Dropping a kerb and footpath to a driveway?

[ilovesettsonmondays]

no dave last week it was quote from eastern european civil engineering ltd

[da02uk]

Ha!
It was 2008, around June/July, and a standard drive width. Must have been about 4/5 stones and just one on the 'slant'. I thought it cost more like £160 but my good lady put me right before I posted.
I wonder if they were just pleased we went via the correct route?

[Tony McC]

I know highways departments where 120 quid wouldn't even cover the application and inspection fee!

Back in the early 1990s when we did them for local authorities throughout northern England, we were charging 480 quid for a 5 kerb xing (2 @ droppers + 3 @ centre stones) and we were at least 200 quid cheaper than any of the direct labour outfits.

Funnily enough, we did the dropped xing at the house where I now live, so, in effect, I got paid (by the previous owner) for installing my own access.

[Hawk]

we have recently completed a driveway in Tameside where the house holder has paid approx £600 for six kerbs to be dropped

[da02uk]

Right, given the utter astonishment of you lot I've done some digging in the stockport council website and found the following:


within this document

But i've been thinking that our new drive was made right upto the boundry which was the kerb, and so no other works to any pavements/footpaths had to be done, maybe thats why it was cheap?

[Tony McC]

So, a five kerb crossing = 4.5m = 845 quid for the 3 centre stones + 2 droppers @ 130 = 1105 quid - not bad for a morning's work, especially if you can get two or three of them on the same street.

I know some councils charge an excess is there is any problem regarding width of footpath, presence of services, street signs, etc.

On the flip side, the minimum insurance is 5 million, plus you need a supervisors streetworks ticket, and all your operatives have to be ticketed, and that's before you start on Chapter 8 traffic management.

[Dave_L]

.................and not to mention small laods of tar ex-works, you'll (we will) be paying almost double the price per ton compared to delivered 20t loads.

Anywhere below £700+VAT for a standard 2 rakers and 4 drops crossover is cheap, believe me.

[pickwell paving]

Was speaking to someone yesterday and our council highways gangs have just resurfaced all the footpaths down this cul de sac and because its all on street parking they offered them all the chance to have the kerbs dropped for a mere £100.

[Dave_L]

No wonder the councils have no money left in the pot!

[Tony McC]

If the council are re-surfacing a street anyway, and they can con a ton from every household without an existing crossing, it's a nice little earner!

When we did the streetworks for a particular local authority in NW England, it was pretty normal to install a dropped crossing for anyone who wanted one when we were re-constructing a kerbline. However, a new gang come in from Liverpool and being of a more entrepreneurial nature, their ganger decided to knock on doors and "offer" residents a dropped crossing for a hundred quid. It used to really piss me off, not because he was making maybe 500 quid a week extra, but because he was simply ripping off people.

Still, I wasn't his superior, so I decided it was none of my business and bringing it to the attention of the Clerk of Works or the main contractor, both of whom may well have been on 'commission', would probably not win me any prizes.

He got away with it for a few weeks and was doing well enough to pay for a brand new Tranny Tipper van. If only he hadn't knocked on the door of the chairman of the Highways Committee!

There was a HUGE crackdown and massive investigation of every gang working in the area, which resulted in our gangs being the only ones to emerge with a clean bill of health, which saw us get the lion's share of available work, and the pick of the plum jobs.

As Earl Hickey would say....Karma, Man!

[pickwell paving]

As far as i'm aware its all been paid direct to the council, think the reason for doing it is because there is a school at the bottom and when you get all the residents parking on the street and the parents it becomes a nightmare at dropping off/kicking out time not to mention the safety of the kids. On the plus side got a few drives to price up down there now so everyones a winner.

[gidster]

ive done loads of these in the past, we charged about £200 quid and that was for taking out the old kerbs and putting in 2 droppers and usally about 4 centres,and gradind the pathe to the kerbs. we never tarmaced it unless we had some spare where we were working as it was useally done on the side.

[Dave_L]

How did you fare with the licence applications, chapter 8 and street works certification??

[seanandruby]

seems a bit daft not tarmacing, or other, surely that is what the customer wants.....a finished job ???

[gidster]

belive it or not they were more than pleased just to have the kerbs in,look these arent your posh pads,and dont get me wrong we would say if we could get tarmac that day or not,but they were happy to have the kerbs in and the stone compacted and theyd say they would tarmac it themselves or get a friend of a friend to do it,dont know if they ever did or not. and as for licences and certiicates im talking about 7 or 8 years ago. i know its all different now but its a good crack if you can get on it.plus when we were kerbing whole estates both sides of the road you could make good money on the side by putting in exta kerbs in crossings and the odd new crossing here and there,and this was all approved by the supervisors,i think when your banging them down and making the job money all the engineers even main contractors dont seem to mind.