Driveways, fencing, patios and roofs

Most of what decides a price sits where you cannot see it from the road. A patio that looks like a weekend job can be sitting on clay that has to be dug out and replaced with a proper sub base, and a drive that has dropped in the middle nearly always has a failed base under it. That is exactly what we found on one block-paved drive this summer: the edging had let go, the car had pushed the blocks out of place, so every block was lifted, the old sub base dug out, the blocks laid back down and two extensions added. Access counts as well. If every slab, bag of sand and post has to come through the house or down a narrow side path, the job takes longer, and the waste has to go the same way out; our job notes end the same way time after time, with the waste cleared and recycled. Then there are materials, the biggest swing of all. A run of softwood panels on timber posts and a run of close board on concrete posts with gravel boards are not the same money, and nor are a buff riven slab and a 1200 by 600 porcelain one. So the price comes from looking at the job, and quotes are free.