Garden Renovation Project

Soldato
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Spent this morning sorting plants/pots.


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Did you get a contractor to install the block paving or was it the housebuilders? It's recommended there be a 150mm gap between the ground level and the DPC, yours looks to be a lot less than that assuming it sits above the air brick as that would put it in line with the patio door sill. You wouldn't want to see any damp issues as a result.
 
Soldato
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just make sure in the contract you're not paying for delays caused by unavailability of materials. For fixed price worth getting the order the materials delivered so he's not delayed "outside his control"..
 
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Did you get a contractor to install the block paving or was it the housebuilders? It's recommended there be a 150mm gap between the ground level and the DPC, yours looks to be a lot less than that assuming it sits above the air brick as that would put it in line with the patio door sill. You wouldn't want to see any damp issues as a result.
Paving was all done by the house builders, so presumably all signed off. I’m afraid I’m out of my depth here, but husband says: “DPC sits above airblock and set of doors sit low down as they’re bifold with a rebated threshold. Leaves need cleaning out from gravel surround too. Should be ok, but good spot!“

Will keep an eye on it though - thank you! Certainly don’t want damp problems.
I'm insanely jealous of your garden.
We’re really looking forward to getting some use out of it. Just hope everything goes to plan.
just make sure in the contract you're not paying for delays caused by unavailability of materials. For fixed price worth getting the order the materials delivered so he's not delayed "outside his control"..
Really good point, thanks. Will make sure things are ordered and delivered ASAP. Our next door neighbour works in building materials, so he might be able to help us/the landscapers with suppliers.
 
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We now have 4 quotes and have made a decision.

Quote 1: £33k (but included some extras such as lighting).
Quote 2: £22.5k (but did not include shed)
Quote 3: £18k
Quote 4: £19.5k

We've decided to go with quote 4 as he had the best portfolio of work, is reasonably priced and has clearly done work / projects of this scale before. He also had some good ideas that we liked. The chap who gave quote 3 was less experienced and it was clear to us that this project would be quite a big job for him.

Work to hopefully start in August.
 
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After 3 weeks of very slow digging...we are now at this point...

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This will be the view from the hottub when it’s all done:

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The decked area is supposed to be finished by the end of this week/early next I think, which will be nice!
 
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We were almost finished in time for Christmas...

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We’ve still got to install the lights (electrician coming back in the New Year), and plants in the walls (need to line them), re-seed the grass, install the wooden arches (there are gaps in the laurel hedge for this), and buy some garden furniture!


Absolutely chuffed with my Christmas gift:

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Merry Christmas! :D
 
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It all looks good, but does seem a long way from the house to that hot tub......

Thanks. Yes we did wonder whether it would be too far from the house when in the planning stage... but the view from that spot makes it totally worth it! Having tried it a few times, I can tell you it’s not too far to go :D
 
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That looks great, has it stuck to the budget so far or have extras made the price start to creep up, we've a much smaller garden but hoping to get something similar (on a much smaller scale) done to ours in the next couple of years when the mortgage is paid.
 
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That looks great, has it stuck to the budget so far or have extras made the price start to creep up, we've a much smaller garden but hoping to get something similar (on a much smaller scale) done to ours in the next couple of years when the mortgage is paid.

We had a fixed price and he stuck to that. We did add an extra which we paid for - the original plan was 5 courses of bricks, and as they started to build we decided we wanted an extra 5 courses. That added an extra £1k to the bill. We also asked for the granite to be used to top the brickwork off, which was then done as an extra without charge - and to be fair to them, it required a lot of work to cut lots of pieces, and to get the curved section right.

We are very happy with the quality of the finish - our only complaint was that they took a long time but given we can’t use the outside for a while yet, that didn’t affect us too much. We used a local family firm - father and two sons and they were really lovely to work with.
 
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