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Is this possible or am I crazy?

tara_1990tara_1990 Posts: 3
in Garden design
So we're finally getting round to making a start on our garden. We eventually want to turn the conservatory into an extension, & have doors coming out of the back onto a patio, with a grass area to the rear. Because of this, we either need to level the ground at the rear of the current conservatory so that a patio can be laid, with a raised area for the grass, or level the whole lot to ground level. I'm just wondering which would be recommended based on drainage & inevitably cost? I've attached some pictures to give you an idea of what I'm up against. Any advice welcome!

Posts

  • owd potterowd potter Posts: 979
    edited March 2020
    hello @tara_1990, welcome.
    Anything is possible...
    doesn't necessarily mean that you are not crazy though.
    Presumably you are intending putting an extension on the entire footprint of conservatory? laying a patio on what is currently shale, and laying lawn beyond that to existing lawn?
    Or are you also planning to include the raised area at side which the steps access?
    Will you be doing work yourselves or hiring contractors?
    Just another day at the plant...
  • tara_1990tara_1990 Posts: 3
    edited March 2020
    Thank you for your quick reply @owd potter we’re looking at patio-ing where the shale is & then lawn where the raised area is & along the back so that will need levelling. There is also a step up to the garden itself currently, so that will also need flattening to ground level for the patio. It might be a case that we have to do some of the manual clearance work ourselves, as I’m anticipating it might be a costly job  :#
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    If you are having an extension built eventually, the builders will most probably bring diggers in (if access is available) in order to dig the foundations. It would be cheaper and much quicker to ask them to level the garden by machine at the same time.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • owd potterowd potter Posts: 979
    From what I can see in photos that raised area at side looks to be about 6m x 3m x 0.60m high (4 steps). That's a lot of excavation, especially to do manually.  
    I do know something about crazy plans though...
    I built a 12m2 patio last year on our sloping plot. 
    Excavated by hand and the spoil carted to skips at front of house all done manually as I have no access to rear of house for machinery. 
    It took me 3 weeks to excavate and cart 8m3 or so of spoil filling 3 large skips. 
    It's not something to take on lightly!  

    How is your access?, can you get a mini excavator in + skips?
    Just another day at the plant...
  • tara_1990tara_1990 Posts: 3
    edited March 2020
    yes we’ve got access down the side for a mini excavator & skips so that should lighten the load considerably. Would you suggest doing the grunt work ourselves & then getting the pros in to finish the job? I think that’s probably where we’re going to save the most £££
  • owd potterowd potter Posts: 979
    edited March 2020
    Yes.
    If you like a challenge, are reasonably able, and most importantly have the time to invest and can put up with living on a building site for a prolonged period, then you will save a great deal of money by taking care of the 'grunt work' yourselves and managing your own project.
    I would aim to do all groundworks, drainage and basic trades jobs, including demolitions, excavations, foundation works, and depending on your comfort zone for construction, the building works for blockwork walls, and all first fix joinery, electrical cabling and plumbing.
    I would employ Pro's by trade or specialism to complete the finishing works, window & door installation and anything visible requiring a good finish such as facing brickwork, plastering (this is a black magic trade to me!), roofing, final electrical connections & commissioning (depending on complexity of your installation), floor finishing etc.   
    It is hard graft no doubt, but aside from the cost saving, hugely rewarding. 
    Of course, if you are not considering doing any of the building work yourselves then you may be better doing as suggested by @Lizzie27 above and getting your builders to level the ground for you for speed and convenience.  
    Do you have a design finalised?  
    Just another day at the plant...
  • NewBoy2NewBoy2 Posts: 1,813
    I think we at GW will be more useful once you have employed builders and architects to lay out your ideal structures to then infil with plants and smaller features

    Good luck and come back when you have finished.
    Everyone is just trying to be Happy.....So lets help Them.
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