Trench digging ... should I give it a go myself?

[Sparky1979]

Need 4m of 100mm pipe installed under a block paved drive. Linking an exisiting soil pipe to an exisiting inspection chamber. Been quoted between 1200 and 1500 for the work but as a fairly competent DIY-er I cant help but think this is a job I could manage myself. Any opinions? Time is always an issue with me so don't want it to drag over numerous weekends. I am tempted to just pay up to get it done so would be interested to hear of others experiences with groundworks.
Thanks as always ...

 

[Belboz]

Buy a few cases of beer and invite a few mates around for a 'dig party'.

Free beer in exchange for a bit of digging (tell them to bring their own spade)

Yep - seems crazy but my mate did that a few weeks back when he needed all his back garden turned over.

We turned up in our work clothes and made short work of the digging. We then sat in his (newly-dug over) garden and drank his free beer in the sunshine.

Everyone was happy.

He got his digging done for a fraction of the cost and we got p***ed for nowt.

Only downside was I felt crippled the next day having used muscles I didn't know I had....

 

[jamesnewhere]

£1200 I would go for that,just for an easy life.

Don't forget the fee to your council for building regulations,Testing,debris removal,reinstatement of existing surface.

Cheap as chips.

 

[Sparky1979]

Its the reinstatement of the surface that probably lends me most to just paying up and being done with it. Though I do like the idea of getting sloshed above

 

[garyo]

Depends a bit on your ground conditions. I'd have a go myself, but buy an electric breaker like the one below, plus a wide chisel or clay spade so that you don't spend too long trying to break through the top 200mm of ground - it's always that that seems to have the worst of the stone and debris that disagree with manual spade/fork work.

Once you get down to lay it's plain sailing, if not run a hose over it from time to time to soften it up.

http://www.tesco.com/direct/silverl...6Gc1IPYrvxAExUrjddUVtOMt-WXE2INQtfRoC7Gnw_wcB

 

[munchingB]

i wasnt in a position to pay someone so i recently had to dig 14m 60cm wide and a metre deep. couple of hours here and there, half a day here, half a day some other time...

sounds like you can afford it so it probably comes down to time and how time you want to spend doing it or how quickly or not you need it done.

i wasnt in a rush to do it and took my time but having done it i can well understand the £1200 price tag youve been given.

personally i would much rather spend £1200 on all manner of other things and paying someone to dig a hole wouldnt be anywhere on my list unless i was mega rich and stuck on the gold yacht all day..

 

[Nige F]

Need 4m of 100mm pipe installed under a block paved drive.
...

it`s the paving that`s the bugbear it needs reinstating properly over a correctly laid drain . Now if th run is in an unobtrusive area of the drive - it`s totally diy`able

 

[munchingB]

will you be driving a car over the area then?

did the people who quoted you say anything about lintels or such?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Any opinions? Time is always an issue with me so don't want it to drag over numerous weekends.

Take the middle way of hiring a mini-digger?

 

[cannonfoder]

feccking hell how much??? i hire our own machines out with a operator an that job should only take a day to pull up the paving by hand pull the trench lay an back fill mite even get the paving down to id say max £800 im in kent wink wink nudge nude

 

[ajmoore1]

All depends on the depth of the trench. 4m is not long but if it's 1.5m deep will be a bit of spoil coming out. I would have that dug within 2 hrs on Mini digger if access was ok.