Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

My lawn needs levelling out and re-turfing. Given that it's about 300
sq.metres, I estimate approx £600 to buy turf.
In terms of labour, how long would you say it would take someone to
rotavate this area, level it out and lay the turf? I'm just trying to
get a rough estimate for the labour costs.

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

wrote:
My lawn needs levelling out and re-turfing. Given that it's about 300
sq.metres, I estimate approx £600 to buy turf.
In terms of labour, how long would you say it would take someone to
rotavate this area, level it out and lay the turf? I'm just trying to
get a rough estimate for the labour costs.

Anything from ten to twenty quid an hour, maybe two days' work. But I
wouldn't employ anybody who thinks it can be done in one go: it'll need
a month or two for settling and weeding between cultivation and
turfing. That will be very variable, of course, according to soil and
weather.

--
Mike.

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

I would agree with the time period for the works but not letting it
settle for 1 to 2 months!

As long as the cultivated soil is lightly compacted, the turf is
'planked' after laying and not walked on for a week or two then there
would be no problems.

EddSmith

You need to be much more specific! It is impossible to quote with so many unknown variables -

· Access
· Quality of topsoil
· Amount of levelling needed
· Once rotivated will the soil need de-stoning
· Type of turf e.g. are areas of the turf in shade or partial shade – if yes then may need to use more than one type of turf…

I could yap on all day, but I’m sure that you get the idea.

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

An Oasis wrote:
Wrote:
My lawn needs levelling out and re-turfing. Given that it's about 300
sq.metres, I estimate approx £600 to buy turf.

You need to be much more specific! It is impossible to quote with so
many unknown variables -

· Access
· Quality of topsoil
· Amount of levelling needed
· Once rotivated will the soil need de-stoning
· Type of turf e.g. are areas of the turf in shade or partial shade -
if yes then may need to use more than one type of turf...

I could yap on all day, but I'm sure that you get the idea.



Yes, thanks for the advice. I suppose we'll get a clearer picture when
the existing grass is killed off, as to the quality of the soil. But I
do know it's heavy clay based.

My concern is that we'll spend quite a bit of money correcting this,
and in a couple of years we'll get back to the same situation if the
soil starts breaking up and cracking. I think the garden currently has
very bad drainage. It's so bad that last winter we had a visible pool
of water around the middle of the garden. What are my options to
improve the drainage?

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

My concern is that we'll spend quite a bit of money correcting this,
and in a couple of years we'll get back to the same situation if the
soil starts breaking up and cracking. I think the garden currently has
very bad drainage. It's so bad that last winter we had a visible pool
of water around the middle of the garden. What are my options to
improve the drainage?

Where can it drain to?

Is your garden lower than the surrounding gardens and thus theirs drain into
yours?

Is your garden higher and you can drain the water off?

Two starter questions :-))

Mike


--
--------------------------------------
Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association
www.rnshipmates.co.uk
www.nsrafa.com

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

Hello,

To correct drainage you need to break up the clay by introducing sharp
sand to the soil, this will help the water drain through. If you just
added more soil or blended loam it would just sit on top of the clay
and when it rains a larger puddle would form and saturate the ground
because the water would be gathering on top of the clay.. The sand
would need to be rotovated into the existing soil, this would need to
be done after a period of dry weather so that the clay is not wet.
After this has been done and the lawn laid the ground would need
regular aeration just to make sure that drainage is happening. The
easiest way is with a fork or a push along spiker, the end result needs
to be lots of small holes, the holes about little finger width, when it
rains the water will find its way to the wholes and drain off the
surface, not only will it stop the lawn flooding but it will get water
to the roots, where it needs to be. If the draining stops or signs of
it stopping are noticed then after spiking you could brush more sand
into the wholes.

Hope this helps.

EddSmith.

http://groups.google.com/group/charleylandscapes

http://groups.google.com/group/Garden-Machinery

http://www.charleylandscapes.com

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

Mike wrote:
My concern is that we'll spend quite a bit of money correcting this,
and in a couple of years we'll get back to the same situation if the
soil starts breaking up and cracking. I think the garden currently has
very bad drainage. It's so bad that last winter we had a visible pool
of water around the middle of the garden. What are my options to
improve the drainage?

Where can it drain to?

Is your garden lower than the surrounding gardens and thus theirs drain into
yours?

Is your garden higher and you can drain the water off?

Two starter questions :-))

Mike



The garden does have a slight gradient from right to left. On the left
boundary of the garden there's a copse with numerous small trees. So in
theory, the water should drain off to that area. But I've noticed that
the ground gets very waterlogged, with visible standing water in times
of prolonged rain. I'm guessing this could be caused partly by the
grass condition being generally very poor, with a lot of clover and
other weeds in it. But the clay soil can't be helping?

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

Hello,

I think you need to be concentrating on draining within your own
garden, if other gardens are draining into yours your neighbours may
not be willing to correct their problems to help yours out. Also
draining into someone elses land isn't something I would consider as
you are just causing someone else to have a problem.
I would definately say getting your garden to drain is most important,
your clay soil is preventing the soil from draining down properly.

EddSmith

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

In article . com,
wrote:

Mike wrote:
My concern is that we'll spend quite a bit of money correcting this,
and in a couple of years we'll get back to the same situation if the
soil starts breaking up and cracking. I think the garden currently has
very bad drainage. It's so bad that last winter we had a visible pool
of water around the middle of the garden. What are my options to
improve the drainage?

Where can it drain to?

Is your garden lower than the surrounding gardens and thus theirs drain into
yours?

Is your garden higher and you can drain the water off?

Two starter questions :-))

Mike

The garden does have a slight gradient from right to left. On the left
boundary of the garden there's a copse with numerous small trees. So in
theory, the water should drain off to that area. But I've noticed that
the ground gets very waterlogged, with visible standing water in times
of prolonged rain. I'm guessing this could be caused partly by the
grass condition being generally very poor, with a lot of clover and
other weeds in it. But the clay soil can't be helping?

It isn't. If your water tends to puddle in one place it may be
cheaper/easier to put a soakaway at that spot (a cube of gravel approx
1m square and deep). Not everyone wants an outcrop of gravel on the
lawn but it could masquerade as a 'feature' if you were to place a
sculpture, bench or birdbath on it.

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

Stan The Man wrote:

It isn't. If your water tends to puddle in one place it may be
cheaper/easier to put a soakaway at that spot (a cube of gravel approx
1m square and deep). Not everyone wants an outcrop of gravel on the
lawn but it could masquerade as a 'feature' if you were to place a
sculpture, bench or birdbath on it.

My small garden used to puddle and get squelchy and muddy with run off
from surrounding properties. I dug down and replaced maybe 6-12 inches
with topsoil and so far everything is alright. The topsoil allows the
water to "drain" sideways acting like blotting paper. I've yet to see
it perform in a real downpour but for small localised puddling it's a
solution that can work. Some parts I mixed sharp sand, top soil and
compost but I've yet to see any real difference. I also in places dug
shallow soakaway channels. The clay that was beneath was so clay like
that one could have made pots with it.

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

wrote:


My small garden used to puddle and get squelchy and muddy with run off
from surrounding properties. I dug down and replaced maybe 6-12 inches
with topsoil and so far everything is alright. The topsoil allows the
water to "drain" sideways acting like blotting paper. I've yet to see
it perform in a real downpour but for small localised puddling it's a
solution that can work. Some parts I mixed sharp sand, top soil and
compost but I've yet to see any real difference. I also in places dug
shallow soakaway channels. The clay that was beneath was so clay like
that one could have made pots with it.


....and if cost of turf is a problem then you could seed it - it's a
good time of year to do it, assuming the weather stays as it has been.

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

wrote:
wrote:


My small garden used to puddle and get squelchy and muddy with run off
from surrounding properties. I dug down and replaced maybe 6-12 inches
with topsoil and so far everything is alright. The topsoil allows the
water to "drain" sideways acting like blotting paper. I've yet to see
it perform in a real downpour but for small localised puddling it's a
solution that can work. Some parts I mixed sharp sand, top soil and
compost but I've yet to see any real difference. I also in places dug
shallow soakaway channels. The clay that was beneath was so clay like
that one could have made pots with it.


...and if cost of turf is a problem then you could seed it - it's a
good time of year to do it, assuming the weather stays as it has been.

I'll have to economise on the grass, if 6-12 inches (x 300 sq.m) of top
soil is required!

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

Oasis,
Last year I moved into a house with a similar problem; in the winter large
puddles sitting on the lawn after rain - even though the garden slopes about
a metre. I found out that it was due to an underlying layer of impervious
clay that wash dished in the middle.

Forking holes in the clay or digging a soakaway was a waste of time since
the holes and soakaway filled with water and then did not soakaway through
the underlying impervious clay.

The solution was to make a french drain from the lowest point of the clay
(not the lowest level of the overlying soil) to a lower point. It is very
simple and well within the capabilities of an average gardener. See
http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain03.htm for details.

cheers

Davy

wrote in message
ups.com...

An Oasis wrote:
Wrote:
My lawn needs levelling out and re-turfing. Given that it's about 300
sq.metres, I estimate approx £600 to buy turf.

You need to be much more specific! It is impossible to quote with so
many unknown variables -

· Access
· Quality of topsoil
· Amount of levelling needed
· Once rotivated will the soil need de-stoning
· Type of turf e.g. are areas of the turf in shade or partial shade -
if yes then may need to use more than one type of turf...

I could yap on all day, but I'm sure that you get the idea.



Yes, thanks for the advice. I suppose we'll get a clearer picture when
the existing grass is killed off, as to the quality of the soil. But I
do know it's heavy clay based.

My concern is that we'll spend quite a bit of money correcting this,
and in a couple of years we'll get back to the same situation if the
soil starts breaking up and cracking. I think the garden currently has
very bad drainage. It's so bad that last winter we had a visible pool
of water around the middle of the garden. What are my options to
improve the drainage?

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

wrote:
My lawn needs levelling out and re-turfing. Given that it's about 300
sq.metres, I estimate approx £600 to buy turf.
In terms of labour, how long would you say it would take someone to
rotavate this area, level it out and lay the turf? I'm just trying to
get a rough estimate for the labour costs.

Well I had someone look at it a few days ago. Just got the quote. To do
the following:-

kill off existing grass
rotovate and rake level
apply grit sand to improve drainage
roll
lay new turf

grand total £1995.

I didn't expect such a high quote. And also I didn't think it was
recommended to user a roller in this situation, as it compacts the
soil.
But looking at this work, there's nothing really complicated that I
couldn't do myself. My only concern is the drainage. I'm still not sure
if we'll need drainage pipes.

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

wrote in message
ups.com...

wrote:
My lawn needs levelling out and re-turfing. Given that it's about 300
sq.metres, I estimate approx £600 to buy turf.
In terms of labour, how long would you say it would take someone to
rotavate this area, level it out and lay the turf? I'm just trying to
get a rough estimate for the labour costs.

Well I had someone look at it a few days ago. Just got the quote. To do
the following:-

kill off existing grass
rotovate and rake level
apply grit sand to improve drainage
roll
lay new turf

grand total £1995.

I didn't expect such a high quote. And also I didn't think it was
recommended to user a roller in this situation, as it compacts the
soil.
But looking at this work, there's nothing really complicated that I
couldn't do myself. My only concern is the drainage. I'm still not sure
if we'll need drainage pipes.


Going on what we paid yesterday to have some work done in the garden, that
is a very good price and I would snap his hand off. "I" would be quite
content to pay that.
..
..
..
..
..
Just to get the job done and for me not to do it :-))

Mike

ps as an afterthought, why not concrete it all and paint it green? No
mowing, quick wash down :-))


--
--------------------------------------
Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association
www.rnshipmates.co.uk
www.nsrafa.com

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

Mike wrote:

Going on what we paid yesterday to have some work done in the garden, that
is a very good price and I would snap his hand off. "I" would be quite
content to pay that.
.
Just to get the job done and for me not to do it :-))

Mike

ps as an afterthought, why not concrete it all and paint it green? No
mowing, quick wash down :-))


Nice idea, but I'd never get agreement on that from SWMBO :)

Do you really think that's a good price? I'm figuring £600 for the
turf, £100 for sand, seed and weed killer. That's still £1300 for 2
days work. Which is damn good money by my reckoning.

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

wrote in message
ups.com...

Mike wrote:

Going on what we paid yesterday to have some work done in the garden, that
is a very good price and I would snap his hand off. "I" would be quite
content to pay that.
.
Just to get the job done and for me not to do it :-))

Mike

ps as an afterthought, why not concrete it all and paint it green? No
mowing, quick wash down :-))


Nice idea, but I'd never get agreement on that from SWMBO :)

Do you really think that's a good price? I'm figuring £600 for the
turf, £100 for sand, seed and weed killer. That's still £1300 for 2
days work. Which is damn good money by my reckoning.
.................................................. .............

2 Days?
How many men?
What equipment?
Maintenance of equipment?
Fuel?
Guarantee?
Cover for days Rained Off?

If later there is something not quite right, a bump or a dip, would you
expect to pay for the rectification or have it done free?

As a matter of interest, do you work for yourself or run a business? With
all due respect I suggest not, otherwise the 'hiddens' would be known to
you.

As an example, when I moved into my second and bigger factory, still only a
nattygramme bigger than a Starter Unit, I did the exercise of county up the
'dead money'. Outgoings before I switched a light on, had staff through the
door, switched the heating on. Things such as rent. Rates. Insurance.
Telephone rental standing charge. Gas standing charge. Electric standing
charge. Water Rates standing charge. All those things that HAVE to be paid
whether working or not. Sunday. Christmas Day. New Years Day Bank Holidays
etc etc etc.

:-((

They have to be taken into account when quoting charges.

Thought you might be interested.

Mike


--
--------------------------------------
Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association
www.rnshipmates.co.uk
www.nsrafa.com


Rained Off days?

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

Mike wrote:

2 Days?
How many men?
What equipment?
Maintenance of equipment?
Fuel?
Guarantee?
Cover for days Rained Off?

If later there is something not quite right, a bump or a dip, would you
expect to pay for the rectification or have it done free?

As a matter of interest, do you work for yourself or run a business? With
all due respect I suggest not, otherwise the 'hiddens' would be known to
you.

As an example, when I moved into my second and bigger factory, still only a
nattygramme bigger than a Starter Unit, I did the exercise of county up the
'dead money'. Outgoings before I switched a light on, had staff through the
door, switched the heating on. Things such as rent. Rates. Insurance.
Telephone rental standing charge. Gas standing charge. Electric standing
charge. Water Rates standing charge. All those things that HAVE to be paid
whether working or not. Sunday. Christmas Day. New Years Day Bank Holidays
etc etc etc.

:-((

They have to be taken into account when quoting charges.

Thought you might be interested.

Mike



Thanks. I will raise all those points, as the quotation I have contains
very little detail. For that kind of money I would expect a top quality
job, with some sort of guarantee.

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

In reply to Mike ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

wrote in message
ups.com...

Mike wrote:

Going on what we paid yesterday to have some work done in the
garden, that is a very good price and I would snap his hand off. "I"
would be quite content to pay that.
.
Just to get the job done and for me not to do it :-))

Mike

ps as an afterthought, why not concrete it all and paint it green? No
mowing, quick wash down :-))


Nice idea, but I'd never get agreement on that from SWMBO :)

Do you really think that's a good price? I'm figuring £600 for the
turf, £100 for sand, seed and weed killer. That's still £1300 for 2
days work. Which is damn good money by my reckoning.
.................................................. ............

2 Days?
How many men?
What equipment?
Maintenance of equipment?
Fuel?
Guarantee?
Cover for days Rained Off?

If later there is something not quite right, a bump or a dip, would
you expect to pay for the rectification or have it done free?

As a matter of interest, do you work for yourself or run a business?
With all due respect I suggest not, otherwise the 'hiddens' would be
known to you.

As an example, when I moved into my second and bigger factory, still
only a nattygramme bigger than a Starter Unit, I did the exercise of
county up the 'dead money'. Outgoings before I switched a light on,
had staff through the door, switched the heating on. Things such as
rent. Rates. Insurance. Telephone rental standing charge. Gas
standing charge. Electric standing charge. Water Rates standing
charge. All those things that HAVE to be paid whether working or not.
Sunday. Christmas Day. New Years Day Bank Holidays etc etc etc.

:-((

They have to be taken into account when quoting charges.

Thought you might be interested.

What I *would* recommend is these Polish blokes. They work like b'gg'ry,
charge very little, and do a good job in my experience. I had someone's
patio taken away, it was a mess of concrete, they did it all by hand using
pixkaxes, bagged up twenty fertiliser sacks of hardcore (they didn't take
them aay because they came by push bike, not having a driving licence), and
charged £30. Never asked for a cuppa even, although she gave them one, and a
sandwich. Whistling all the time. Can't fault them. They even asked if it
would be all right to work at the weekend.

Worth asking about, there are loads of them here in the East Midlands and I
know several in the Home Counties too.

Come on you British workers :-)

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

wrote in message
ups.com...

Mike wrote:

2 Days?
How many men?
What equipment?
Maintenance of equipment?
Fuel?
Guarantee?
Cover for days Rained Off?

If later there is something not quite right, a bump or a dip, would you
expect to pay for the rectification or have it done free?

As a matter of interest, do you work for yourself or run a business?
With
all due respect I suggest not, otherwise the 'hiddens' would be known to
you.

As an example, when I moved into my second and bigger factory, still
only a
nattygramme bigger than a Starter Unit, I did the exercise of county up
the
'dead money'. Outgoings before I switched a light on, had staff through
the
door, switched the heating on. Things such as rent. Rates. Insurance.
Telephone rental standing charge. Gas standing charge. Electric standing
charge. Water Rates standing charge. All those things that HAVE to be
paid
whether working or not. Sunday. Christmas Day. New Years Day Bank
Holidays
etc etc etc.

:-((

They have to be taken into account when quoting charges.

Thought you might be interested.

Mike



Thanks. I will raise all those points, as the quotation I have contains
very little detail. For that kind of money I would expect a top quality
job, with some sort of guarantee.


I don't think you will be able to get them to break it down to such a finer
detail as I have drawn to your attention. Such as the question "How much
fuel will you use?" and "Do you have a yard or base you are paying rent on?"
and "How much of your quotation covers your wet days and not being able to
work?", but you could ask, "What sort of guarantee do I have? How long is
your guarantee?" and "How long will it take?", "What grade turf have you
quoted for, I don't want a Bowling Green?" (On the other hand you might :-))

AND, is it a Quotation or an Estimate and do you know the difference? It
sounds like a quote, but it should be detailed to see what sort of turf it
is. He 'could' have quoted rubbish and when you see it, "Well that will have
to be charged extra if you want a better turf" and thus your quotation goes
up with 'extras' and 'work requested whilst in progress'.

Hope that helps :-))

Mike


--
--------------------------------------
Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association
www.rnshipmates.co.uk
www.nsrafa.com

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

wrote:

Thanks. I will raise all those points, as the quotation I have contains
very little detail. For that kind of money I would expect a top quality
job, with some sort of guarantee.

I'm not sure I get it - rotovate then add lots of grit then the turf on
top of that? Doesn't sound like a quality job to me. If you want a
job done well you have to have a proper idea of what *you* want doing,
rather than rely on self-called experts.


So-called tradespeople these days can quote whatever they like - it's
up to you whether you go ahead with the work.

If the soil is totally sodden then you might need french drains, if
there's somewhere to drain to. If it's just surface water then you
just need somewhere for the surface water to go and that can be as
simple as a shallow layer of stable but well draining soil. If you're
going to put grit in then you might want to consider adding some
compost too - otherwise you might get a concrete effect!

If I were you I'd spend the time to prepare properly.

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

wrote:
wrote:

Thanks. I will raise all those points, as the quotation I have contains
very little detail. For that kind of money I would expect a top quality
job, with some sort of guarantee.

I'm not sure I get it - rotovate then add lots of grit then the turf on
top of that? Doesn't sound like a quality job to me. If you want a
job done well you have to have a proper idea of what *you* want doing,
rather than rely on self-called experts.

No it doesn't sound a quality job to me either, hence my shock at the
amount quoted for so little apparent work, or detail in the quotation.
But I'm not a gardening expert, so I don't know for sure what is
required. However I do know that drainage is a problem in the garden,
so that must be addressed.

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

On 7/9/06 09:17, in article
, "
wrote:


wrote:
My lawn needs levelling out and re-turfing. Given that it's about 300
sq.metres, I estimate approx £600 to buy turf.
In terms of labour, how long would you say it would take someone to
rotavate this area, level it out and lay the turf? I'm just trying to
get a rough estimate for the labour costs.

Well I had someone look at it a few days ago. Just got the quote. To do
the following:-

kill off existing grass
rotovate and rake level
apply grit sand to improve drainage
roll
lay new turf

grand total £1995.

I didn't expect such a high quote. And also I didn't think it was
recommended to user a roller in this situation, as it compacts the
soil.
But looking at this work, there's nothing really complicated that I
couldn't do myself. My only concern is the drainage. I'm still not sure
if we'll need drainage pipes.


Do you have a supplier or suppliers of turf in your area? Try Yellow Pages.
If so, I'd get two or three of them to come and look at your lawn and advise
you on the condition of the soil and any necessary drainage. You could even
have a word with whoever maintains your local cricket pitch/football
ground/bowling green. You might have to pay them a few pounds for coming
out but it could save you an awful lot and you would get an independent
point of view. Ask the turf suppliers if they know of anyone who would do
the job and what they would think to be a reasonable cost to do it. If they
give you names, ask those names for previous-customers' references and go
and look at the work for yourself.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

Cost of re-turfing a lawn
 

wrote:


No it doesn't sound a quality job to me either, hence my shock at the
amount quoted for so little apparent work, or detail in the quotation.
But I'm not a gardening expert, so I don't know for sure what is
required. However I do know that drainage is a problem in the garden,
so that must be addressed.

Surface drainage or drainage in general? The approach is different
between the two. If you get a boggy mess then there's a real
drainage issue and you probaly need drains of some kind. If its
surface water then it oculd be that yu only need to provide a
relatively small area for the water to drain off too. I guess you
could try a few soakaways or something first, see it it performs
if/when we get some more bad weather.

...or just go for the french drain option with surface drainage too but
pay for labourers rather than for so-called experts. The drains and
aggregates etc aren't expensive.