paver pricing

[hyperionguy]

I got a quote today for laying some pavers in my back yard. It seemed high, but then again I always have sticker shock with such things. For instance the fence I had replaced after someone drove their car through it. Ugh.

Anyway, it is using the pavers shown in the pic below. They're about 3" thick. He'll do a proper base and install 550 sq ft. He'll also jackhammer and remove a step and small concrete pad (3'x4') that is outside the back door. He quoted me $5,500.

Does that sound high? I see similar pavers for about $4/sq.ft at Home Depot, so add in base material and it's pretty much 50% labor.

 

[techguy]

I guess you need to decide if the $2,750 in labor is worth your time. Also, his number includes delivery of the shopping time to get the required supplies, cost of any tractor work, new bricks and removal of the old junk/concrete (I assume). Also, in my case.. the extra money insures the work will get done in a timely fashion and not drag on all summer(s).

Have you gotten competing bids?

 

[blakeusa]

Seems reasonable to me -- if he removes the existing materials, prepares the base with processed gravel and compacts it well, and uses a paver that is better quality then the Home D.

That's 10 a sf and they get 14-18 sf in CT.

You have travel time, base materials + sand or stone dust, equipment ie compactor, and time. Its a lot of work if you DYI

Most of the work is prep- laying the pavers is the easy part.

 

[hyperionguy]

thanks for the input. i guess i feel better about it. There is no way I would take this on as a DIY - too much hard labor and too much heat outside.

To Guy's comment... i totally agree with the timeliness aspect of it.

When i used the same guy to replace a lot of fencing and he did great work and was competitively priced compared to other estimates.

 

[techguy]

Then I guess you have your answer, you need to dig a little deeper into that wallet.

I know I spend twice as much on decking as I have on my pool cost. This doesn't take into account the patio or anything else.

 

[hyperionguy]

Then I guess you have your answer, you need to dig a little deeper into that wallet.

Well... ok then! I guess you told me.

lol :lol:

 

[Carnut12]

I wish I could get pavers that cheap in New England.

Go for it

 

[techguy]

lol

 

[davelinde]

In central Florida we paid a bit less than $10/ft for installed pavers. I don't have my notes here but from memory I don't think we paid more than a couple dollars/ft for the install and another few dollars/ft for the material. Then again, pavers are done in high volume around here and the guy who did mine was a friend who charged me the same rate he would have gotten if a PB had subbed him. Additionally, because he's done high volume for years he got a huge discount on the materials, so our installed cost was close to the retail price of the paver alone. On top of that cost I paid a few hundred for the delivery we did a lot of paver so that was for two trucks and I paid the delivery/material cost for the concrete fines directly, maybe $400 if I recall, which was enough to put 2" compacted base under 1500 foot of deck and paths, more in some places to get proper pitch.

I do think the going rate for this kind of work can swing a lot though - when we did it construction was down in our area and several of our subs told us that they were now working for half of what they were getting during the building boom. So it is hard to compare this region to region. For instance, the helper our guy hired was getting $150/day + $50 because he had his own tools (saw and compactor).

 

[Suziqzer]

Any kind of contractor work tends to run close to 50% material 50% labor in my experience. You can get a few more estimates from contractors in your area to be sure, but if the guy who has given you the first bid did good work for you before I would hire him again even if he came in a little higher than another estimate. Good contractors who finish the work and do it right the first time are hard to find.

 

[davelinde]

Any kind of contractor work tends to run close to 50% material 50% labor in my experience.

The check of labor and materials roughly equal is one I use, the other is how much they are getting per day for the kind of work done.

What I learned about pavers was that retail material price and what the trades get it for are not close... and a guy who does a lot of paver and a guy who does it occasionally are not getting anywhere near the same discount.

With that said - there is HUGE wisdom in choosing a guy who will show up when promised, knows what he is doing and does it right, and finishes the job before he's gone to the next one.

 

[NoFear95]

I would get at least 3 qoutes before you move forward with someone.

 

[techguy]

Three quotes could tell you if your "normal" guy is giving you a good price. Quotes are free and you may learn something in the process. Or even come up with an idea you had not considered.

 

[hyperionguy]

Thanks again for all of the comments. They have helped.

 

[Stevereno]

Three quotes could tell you if your "normal" guy is giving you a good price. Quotes are free and you may learn something in the process. Or even come up with an idea you had not considered.

Agreed all around.

 

[bk406]

I wish I could get pavers that cheap in New England.

Go for it

Me too. Going rate here in Massachusetts is between $15 and $20 per sq ft, more towards the 20!

 

[hyperionguy]

I finally got it done! I went with the original guy I discussed above. They did a great job and it went very quickly.

When I bought this place, the yard was a total wreck (yes, the before pictures are after cleaning things up and putting in a new fence). I'm finally getting around to doing something about the ground. What you're seeing is about 40% of the fenced in back yard area of this patio home.

I ended up having 750 sq/ft done. I had them stop 2' from the fence so that I could put in landscaping. The stoop outside of that set of patio doors looked easy enough to get rid of, but we were wrong. It took 2 guys 3.5 hours of jackhammering and a sledge hammer to break it up. It went down 12-14 inches below ground!

 

[hyperionguy]

one more before

 

[hyperionguy]

After:

...and yes, I can't stand the jail cell color of my neighbor's house and they know it.

Now I just need to get busy decorating.

 

[ar15]

Looks to be well worth the money spent. I have been looking at replacing a cement slab with pavers and haven't even begun to get quotes. They did a great job leveling and giving a uniform look! That job would have taken me a few months haha