Groundworks
Groundworks are required on the vast majority of projects wither it is a simple patio project or full refurbishment of the garden. Groundworks for small areas that are reasonably flat, can be as simple as a general rake over or in larger projects machines are used. The elements of ground work include:
Arranging the area which includes the removal of any brickwork, wooden building, residual concrete and any ground that needs to be removed like slopes. Each skip takes around 8 tons and 1 ton of compacted ground equates to roughly 0.7 of a cubic meter of settled ground.
The area is then leveled out in to a reasonable flat surface or to a split level which is quite popular, it can be virtually any shape the client wants.
Once the shape has been constructed a levelling agent is used to level out the surfaces, these agents can be sharp sand, hardcore, pea gravel or soil the substance is based on the required surface eg. patio, growing border, artificial grass, gravel, decking or natural lawn is due to be placed upon.
The machines used are normally a mini digger and a dumper/ track barrow. Skips are usually placed on the drive. Skips on the road require a weekly permit costing around £50. Each skip will remove approximately 5.6 cubic meters from your garden and costs on average £240 each.
The cost hand leveling for small areas is around £500, when dealing with bigger areas that require machines cost are from £1,500.