Cost for kerbing and driveway on new site

MrThrifty

Straight to the point, I have a site with a house now built but just a rough gravel driveway thrown down as part of the builders finish. There's no kerbing or proper levelling or drainage of the driveway. I'm about to go looking for quotes for the kerbing and levelling but would appreciate some feedback on what a reasonable cost or rate/m should be.

I know it's a bit like asking how long is a piece of string but maybe people have had similar jobs done and can let me know what it cost them. The levelling required for drainage is relatively small. Also the driveway is probably only 2.5m wide at the moment and needs widening to 3m. Kerbing would be the basic concrete type.

Thinking about it, it's not really the materials cost that I need an idea of as I've got this from other threads (~€5 per m of kerbing, €8 per tonne of stone) but just what a reasonable rate is for a man and his digger per day, and how long it should take to mark out the levels at the start, dig a soakaway, lay the kerbing and spread the stone level. Also a ballpark estimate on how long in total the job should take in man days would be useful too!!

Wish I had married into a builder's family!!

Al Capwned

Hi.
What part of the country are you in???
Al....

MrThrifty

alproctor wrote: »

Hi.
What part of the country are you in???
Al....

?? Is this a marriage proposal?! Not sure the wife would be too happy...

Am in Cork...

Al Capwned

I'm from Kildare, but theres a good friend of my bro's living in Cork, and he specializes in that sort of work, and he would be only to happy to meet with, or contact you, to discuss options that may suit you. Let me know if interested, and I can pass on his number to you, or ask him to get in touch with you.
Alan....

macadam

Kerbs need to be laid to correct levels, all too often I have had to relay a complete driveway that was just thrown down by the builder to get some extra cash at the end of the build, approx cost for an 8x4 pressed kerb supply and lay on concrete with concrete backing and pointing of joints to correct falls €15+ per linear mtr, this can be cheaper with precast kerbing.

MrThrifty

Macadam, thanks for that - along the lines of what I'm looking for. Since money is tight, we'd be going down the precast route. When you say cheaper, do you mean something like 10-15 quid/meter?

Finally, with a username like macadam, you might be biased but I'll ask anyway - builders aside, would you trust a groundworks contractor with kerbing as much as a tarmac/driveway company?

macadam

MrThrifty wrote: »

Macadam, thanks for that - along the lines of what I'm looking for. Since money is tight, we'd be going down the precast route. When you say cheaper, do you mean something like 10-15 quid/meter?

Finally, with a username like macadam, you might be biased but I'll ask anyway - builders aside, would you trust a groundworks contractor with kerbing as much as a tarmac/driveway company?

Twice this past month I have had to lift and relay kerbs and remove excess filling all laid by ex motorway employed Groundworkers who normally dont take levels ie everything is set out for them.
The precast kerbs will turn green and mouldy in a matter of months whilst the Pressed kerbs retain there colour.
When I lay kerbs I have to get it right as I am probably laying the finished surface and need it to be spot on, a good grade laser level is all thats required.
maca..

MrThrifty

macadam wrote: »

The precast kerbs will turn green and mouldy in a matter of months whilst the Pressed kerbs retain there colour.

That's funny - was driving around at weekend and noticed all the mouldy looking kerbing everywhere. Was a bit shocked and looked up the web afterwards for alternatives to concrete kerbing! Didn't get far though and just assumed that the mouldy kerbing was just very, very old or maybe could be weather-sealed when first laid to protect it... So the few clean-looking kerb jobs I saw may not just have been new but probably a pressed type of kerb. Interestingly, they tended to be much wider types with nicer looking splays. Thanks for that advise!!

Sent you a PM on the other stuff but not sure if it sent properly!

MrThrifty

Weird, but just been looking into precast and pressed kerbing and am finding them to be the same thing?! Precast kerbs would appear to be formed via hydraulic pressing... ???

macadam

MrThrifty wrote: »

Weird, but just been looking into precast and pressed kerbing and am finding them to be the same thing?! Precast kerbs would appear to be formed via hydraulic pressing... ???

Never got your PM , and only came back over this thread, .
Precast kerbs are made from wet concrete and left to air dry, where as pressed kerbs are pressed dry the water is literally squeezed out of them and its very rare these will get covered in algae.
Not much difference in the price and the pressed kerbs i find are always uniform.
Glad to help as this game has to many people giving it a bad name.