Hardcore a front garden

Hi, Anyone know a rough guide to prices for this sort of thing.
Front garden & driveway is in garden at the moment but we want to have it dug up and "hardcored", will be building at back of house soon so don't want to pave it yet as it will get destroyed with deliverys etc.

Garden is 30ft x 20ft, has existing grass on one side and a crap layer of tarmac done by someone who i wouldn't trust to ice a cake!! All shrubs etc will be removed by us so just need someone to dig it up and take away debris and put in hardcore.

Any ideas?? Husband says he might do it himself so then wonders how much mini digger would cost.

Thanks everyone

I think you should just hire a mini digger and have a go yourself ,you can get the hang of it quite easy,get the delivery guy to dump the hard core in the area youve dug out ,if youre putting in a drive /cobble lock eventually you need 6-8 inches of dept of hard core,hire a large wacker from tool hire shop and this will compact it after going over it a few times ,you could use it at this stage for driving on /deliveries etc,then you could put the fine sand and cobble on later when your building finishes.its really just a bit of physical work ,wouldnt pay a fortune to get it done.

Thanks for the advice! yeah we got quoted 2000K yesterday for it and if Hubby can have a go don't see why not, its not like we need a professional finish or anything! How much would the digger cost to rent do you reckon?? Worth a shot, it'll save him a few hours in the gym too!!

Don't know where you are based but you can get a mini digger in Limerick for €220 for the weekend.

Hi,

Sounds like you need to have a good read of www.pavingexpert.com especially this section.

I'm in Dublin but can't imaging it differs too much, will check it out and might hire one for Hubby as a surprise!! (Some surprise eh??)

Thanks
B

Before you let him loose with the digger remember that down there somewhere is a pipe with mains water to the house, maybe a gas pipe and cables for electricity and cable TV. It would be a bigger surprise if you came home to see a newly created fountain in your front garden! Some care should be exercised!!!