# Landscaping Costs €17,800



## Aimee (23 May 2008)

I have been quoted €17,800-00 approx for the following :-

190 m2 of tarmac - €3300
kerbing to lawn and to create an edge at front of house and down side - no 89 lengths - €1700
new step at front door - €290
 6.4 m x 4 m raised patio with steps - york stone
4.6 x 6 patio - york stone                                     - €8000
three small footpaths in york stone
two loads of topsoil - €500
lawns repaired and re seeded - €460
40 shrubs €460
5 trees €300
10 trellis €200
10 climbers €260
weed suppresant, gravel €300
small fence and gate to front (which we do not want so we can cut off €1000 straight away).
groundworks  - €1000


My biggest problem is the price of the patio - we have one raised and one lower, then three paths leading from same - and this cost alone is coming in at €8000-00!!! Seems mad!  I asked the landscaper what we can do to bring this cost down but his mood took a turn when I asked if it was the actual stone he was using was driving the price up - and he avoided the question entirely!!!

I have read through other posts but I wanted you guys to take a look at this quote and let me know what you think!

Thank you 

A x


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## builder ed (23 May 2008)

I dont know the exact price of York stone slabs but based on the price in the uk (£45stg), the price u have been quoted is OTT.
You have about 28sq M which at €100 per m would cost €2800.  Thats leaving €185 per sq m to lay.   Sounds crazy price to me.


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## Leo (23 May 2008)

Aimee said:


> I asked the landscaper what we can do to bring this cost down but his mood took a turn when I asked if it was the actual stone he was using was driving the price up - and he avoided the question entirely!!!


 
Consider that a warning of what's to come and walk away. Find another landscaper, there are plenty out there who are more than prepared to give you a break down of materials and labour costs.
Leo


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## galwaytt (23 May 2008)

Leo said:


> Consider that a warning of what's to come and walk away. Find another landscaper, there are plenty out there who are more than prepared to give you a break down of materials and labour costs.
> Leo


 

+1 on that.

Btw, that's the cheapest load of topsoil I've ever seen - how big are his loads?


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## yop (23 May 2008)

We are after doing work at ours to my comments below:

"kerbing to lawn and to create an edge at front of house and down side - no 89 lengths - €1700" - This sounds similar to ours.

"new step at front door - €290 - "
Is it made of gold!!! what is is made of ? Concrete?, seems excessive

"6.4 m x 4 m raised patio with steps - york stone
4.6 x 6 patio - york stone - €8000 -" 
I have a deck I am doing at home, its 5.6m x 4.6m, it is costing me 900 euro for all the material, stone costing 8 times that!!!! I think he is pulling the p**S


"two loads of topsoil - €500 - "
I paid 200 euro per 22 ton load of quality topsoil.

"lawns repaired and re seeded - €460 "
Hard to gauge, 25kg of grass seed (will do 3/4 acres) costs about 80/90 euro.

"40 shrubs €460" - I bought 11 shrubs there last weekend for 62 euro.

"5 trees €300" - What trees are they? I am getting silver birch for 25 euro each in October! 


"weed suppresant, gravel €300" - 19 euro for 50m of weed suprsent, about 200 euro for 10 ton of gravel.


"groundworks - €1000" - What is the details of this? How many hours for machine and man?


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## Scaper (23 May 2008)

Aimee said:


> I have been quoted €17,800-00 approx for the following :-
> 
> 190 m2 of tarmac - €3300
> kerbing to lawn and to create an edge at front of house and down side - no 89 lengths - €1700
> ...


 
Taking your biggest problem first, York Stone is this the Bradstone product ie basically 'manmade' dyed concrete which is generally more expensive than the real natural stone. 

Beware there can be considerable differences in how Patios are laid and also quality of finish, but as a guide Natural stone paving (Sandstone, Limestone and Granite) supplied and fitted will range in price from € 100.00 - € 140.00 / sq m. Again complex shapes and multi levels account for the variance. These rates would be representative of a well laid patio within a well designed overall landscaping scheme and not some hodge podge rectangle with a circle in the centre. 

Sure you'll get some coming on saying I paid this and that, but the truth is in seeing the end results. 

Another very important area is plants, of course you can buy bare root trees for € 25 in Oct, mind you they'll look like what they cost and besides if you want to complete your project now, you will pay a premium for all container grown mature specimens. More general shrubs will vary in price enormously from the cheap and nasty at the lower level (< € 5 for a 2L pot) to € 200+ for imported specimens. 

Topsoil is generally around Dublin area € 300/ load (16 ton +/-), but this is medium grade at best and frequently poorly screened and most likely infested with weed. Top quality screened soil is now costing (if you can get it!) € 600/load.  Of course if you live on the side of a mountain in the rural Ireland rates might be greatly reduced.

Some of the other costs including Tarmac would seem low but paving is exceptionally high, so overall I would concerned.


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## eileen alana (23 May 2008)

new step at front door - €290 

It sounds like a crazy price, I suggest you shop around and get plenty of quotations


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## Aimee (26 May 2008)

Thanks for all your replies guys, I guess I knew what you have confirmed and most certainly agree that his attitude is worrying and a sign of things to come!!

Thank you for taking the time.  I am getting more quotes and will have a better idea now as to what is reasonable and was is OTT.


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## yop (26 May 2008)

You might let us know how you get on if that is alright. Thanks


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## galwegian44 (26 May 2008)

Aimee - just had my patio finished last week and the going rate (for Indian Sanstone) was €80 per sq. m. The price of the slabs in Roadstone was €33 per sq. m. so I paid roughly €47 per sq. m. for labour, sand, cement etc. 

This seems quite cheap compared with your patio quote (even allowing for the different stone) so I would look for additional quotes.

Good luck.


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## z105 (26 May 2008)

> 10 climbers €260




That's outrageous !


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## Scaper (26 May 2008)

Havealaugh said:


> That's outrageous !


 
Not knowing the type and maturity it isn't necessarily so. But bog standard garden centre varieties perhaps, but then again I've seen climbers costing more, but then they would be exceptional specimens.


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## z105 (27 May 2008)

> but then they would be exceptional specimens.



They would want to be exceptional specimens for 26 euro a pop.


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## Aimee (27 May 2008)

I will keep you updated on how I get on.   

I am going to obtain a price for paving and tarmac separately and I have also contacted another landscaper to call out just to compare.


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## Guest117 (27 May 2008)

Aimee

This guy will be havin a laugh at your expense if you hire him - I assume you may be in Dublin but the prices still look v high to me.

Get a few more quotes - I am 100% sure you can do considerably better.


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## Aimee (27 May 2008)

badge55 said:


> Aimee
> 
> This guy will be havin a laugh at your expense if you hire him - I assume you may be in Dublin but the prices still look v high to me.
> 
> Get a few more quotes - I am 100% sure you can do considerably better.


 

thanks badge, and no, I am in the south!!  and yes, for sure, think this guy would have had some laugh alright.    I expect to have some more quotes over the next couple of weeks and will post them.


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## Bob the slob (27 May 2008)

Check [broken link removed] to get quotes, a lot fo the guys on there are very professional


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## Scaper (27 May 2008)

Havealaugh said:


> They would want to be exceptional specimens for 26 euro a pop.


 
You should see plenty of examples at BLOOM otherwise they are regularly available from the better Trade only Nurseries.


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## greenlealand (7 Jun 2008)

be very carefull to get a reconised landscape gardeneras there are a lot of people calling themselve gardeners who are not and speak to the landscapers previous cleints dont just take their word for their workmanship .tom


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## greenlealand (7 Jun 2008)

shop around as that price seems way to expensive, the amounts and sizes are not clearly mentioned in the qoute


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## extopia (7 Jun 2008)

builder ed said:


> I dont know the exact price of York stone slabs but based on the price in the uk (£45stg), the price u have been quoted is OTT.
> You have about 28sq M which at €100 per m would cost €2800.  Thats leaving €185 per sq m to lay.   Sounds crazy price to me.



Actually the OP has a total of 53.2 sq m of patio. The quote works out at 150.28 per sq m (materials and labour).


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## S.L.F (7 Jun 2008)

Aimee said:


> 6.4 m x 4 m raised patio with steps - york stone
> 4.6 x 6 patio - york stone                                     - €8000
> three small footpaths in york stone



6.4m x 4m = 26 square m
4.6m x 6m = 38 square m
total square m is 66

i.e. €121 per square m
which is within what *scaper *has told you is the going rate.

this is not including 3 "small" footpaths.

Aimee it sounds to me like you are getting a good deal


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## extopia (8 Jun 2008)

S.L.F said:


> 6.4m x 4m = 26 square m
> 4.6m x 6m = 38 square m
> total square m is 66



Eh, check those sums, SLF.

6.4 x 4 = 25.6
4.6 x 6 = 27.6

Total = 53.2 sq m


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## S.L.F (8 Jun 2008)

extopia said:


> Eh, check those sums, SLF.
> 
> 6.4 x 4 = 25.6
> 4.6 x 6 = 27.6
> ...



I stand corrected!

I have put the figures into my calculator and for some reason it came up with 66.
Weird.
Did it this time on my phone the real figure for the patio is €150.37 sq m.

This is not taking the 3 small paths into consideration and the steps linking the 2 patios I still don't think there is a huge difference to what scaper was talking about.

And I'm going out to buy myself a new calculator.


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## extopia (9 Jun 2008)

Save yourself a few bob. It's unlikely there's anything wrong with your calculator. You probably just entered the numbers wrong.


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## cibby (9 Jun 2008)

My small Dublin garden cost us under E4000 in total ---but we chose all plants, and planted them ourselves. We also bought the water feature separately and did most of the work ourselves for getting it up and running- only needed guy to do the electrics.... I can really recommend the builder guy who did the actual patio -stone laying etc... he was painstaking and careful re drainage etc-- it looks wonderful. 
A nearby neighbour and friend, with same sized garden had a landscaper in who charged her almost e18,000 for a similar type job- possibly a few more paving stones in hers-but with NO variety of plants for different seasons etc. no trees (which we have). So think what your budget is, get at least 3 quotations and then scale it to what you can do directly yourself. 
Good Luck -it will be worth it- ours is a total pleasure these days.


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## S.L.F (9 Jun 2008)

extopia said:


> Save yourself a few bob. It's unlikely there's anything wrong with your calculator. You probably just entered the numbers wrong.



Just used the stupid calculator 99/2 comes up with 50.

I thought maybe I was losing my mind but it seems that it was the calculator that was giving me trouble not my mind. Although Mrs. SLF figures it happens to all men when they hit 18.


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## extopia (10 Jun 2008)

You're obviously using an estimating calculator, with "number of decimal points" set to zero. It rounds things off. But not to the extent of the earlier post. 

But yeah, get rid of that calculator, or at least set it up properly if you're depending on it!


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## Aimee (11 Jun 2008)

UPDATE:

I have now been quoted for the following which seems to be very good, material being used is pre cast slabs etc :-


kerbing to front lawns 
paving edge at front of house 
6.4 m x 4 m raised patio with steps - edges completed in grey with creamy/yellow circle insert - wall on raised area will be capped and plastered
4.6 x 6 patio - existing steps will be taken out and replaced with half moon steps which will be paved
three small paved footpaths 
all grass, weeds etc killed off and all lawn areas will be levelled, topsoil where needed and re seeded 

basically everything will be done ready for tarmac, he said he would also prepare front for tarmac and whatever drainage needed for same he will attend to 

Total price quoted - €7,000 Total agreed - €6,500 

Big difference from the first quote!! I think I am happy to go ahead


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## Aimee (11 Jun 2008)

by the way - I should say - the guy doing the works comes highly recommended and when I met with him I had total confidence in him.  He gave me ideas unlike the original guy who quoted me - left me guessing what the garden would eventually look like - he also made me feel that nothing was a problem!!

Please god it will all work out well - again I will update the thread when works are done to let you all know.


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## Scaper (12 Jun 2008)

Aimee said:


> UPDATE:
> 
> I have now been quoted for the following which seems to be very good, material being used is pre cast slabs etc :-
> 
> ...


 
Considerable reduction in cost, but a more basic specification, eg slabs are much cheaper than York. Would be curious to see how it is proposed to construct 'half moon steps' and in particular how and what finish will be on Risers and Threads? Doesn't say type of kerb but assume basic concrete?

And what about VAT?? The cost reductions might appear fantastic but what about the finish? 

Will be interesting to see before/after pics. Best of luck anyways.


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## Aimee (12 Jun 2008)

Scaper said:


> Considerable reduction in cost, but a more basic specification, eg slabs are much cheaper than York. Would be curious to see how it is proposed to construct 'half moon steps' and in particular how and what finish will be on Risers and Threads? Doesn't say type of kerb but assume basic concrete?
> 
> And what about VAT?? The cost reductions might appear fantastic but what about the finish?
> 
> Will be interesting to see before/after pics. Best of luck anyways.


 

Hi Scaper,

I am aware that the slabs are alot cheaper than York but I never requested York slabs in first place from original guy who quoted, my problem with him was he decided what he would like and quoted me for that, when I requested a quote for cheaper slabs he seemed insulted!

The steps into house will be taken out and half moon shaped steps poured, he will then pave on top and sides.  The steps to raised patio area will be paved in the same way.

Price quoted is inclusive of VAT and material.

I totally take on board what you are saying about the finish - I have seen his previous work and it is very impressive - to me one of his massive advantages in comparison to the original guy (apart from cost) is that he is tasty and not afraid of a little hard work!   He appears to know exactly what he is talking about and has confirmed that he will consult me every step of the way to ensure I am happy with everything.  Also I know where he lives 

I am very very conscious of a job being done properly and will be watching over his shoulder at all times - I am not one who will stand for shoddy work!  Also he won't see a penny until the garden is completely finished and I am happy with it.

I will take before and after pics and will post them in time.


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## Aimee (12 Jun 2008)

in relation to the kerbs they are pre cast and are very neat and tidy with rounded edge - they dont look at all like your ugly bog standard kerb - we are delighted with it. In any event the kerb will be sunk and garden brought up to meet it so that it is not so obvious - only reason we have it there at all is for the tarmac - we will have no kerbing in back garden - paving border only.

I will of course keep you informed and hopefully tell a tale of a job well done over the coming weeks.

Thanks to everyone for advices.


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## NOAH (13 Jun 2008)

*Re: Landscaping Costs €17,800*

@aimee, where are you located ie county as i am in clare and desperate as well to get a proper quote.

noah


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