The Brew Cabin

I would appreciate some general advice regarding a sort of DIY block paving project.
I have a large driveway which I wish to block pave, the area is about 50 ft x 50ft. I have had a number of estimates but am finding the costs that contractors wish to charge very high. In view of this, I am commencing getting the job done on a job by job basis.
Next week, I have a worker digging the drive and we will get a grab lorry to take the muck away.
Q1. We are planning to dig down about 10 inches. Is this a sufficient level?
Q2. After this I propose to get a HGV to deliver around 40 tonnes of type 1, spread this and then hire a wacking plate? Is this correct order and right amount of type 1?
Q3. Do I think about my drainage when we come to lay the sand?
Many thanks in advance.
Harp

well i would say 50 tonnes is a bit closer to the level it depends how good the dig is u really need to get it at least 10 inches from the fpl at which point u have certain fixed points that cannot be moved and dictate the fall of a drive, they are the dpc of the house and where the drive meets the pavement/road these cannot be changed ,u will need to think of drainage at this point and if u do not have a good fall away from the house u will need to think about placing gully drains or pot drains but without seeing the job this is almost impossible to give advise on. if u use a tight string line off these fixed points showing the fpl u can use a mesure to check that u have 10 inches all over under the line then drop on the 53 tonnes of mot class 1 then rake smooth and i would recheck then with the lines again to check u have around 110mm from string line to the top of the mot after compaction (4-6 passes) and away u go. this is quite a big job to learn the ropes on and could be an expensive mistake, out of interest how much have u been quoted we would do the whole job dig to completion for 230 sqm for around 9k

Thanks very much for the tips.
For info, quotes have ranged from £13k to £18k.
I really would not be looking to do it myself but am aiming to try and save some money by breaking the job into smaller stages by buying the materials myself and hiring some skilled labour on ad-hoc basis.
Will bear your estimate in mind, however.
How much do you think it would cost just to lay the blocks?
Thanks once again
Harp

its difficult to say just to lay the blocks we certainly would not undertake such a job because we do not know what has gone into the subase/method etc and thus can not fully guarantee the job after we complete u may struggle to find a company that will just lay and kiln but if u do find a firm check there work out before hand, we carry a full stage by stage porfolio with us with about 40ish jobs in it with us on the piccys and we tell out potential customers to visit and speak to anyone of them they choose, if u are proud of your work and have nothing to hide then show it off :) where do u live??

Again, Suki's advice is sound. Bringing in different contractors to carry out different parts of the work leaves you with a very large potential headache if owt goes wrong. The block layers might blame it on the gang that placed and compacted the sub-base, while they might say it was the fault of the gang that did the excavation. By getting one contractor to accept repsonsibility for the whole job, you only have one point of contact in case of any problems.

I'm with Suki, too - we would never issue a guarantee with block paving unless we had installed the sub-base ourselves. I'm happy enough for someone else to have done the excavation, but, from that point onwards, I preferred all the construction work to be checked and approved by ourselves.

Splitting the job has got to be more costly than using a single contractor. You have two, thre or more gangs, each looking to make a decent profit on what would be a relatively small job, instead of a single contractor making a fair profit on a reasonably sized job.

Regarding materials quantities and drainage issues, all of these are covered in excruciating detail on the mian site - have aread through all of that before committing yourself to what could be a very long and very costly methodology.

thanks once again for the advice.
I'm having the drive excavated on Friday, with a grab to take the load away.
Suki - I live in Luton. Without seeing the job, what would be your approx cost per sqm having completed the dig?