Who is this a job for?

Buying house2020

Hi,

I hope this is the appropriate thread for my question, if not, mods please free free to move this thread to another forum.

I'm a total DIY novice, so forgive my lack of knowledge in this area!

I live in a tiny terraced house with a tiny garden to the front of the house.

Basically I'm looking to get rid of the small lawn (there's lumps of concrete, stone and God knows what else in there!), demolish an old unsafe footpath that runs from the gate to the front door and across the entire front of the house and replace both the old footpath and lawn altogether with possibly concrete/paving/slabs etc. The plan would be to lower the level of the new foothpath/concrete area in front of the house (to prevent/safeguard against possible flooding risk) the current footpath is only few inches drop from the front door, I'd be hoping to lower it again slightly.

Forgive me if this sounds like a stupid question, but who would be the best person to carry out a job like this? A landscape gardener, a builder or both?

Any information and guidance would be much appreciated, thanks.

Highcontrast1

can you show some photos?

looksee

Really all you need is a competent person, an odd job/gardening type person. Finding someone who is reliable and knows what they are doing is the hardest part. This is an area of work that is absolutely full of chancers and worse, and is why people end up doing it themselves - no matter how amateur there is every chance that your somewhat cobbled job is better than a cobbled job that you have paid for.

You have very little chance of finding a builder willing to do a small job like that. Ask around, talk to neighbours, take your time to find someone who has been recommended to you. Do not employ someone who comes to the door. Do not employ someone who wants money up front. Call into builders providers or garden centres and ask if they can suggest anyone.

If there is any chance you could do it yourself, give it a go!

Buying house2020

looksee wrote: »

Really all you need is a competent person, an odd job/gardening type person. Finding someone who is reliable and knows what they are doing is the hardest part. This is an area of work that is absolutely full of chancers and worse, and is why people end up doing it themselves - no matter how amateur there is every chance that your somewhat cobbled job is better than a cobbled job that you have paid for.

You have very little chance of finding a builder willing to do a small job like that. Ask around, talk to neighbours, take your time to find someone who has been recommended to you. Do not employ someone who comes to the door. Do not employ someone who wants money up front. Call into builders providers or garden centres and ask if they can suggest anyone.

If there is any chance you could do it yourself, give it a go!

Thanks very much. There was a guy who did a few odd jobs last year. He is very honest, affordable and a perfectionist in the work he does, he mentioned that he could do other jobs for us, e.g. gardens, gutters etc. So he might be worth asking. Yes the fact that the job is so small very few people might be interested in it. That's a great idea to ask around the local hardware store etc

Thanks for your help.

GreeBo

looksee wrote: »

Really all you need is a competent person, an odd job/gardening type person. Finding someone who is reliable and knows what they are doing is the hardest part. This is an area of work that is absolutely full of chancers and worse, and is why people end up doing it themselves - no matter how amateur there is every chance that your somewhat cobbled job is better than a cobbled job that you have paid for.

You have very little chance of finding a builder willing to do a small job like that. Ask around, talk to neighbours, take your time to find someone who has been recommended to you. Do not employ someone who comes to the door. Do not employ someone who wants money up front. Call into builders providers or garden centres and ask if they can suggest anyone.

If there is any chance you could do it yourself, give it a go!

This x 1,000.

A DIYer doing a job with care and attention will do a better job than a "professional" who doesn't care in most scenarios.

As a competent DIYer there is nothing more frustrating than paying a tradesman to do a job that you end up fixing yourself when they have gone.

Buying house2020

Thanks for the replies.

How much should I reasonably expect to pay for a job like this?

Thanks

Buying house2020

Thanks for the replies.

How much should I reasonably expect to pay for a job like this?

Thanks

looksee

You are going to need a small skip or skip bag to get rid of the concrete etc, plus a few bags of topsoil to revive the lawn. Then sand & gravel, cement and shuttering for the steps. Maybe looking at €400 so far. This is absolute guesswork as I have no idea of size etc. Maybe hire of a cement mixer. Plus a couple of days work. Plus vat, strictly speaking. In or about a thousand I imagine, depending on how good you are are organising stuff and where you are - and how big the area is.