Sorry another - how much for question

Apologies, I have a How much for question for you.
I have a small retaining garden wall that needs three more house brick layers going on top.
The wall will then need rendering and capping with Indian stone (I'm having some indian stone patio laid).
The wall is approx 24' long with two steps in the middle and has two angles to it (the wall that is).
So roughly how much should I expect to pay for this work please?
I thought of doing it myself and posted a question on here regrading the mortar mix, but have decided it needs a professional, not me
Would appreciate price thoughts from you guys or if you can point me to some online average quoting system that would be great.
Thanks in advance
Andy

AndyJay2019 said:

Apologies, I have a How much for question for you.
I have a small retaining garden wall that needs three more house brick layers going on top.
The wall will then need rendering and capping with Indian stone (I'm having some indian stone patio laid).
The wall is approx 24' long with two steps in the middle and has two angels to it (the wall that is).
So roughly how much should I expect to pay for this work please?
I thought of doing it myself and posted a question on here regrading the mortar mix, but have decided it needs a professional, not me
Would appreciate price thoughts from you guys or if you can point me to some online average quoting system that would be great.
Thanks in advance
Andy

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Invite some locals to give you a quote.
Otherwise, ask the angels.
I know you meant angles.

Do you mean render or repoint? If the former that element of the job may be something more specialised. Try a local facebook group for recommendations and be prepared for wide variations in the quotes, you will have to make a judgement call.

People knock Mybuilder but you can get free advice there.

Blup

blup said:

People knock Mybuilder but you can get free advice there.

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Free advice from clueless chancers and charlatans is not really worth having.

^woody^ said:

Free advice from clueless chancers and charlatans is not really worth having.

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You could say that about about diynot, knowing or judging the difference between them and genuine expertise is the challenge.

Blup

blup said:

You could say that about about diynot, knowing or judging the difference between them and genuine expertise is the challenge.

Blup

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I did a dissertation on the cowboys, controlling quality, regulation and schemes similar to the current internet lot and this was during the very early days of the internet.

My conclusions were that no market led scheme can hope to deal with bad builders or bad work because the two are in conflict. The only schemes that could work will have to be state sponsored and controlled. Although successive governments have mishandled the Trustmark/ Quality Mark schemes with poor implementation of the initial goals, the other safety based schemes work well.

I've not seen or heard of a good thing from any builder's work on any of the my builder type schemes, which are set up solely in the interests of the scheme owner and the builders, not the customers. And this seems to replicate what I found out in the research.

The difference with DIYnot is that whilst the replies on this site are opinion not advice, there are clearly members here who are knowledgeable via their profession or their experience, and they have no vested interest in the opinions they make. Further, there is a large element of inherent moderation where several impartial opinions are given, and that does not occur on my builder type sites, so rogue comments can quickly be spotted and contradicted.

^woody^ said:

I did a dissertation on the cowboys, controlling quality, regulation and schemes similar to the current internet lot and this was during the very early days of the internet.

My conclusions were that no market led scheme can hope to deal with bad builders or bad work because the two are in conflict. The only schemes that could work will have to be state sponsored and controlled. Although successive governments have mishandled the Trustmark/ Quality Mark schemes with poor implementation of the initial goals, the other safety based schemes work well.

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Very interesting dissertation! Are your conclusions based on a theoretical model such as Akerlof's Market for Lemons?

chris1982 said:

Very interesting dissertation! Are your conclusions based on a theoretical model such as Akerlof's Market for Lemons?

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No, although I did look at several consumer purchase behaviour theories, I looked more at how building work was controlled and how homeowners could be protected.

I only came across Akerlof a few years later and did wonder if his theory would apply. But what I suggested was that typically, work to someone's home (I was mainly looking at structural, major works or safety related works) was given a higher precedence than other consumer purchases, and as such, despite the typical information search and raised perception, homeowners were mostly reliant on whatever the "expert" builder/tradesman would tell them and would instruct work based on emotion and not reason. Hence the need for some [third party] control in the process.

Arkelof suggested a hesitancy to pay no more than average price, but I found that for building work there was a willingness to pay higher prices for several reasons as this was their home, and too much trust was given to the builder for several reasons too.

Indeed in Akerlof's Market the asymmetric information is such that the buyers don't want to spend as much on an old car as the average seller wants to charge, as they think why would the guy be selling it if it was a good car. So the two parties won't trade because the buyer does not have the same information as the seller. The market fails.

Incomplete information applies to working on someone's home too, as homeowners do not know what work needs doing and how it should be done. So they look for an expert who should know more. And what you seem to be describing is that they are happy to pay more, hoping to get a "better" expert. And unlike Akerlof's Market a (internet) market for tradesmen does exist, yet not an efficient one as prices are distorted upwards. I think in Economics this is called Supplier-induced demand (and when it comes to tradesmen the forum calls it cowboys I believe).

For small jobs - electrics, paving etc I have had good experience with my builder etc, because honest tradesmen can and do build up a good reputation there. You just have to be very careful and distinguish the questionable reviews from the genuine. Their ask a tradesman section typically has the same range of responses as a typical diynot topic, often helpful but rarely conclusive.

As for Akerlof's second hand car market, the main dealers and independent car retailers I have dealt with recently are really only interested in selling credit and insurance, the price is fixed and they do not shift.

Blup

Thanks guys - It is very frustrsting and stressful from a buyers point of view, even more so due to the Covid-19. It seems everyone wants their garden landscaped. Nothing wrong in that, but there' s a high demand and 'amateur' or 'newbie' tradespeople all claim to be experts.
I'm trying to tread carefully.
Andy