Garden excavation

I

ivorytowers

Guest
We've just finished building a very nice extension, about half a metre below the level of the garden, and are turning our attention to the now not-so-nice garden.

We have a deck in three large pieces but before we can lay it, we need someone to excavate about 6 cubic metres of soil. The Polish builders who did the extension quoted 2k for this (based on three men for two days.) This sounds like a lot, especially since their normal rate is e150-e200 per man per day and we'll have to hire a e700 skip. Anyone got any thoughts on whether this is reasonable, or better still, a recommendation for someone who can do it cheaper? No specialist knowledge required... just hard graft, I'm afraid.
 
ivorytowers said:
We've just finished building a very nice extension, about half a metre below the level of the garden, and are turning our attention to the now not-so-nice garden.

We have a deck in three large pieces but before we can lay it, we need someone to excavate about 6 cubic metres of soil. The Polish builders who did the extension quoted 2k for this (based on three men for two days.) This sounds like a lot, especially since their normal rate is e150-e200 per man per day and we'll have to hire a e700 skip. Anyone got any thoughts on whether this is reasonable, or better still, a recommendation for someone who can do it cheaper? No specialist knowledge required... just hard graft, I'm afraid.
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If it's just hard graft then I'd roll up my sleves and save myself the 2k for a nice holiday afterwards :D I thought the Polish builders were supposed to be cheap for labour looks like they have really copped on to ripoff Ireland either that or they overpriced the job because they have no real interest in doing it.
After two days work each man would walk away with E666 not bad at all for two days work I don't know many people that can earn that kind of money in two days.
 
if it's just topsoil - don't hire a skip - get somebody with a lorry and grab to come pick it up for you. I had somone take away all the diggings from our extension and it cost me 350 + vat per 20 tonne load - a good bit cheaper than a skip (esp considering as we had 4 loads!).

Also a neighbour had one of those skips parked in his drive and when they came to take it up the roller wheels tore up his tarmac from the weight when they lifted it onto the lorry.
 
Dobber22, you're not wrong. They were very reasonable for the build (and did a great job) so we suspect they're just not really interested. If I wasn't 8 months pregnant, I might well roll up my own sleeves!

Nai, thanks for the advice on the lorry - that sounds like a much better idea. We needed at least three huge skips during the work, and I'm still in shock at how much money those skip hire places must make. I'm definitely in the wrong business...

Thanks for the tips.
 
ivorytowers said:
Dobber22, you're not wrong. They were very reasonable for the build (and did a great job) so we suspect they're just not really interested. If I wasn't 8 months pregnant, I might well roll up my own sleeves!

Nai, thanks for the advice on the lorry - that sounds like a much better idea. We needed at least three huge skips during the work, and I'm still in shock at how much money those skip hire places must make. I'm definitely in the wrong business...

Thanks for the tips.
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Get the hubby and one of his friends to do it ... you can take tea and sandwich duty ;)
 
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