Sloping drive

[MRA2]

Hi guys,

I'm not about to take this job on myself so I contacted Marshalls who sent me the details of 3 of their preferred installers.

The issue is I have 2 quotes which are literally poles apart and I can't tell whether one installer is scare-mongering and inflating his price or the other one hasn't really given it due consideration and has gone in too cheap?

Obviously, that's what the 3rd quote is for, but installer #3 never got back to me, I've spoken to Marshalls who gave me a 4th installer and he's not even bothered to come and do me a quote. Are block pavers in demand or something at the moment?

Anyway, there are some pictures of the area I'd like block paved here

Flickr

Particularly, it's photos 12 to 17 that hopefully show the issue.

Starting with image 13, the area I want block paved is simply the gravel.
At it's widest, under the window, that area is 3.3 metres wide.
At it's longest, from the pavement to the window, it's 7.4 metres long.

The complication, according to 1 installer is the slope.

If you look at image 12 which was taken roughly where the drain pipe is in image 15 you can see that the overall drop from the pavement to the house is roughly 40cm.

Looking at images 15, 16 + 17 you can see that to some degree I have a retaining structure supporting my neighbours drive.

My ideal scenario is to literally replace the gravel with block paving, at the same height/level/plane as the gravel currently is. It doesn't have to be exact, but generally speaking, the finished thing would look like it is now only a lot smarter.

Installer number 1 said "yes, no problem".
He did say that he'd have to replace 1 or 2 of the slabs retaining my neighbours drive behind the rockery because they're only about a foot deep. He said he'd go careful and swap them out for some deeper ones.
If you look at image 16 you can see that one of the current slabs has moved a little bit anyway.


Installer number 2 gave a different story.

In his mind, if he did what I wanted there would be 3 issues.
1, It would look rubbish (he actually said that).
2, The drop from where the rockery is now to the house would be too sharp to be able to park a car on it, you'd ground the car on the apex of the slope).
3, He doesn't want to risk disturbing my neighbours drive.

His solution is to build a retaining wall a foot to the left of my neighbours drive (if you were looking towards the pavement).

To the left of the new retaining wall he'd dig the ground out to a similar level to the rest of my drive and then block pave that. ie. He'd graduate the 40cm drop the entire length of the drive from the pavement to the house.

He'd recommend filling the gap between the new retaining wall and my neighbours drive with some decorative gravel.

My issue with this is:
a, It's going to cost more.
b, It's going to narrow the useable parking space by a foot.
c, At the moment, whilst I park my car on a slope which doesn't bother me, I have no walls to bash the door against. Which is definitely a good thing. With this guys suggestion he's digging out the soil where the rockery is leaving me with a wall to potentially bash my door against. Combine that with the fact he wants to reduce the width of the area by a foot anyway and the odds of me scraping the car are increased.
d, I currently park my car on the gravel now and I obviously don't drive it over the rocks! So if the car fits now, why would I ground it on the apex of the slope once he's block paved it?

Final concerns, installer number 1 gave me a quote (hand written) on the spot, which feels too quick.
Installer number 2, however, had to go away and calculate his figures and then came back with a price that's twice the price of the first guy.

Final thing that's worrying me, where do I stand with regards to my neighbour's drive.
If I go with installer 1 and there is some disruption to his tarmac who is liable and what are they liable for?
(ie. Me or the installer and to repair or replace?)
I went to Marshall's because I was looking for a reputable builder with some kind of guarantee not just on the materials but on the work itself. Does that cover anything like damage to the neighbour's drive?

What do you guys make of it?


Thanks for any help or advice.



MRA.

[Carberry]

1: Your opinion on how it looks is what is most important, you have to look at it every day. I have laid a lot of driveways / patios that I think look horrendous but customer loved the colour scheme.

2: That gives you a gradient of 1:18.5, which shouldn't cause any problems unless you have a supercar or a limo. I wouldn't go any more than 1:10, if you're wanting disabled access 1:20.

3:We all have a rough idea of what a job is going to cost when we look at it, I always go away and type up a proper quote on headed paper detailing everything I am going to do and giving a fixed price. If customer asks for a rough idea I tell them and still go off to price it properly.


Been awhile since I looked at Marshall's guarantee but from what I remember it barely covers you let alone your neighbour.



Damage to your neighbours drive would be the fault of the contractors and they should either repair it or it should go through their public liability insurance. Repair or replace will depend on the damage done. You have plenty of photos of the work beforehand which will be good for proof if anything does happen.

What were the 2 prices you were given and which part of the country?

[MRA2]

Carberry,

Thanks for the quick reply.

The reason I included the photos of the back of the house as well was because the job I wanted quoting included carrying the block paving from the drive down the side of the house and across the back of the conservatory replacing the existing path so it all matched.

Effectively, breaking it into 3 pieces the areas involved are:

1. The path across the back of the house 7 metres x 1.2 metres (8.4 m2)
2. The path down the side of the house 10.3 metres x 1 metre (10.3 m2)
3. The sloping area at the front of the house 3.3 metres x 7.4 metres (at it's biggest) (24.4 m2)

Total 43.1 square metres (or near enough).

I'm in the West Mids.

Installer number 1 quoted £1800
Installer number 2 wanted twice that (and a bit more!)

Not sure if it's as simple as working out the square metres to get a price per metre but I make it installer 1 wants between 40/45 quid a metre whilst installer 2 is more like 90!


Your thoughts?
Also, in your reply you calculated the gradient of the slope, was that if I graduated the drop from the pavement to the house or did you guess the length of the slabs retaining my neighbours drive to approximate the gradient as it is today?

Thanks again,


Mr A.

[msh paving]

The £40/45 m is way to cheap for a quality job,for standard blockpaving £65-70 is in the right field for that job i would suggest,
I always give a quote there and then for standard blockpaving or patio's using pre-printed stand quote sheets I have made up in a copy book,there is no reason to need to go away to work it out unless client requires a non standard/stock item
I'm 100% behind our learned friend "carberry" on his reply

"Not sure if it's as simple as working out the square metres to get a price per metre "
that is exactilly how it is done .... MSH

[lutonlagerlout]

down south it would cost m0re like 75-80 per metre but number 1 sounds about right, the retaining wall would look better but is going to cost a lot more
get 2 more quotes
LLL

[Carberry]

I based that off of 40cm drop over 7.4m.

As msh says, 40-45 is way too cheap, even for the most basic of block paving jobs with easy access.