Garden Office Foundations

[Sdfuk]

Hi

I want to build a timber framed garden office but our soil is clay. There is one sliver birch tree about 2m away. The size will be approximately 7x4m.

The quote I have been given is as follows:

The area will be excavated to 400m and all arisings carted away.
A timber form work will be placed around the edge. The outer edge will be left at 400mm x 400mm deep to create a "TOE". This adds strength at the weakest point, the perimeter. A sub-base of crushed type one will be spread across the remaining base to a depth of 200mm and compacted.

We will use a concrete pump lorry to pump the concrete delivery to the base. This will be in a continuous pour.
The concrete will be tamped and float finished. The concrete used will be fiberous.

The cost for this is ......£6400+VAT.

This seems a lot to me as my brother-in-law has just started his and admittedly he did the excavations himself but the cost of the reinforced concrete came to £1,000.

Any thoughts or recommendation for ground workers in the Chelmsford area.

Cheers
S

 

[joe-90]

Just build it like a pavilion on low legs. Couple of hundred would sort it. Do it yourself over a weekend.

 

[ricardospizza]

Your brother is about right. Concrete slab with a bit of steel is best maybe 1.5K if someone else does it.

Richard www.aarco.co.uk - foundation article on my blog might be worth a read.

 

[Sdfuk]

Hi

Thanks for that. Just been looking into hiring a mini digger to do it myself. Even if i went for reinforced concrete + adding fibers, the cost is still going to be under £1,500.

Cheers
S