Trellis screen - any idea how much?

This may seem like a very random question but before I ask a local gardener for a quote, I wondered if anyone would know the approx cost of paying someone to erect a trellis screen in a flower bed alongside a patio.  It would need to be approx three 6 x 6 ft panels with fence posts.

Many thanks for any ideas/advice..

Advice is to get at least 3 estimates-it is difficult for any one to say without seeing the site and estimating the time do the job and the materials needed

Also remember there are a lot of tales of woe about shoddy workmanship so get someone who has a trusted reputation-you can check out a lot of tradesmen on checkatrade

http://www.checkatrade.com/

or by recommendation

You don't want it falling down in the first gale

Ok thanks - will take a look at that site

Abby,

Four tanalised 8ft fenceposts at least 80mm dia or square - from £10 each. Trellis could cost anything from £20 to £60 per panel, depending on quality and how 'see-through' it is. As someone said above, if it's a windy site you would go for thicker posts and less dense panelling. Add £20 for screws and fixing brackets. £20 for enough concreting materials to set the posts in. Labour to dig four holes 2ft deep, set the posts in concrete and fix the panels, and to fetch the materials onto site and clean up afterwards. Add a bit for overheads for coming to quote for the job.

I'd say a summer day's work for one man - what that would cost may to some extent depend where you live.

Ask your quoters where you can see examples of their work. Word of mouth is a good recommendation. Remember, you only want to do this job once, so you need someone who can make it look good and do a solid job. Make sure they're insured for third party risks, covering damage to property and to people, not to mention services (gas, water, electricity...do you know where these, and drains, are?) - if they're evasive about insurance tell them to sling their hook. Get fixed-price quotes in writing; it's up to them to satisfy themselves they've identified all the snags, but be honest about any possible problems - for instance if you've buried a lot of concrete or tree stumps on the site, or if you know there are drains, etc. they're entitled to be told.

I'm sure I've missed things, but good luck,

Joe

Joe the G gives really good advice, especially about insurance.

Further thoughts on the price of a day's work.

Say your gardener wants to earn about the national average wage, which I believe is about £23,000 gross. Assuming he aims to work 40 hours a week and takes 4 weeks holiday plus a few bank holidays and odd days to go to the school play, etc. - he will work about 235 days a year, which looks like £100/day before tax. Or to put it in hourly terms, 1880 hours at just over £12/hour.

Now the downside.

He has to pay tax andNational Insurance  on his profit. Until I  get around to doing my accounts I can't remember how much N.I. is. 7 or 8%, I think. He also needs to find the running costs of a work vehicle, contributions to a private pension (check out with a provider what it would cost to give yourself even £5,000 a year in retirement, and remember, no employer contributions), buy tools (a power strimmer suitable for heavy work starts at around £300 - check costs of hedgecutter, mower, etc. - real ones, not toys), buy insurance - third party and his own health and accident. Then a whole lot of consumables - gloves and other personal equipment, office stuff............

Then start thinking about  those 235 days. Just now, when the days are barely eight hours long, the weather's often rubbish, and many gardens are too wet to do anything with (and that's before it snows and freezes) that 40 hours a week starts to look insanely optimistic. So cash-flow will be tricky.

So he's got to work harder and longer when it is fit, and charge a lot more than the above figures to earn a reasonable bottom line. And it's not the sort of job where he fancies still working at that pace when he's 60+.

So don't be too surprised at the gardener's quote!

Joe

Hi there

I just saw this thread and wanted to say I did mine trellis screening myself, and for a girl it was quite easy. We didn't need our posts cementing in as the site is sheltered and the screening is for privacy from a new housing estate at the back of our garden.

I bought my trellis from a local timber merchant and for 6x6 it cost me £15.00 per panel plus £10.00 for delivery.  The posts we got from Wickes at £12.00 each and I bought post spikes at £5.00 each, oh and the thingy you put the spikes in with at £5.00.

An afternoon, a lump hammer and a power screwdriver and all done and the money I saved meant I could buy some lovely bluebell paint to paint then new screening.

Just a thought but it is cheaper and more fun to stand back and look at your own work if you can.

I just did a quote for 7 trellis on 8 ft posts (6ft out the ground) on a windy site With hard ground. This is for good quality materials which i can guarrantee are much better than the £15 efforts sold by wicks. Posts need to be tanalised ( as does the trellis) and concreting to correct depth, if you want to guarantee your work, stuck in the ground with a post spike is a bit feeble to say the least. The price came in at £750 and I must admit I was a little shocked myself. I've been over and over the quote and I've got a real graft to make it pay. At the end of the day I've got bills to pay and kids to feed just like everyone else. If I make £20,000 at the end of a year I've done well !

Pete- I put up my own trellis a couple of years ago, with four trellis and 5 posts, materials cost approx £250 probably purchased half the materials you've used, with spikes, concrete, wood preserve etc the cost soon mounts up. I was surprised to pay £250 just for materials so with labour costs your quote sounds reasonable for a trellis twice the size.