Advice on diy driveway block paving - Realistic costs of material, labour?

[Janie R]

Just found this site and you all seem to be in the trade, so you should be able to help. I'm wondering whether it would be worthwhile me project-managing my driveway block paving? What is the industry profit margin - 50%, 100% markup? The area is 38.18m2. There's currently a thin layer of old tarmac which has broken up and there's concrete underneath. I'm thinking of buying all the materials myself and buying in labour & (employer's liablility insurance). I have a few trusty mates in the building trade who wouldn't rip me off and who would do a good job and I'd be calling on my retired ex-civil engineer dad to oversee the work. What do you reckon? I'm a single mum who works full-time and I don't want to spend extra money on the profit margin of a driveway company. I'm sure you'll say that professionals would do the best job and that would be much easier for me, but I'm looking for advice on rough costs of materials and labour so that I can get a ball park figures on costs. Then I can compare with quotes from driveway companies. (Or you can just send me a quote for the job! lol).
Thank you sooo much.

[ilovesettsonmondays]

2000 pound is an average allin figure for a quote of normal block paving in your area .u will get cheaper and dearer quotes from that figure.

[DNgroundworks]

50-100% mark up, no chance on a 38 meter driveway!! looking at around £70.00 per meter for blockpaving done by a half decent company.

[Janie R]

Thanks for your replies, but you're talking some jargon to a complete beginner!! £2k - is that for just the pavors or all the materials? Re - 50 -100% "no chance" -do you mean that the profit margin will be more because the area is small? Seems like a fairly long drive and front garden patio area to me. I need to know how many man hours, etc, so that I can work out the cost. Just watched a video on youtube - looks more straightforward than I thought: Dig out area, screed soil to a level, with a run-off slope, put edging boards in, fill with sand and screed, lay bricks, cover with and brush sand in, tamper down, cut edging bricks, cement edge. If I can work out the cost of materials, am very keen to p.m it myself. How much are diggers to hire? Presumably I'll also need to get the concrete dug up? How long would this project take do you reckon? How much do you reckon it would cost me for materials - I think that is my basic question!

[Dave_L]

No point in PM'ing yourself on such a small scale job Janie.

[mickg]

what paving block are you thinking of using as the cost of the blocks vary in price by up to£ 10 m2 ?
10m2 means 10 metre squared

are you aiming on having your friends do the work at weekends or are they taking time off work ?

are these friends going to be doing the work on a day rate or fixed price ?

can you post a photo of the existing driveway ?

[Tony McC]

If only there was a website somewhere with just this sort of information!

[lutonlagerlout]

on such a small drive you will just get in the way of the contractors
and you will end up costing yourself more money getting different lads in and hiring plant
I would say your looking at £2,500- £3,000 and on that the contractor might make £4-600 profit
let me give you an example
last year i planted potatoes on my allotment
by the time I had bought the seed,planted them,earthed them up ,fertilised them,weeded them, sprayed them with anti blight stuff
dug them out,sorted and cleaned them
i reckon each lb of spuds cost me about £10
i could of bought them in sainsburys for 50 p a pound

there is an economy of scale that you cannot make work on 38 m
good luck LLL

[carlbeardsmore]

I bet the spuds tasted better though...

[ilovesettsonmondays]

in your area janie block paving starts at 10 pound including vat a sq m (a j beers bromborough)..a small one man band paving company will charge no more than 60 pound a metre all in at the very most in chester.that is using basic block paving and that is for supply andd lay and remove spoil .if you need a reccomendation of someone in that area .i can give you at least 8 diff contractors numbers . i am from close to chester orig.live down sarf now .

[Janie R]

Lol, m2, economies of scale - I knew my economicis degree would come in handy one day! I've had quotes in the past closer to £7k - hence my consideration of diy. What I'm still unsure about, though, is the sub-base. Surely a quote of £3k wouldn't include this? Or, is a sub-base needed - would just the base levelling pre-sand be enough?

[lutonlagerlout]

janie listen to ilovesettsonmondays ,hes from your area
if you get at least 3 quotes from guys he recommends,then you wont be paying more than £2.5k for a basic block and maybe £3.5k for a premium block and finish
I have seen people <cough-cough> project manage their own building works
in reality al that happens is they are inexperienced and forget about incidental costs till its too late

your main concern should be at least 3 written quotes , previous examples of work available to view(either in person or trackable photo i.e. sign board in pic) a written spec
no money up front
and then make sure the lads have plenty of tea and biscuits
all the best
LLL

[GB_Groundworks]

economies of scale i.e someone who does paving all the time will have all the tools & plant required for the job, wont need to hire it in for one job therefore its cheaper.

m2 is a square metre thats a square 1 metre long by 1 metre wide.

first time my A level in economics has been used in paving haha

read the main website its a wealth of information but you'd be better getting 3 quotes from recommended contractors (friends, work colleagues, family, neighbours) or people you've seen working locally doing a good job!

http://www.pavingexpert.com/blocks2.htm



i have just done a job for a man who wanted to project manage the job himself in the believe he would save money, extension and garage probably 80k job. i did groundworks, separate brick layers, joiners, roofers, plumbers, etc

because he wasn't a builder or had previous contact with the sub contractors they let him down didn;t turn up on and off the job, materials weren't there when they needed them. i've been back and i reckon its cost him £6-8k in finding his feet so maybe 10% additional cost.



Edited By GB_Groundworks on 1267397484

[GB_Groundworks]

haha writing at the same time as Lll

[msh paving]

janie read the main site, you cannot put a drive in without a sub-base as it will last days and fall apart,
the quote for 7k must be from one off the leading window -cum -home improvement companies as it double the cost it should be
as most of the lads are saying £2500-3000 will do a good job,
you have to allow for overheads in any buisness we cant buy tools and diggers working for wages so companys have to make profit
to PR it your self you need to know how to do the job, what about the hire of wacker plates, mixers, tools , screed rails and straight edges,
paying guys on hourly pay to do a job like that will cost you more than paying a buisness to do it,
a good paving gang will do that in 4-5 days no problem at all maybe even less, hour paid men won't
sorry to be straight to the point about it, but if your spending good money you need a good job done to standards
alot of people claim to be able to lay paving but there alot more to it than the u-tube show hope this helps MSH