etc.

[blue70]

Bob

I did some research for my driveway project and found that I would need four or five 8yd skips at £230 each inclusive of VAT which would total £920-1150 (On Skips!!)

I can get two grab lorries (8 wheelers I think) for £253 each and they will take slightly more than the contents of the 5 skips. This will save me at least £414 but possibly as much as £644 and all I have to do is dump it in a big pile instead of manhandling it into a skip.

I had an extension built last year and the builder used grab lorries instead of skips for the same reason.

Don't know where you are in the SE but the cheapest I found was United Grab Hire in Edenbridge, Kent.

By the way many thanks to everyone who has offered help and advice. Due to start my project later on this month and will be doing it in a couple of stages. When it's finished I'll post some photos (unless it's a complete disaster in which case you'll never hear from me again!! )

Kevin

[Bob_A]

Thanks everyone.
I'd never considered grab hire before but after a bit of reading it definately seems worth thinking about

[Injured]

I pay £120 + VAT for a grab in cheshire which is around the same price as an 8yd skip for me. and it saves time as it is quicker to dump all the spoil in a big heap than in a skip too.

[DNgroundworks]

I pay £184.00 for a grab in preston, 8yd skip from same company is £145.00 maybe if i had an account it would be a bit cheaper. Would you say 184.00 is to steep?

[msh paving]

8yard skip in kings Lynn is £205 inc VAT,grab lorrys are few and far between,most work for morrisons on elec and water only MSH

[isettaman]

£150 for a grab lorry to take a 13ton load in Wakefield.

Dave

[ambient]

£160 for 6 wheel grab
£160 18 yard hooklift skip
£140 per load 8 wheel tipper :O

[blue70]

Project was at last finished this week. I did it in three stages in the end because I had to fit it in with work and my mates days off.

Stage 1 - Late June. Dig out driveway area (approx 50 tons), lay and screed MOT 1 (22 tons) to 150mm and whack down. With a mini digger and skip loader this took about 5 days. All of the spoil (some topsoil, concrete driveway and path etc) went into three grab lorries.

Stage 2 - Mid July. Laid most of the edges and the drainage channel. Took 2 days.

Stage 3 - Early Sept. Finished edging, laid and screeded just under 7 tons sharp sand to 50mm, laid blocks (approx 76m2) and blinded with kiln dried sand. Took 6.5 days.

Total time 13.5 days with 2 people.

For anyone who is interested the costs involved were as follows-

Mini digger and skip loader hire incl delivery - 425
22 tons MOT 1 - 496 (Buildbase)
81m2 Woburn Rumbled blocks - 1465 (Selco Builders Merch)
1 Pack Bradstone large kerbs - 183
Three visits from 20ton grab lorry - 620
7 tons sharp sand - 211
Other hire (Whacker plate, block splitter, breaker) - 197
Mortar for edging blocks - 137
Kiln Dried sand - 24
Miscellaneous - 77

Total - 3835

I did a lot of shopping around to make sure that I got the cheapest price that I could. Don't know how much I have saved but it must be in the thousands.

Not too sure how to put photos on the forum but when I figure it out I'll update the post with some before and after shots.

Many thanks to everyone who offered advice.

[DNgroundworks]

Got a 6 wheel grab down to 120 quid per load - bargain!