Cost of weedkilling construction site lawn
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jollyman Rank attained: Hazel Tree

Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 26 Location: Limerick/Cork
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 9:40 am Post subject: Cost of weedkilling construction site lawn |
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Hi all,
We hired a landscaper €2,200 to rotavate and sew it hopefully before the end of september weather dependant. Its about 3/4 acre of lawn all in, how much should this cost to weedkill and would you not think its in the price of €2,200, he is looking for a sizeable extra cost for weedkilling it.
Regards,
Jolly _________________ http://selfbuildardmore.blogspot.com/ |
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cooler Rank attained: Sessile Oak Tree


Joined: 15 Jun 2006 Posts: 292
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 11:31 am Post subject: |
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Well landscapers are currently charging anything from €1 to €3 per square metre to prepare and sow a lawn (seed). Overall size of lawn, existing soil conditions, access and the country city price diference will also influence price.
3/4 acre is about 3000 square metres. So even if he asks for €800 for weedkilling you are still getting it at €1 per square metre.
Is it €800 he is asking for? _________________ 'Unemployment is capitalisms way of getting you to plant a garden'.
Orson Scott Card |
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jollyman Rank attained: Hazel Tree

Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 26 Location: Limerick/Cork
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 11:42 am Post subject: |
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I thought he was overcharging but your prices seem dearer again, if i knew he was goin to charge i would have done it myself, he is looking for €150 for each of the three times he has done it, which i still think is well over the top. _________________ http://selfbuildardmore.blogspot.com/ |
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Foxylock Rank attained: Sessile Oak Tree


Joined: 08 Aug 2009 Posts: 291 Location: cork
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 3:47 pm Post subject: |
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Holy smokes Jollyman
I killed off a half acre for my sis earlier this year. I spent 200 quid on weedkiller and had it done in a couple of hours. The price of my labour was a fry up and a wibbly wobbly wonder  |
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jollyman Rank attained: Hazel Tree

Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 26 Location: Limerick/Cork
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 4:11 pm Post subject: |
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Is weed killer that dear?
Even so, it is very expensive to be charging €450 only took him a half hour _________________ http://selfbuildardmore.blogspot.com/ |
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Foxylock Rank attained: Sessile Oak Tree


Joined: 08 Aug 2009 Posts: 291 Location: cork
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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I had quite a bit left over. A litre of roundup concentrate costs about 35 quid depending on where you purchase. Quite a few chancers around nowadays  |
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Michael196 Rank attained: Silver Birch Tree


Joined: 24 Jul 2008 Posts: 194 Location: WEXFORD
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Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:13 am Post subject: |
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weedkill only should cost minimally.
except for an area of 3/4 acre its more about time, to intrically cover every inch
I would suggest to have it included in the overall cost with no additional charge. u can always suggest to go elsewhere |
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cooler Rank attained: Sessile Oak Tree


Joined: 15 Jun 2006 Posts: 292
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Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 12:47 pm Post subject: |
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Just a guess, but I reckon your landscaper gave you a price initially without weighing up the job sufficently. He then realised his error and thought Christ I better try and factor in a bit more to complete this job. Hence the extra charges for spraying.
Wrong on his part if he did this, but if he did not factor in more charges would it result in a poor finish as he cut corners to try and make a profit from the job.
So jollyman you have a choice to make, do you tell him to stuff his extra charge and complete the job for his initial quote. Possible outcomes 1. he tells you to stuff your job, 2. he does the job to perfection, 3. he does the job begrudingly, and you watch him like a hawk to prevent corners being cut.
jollyman wrote: | I thought he was overcharging but your prices seem dearer again, if i knew he was goin to charge i would have done it myself, |
I don't know if you mean do the spraying alone or do both the spraying and seeding of the lawn. If you or someone else does the spraying besides the landscaper sowing the lawn, then there could be problems if the lawn is weedy and does not establish correctly. It may be a case of sorry Guv but the ground preparion was not done correctly, not my problem.
All food for thought. Please keep us updated on how you get on. I will watch this one with interest. Good luck with it. _________________ 'Unemployment is capitalisms way of getting you to plant a garden'.
Orson Scott Card |
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jollyman Rank attained: Hazel Tree

Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 26 Location: Limerick/Cork
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Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 1:47 pm Post subject: |
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Ok full story landscaper is a friend of my girlfriend thought he would give us a good price, he initially came and walked it and we agreed on €2,200. I thought this was a reasonable enough price and agreed wth him, he sprayed it twice on weekends when we were away, the third time we asked him to spray it as it was going out of control. So in my opionion first and secon spray should be part of his initial price, third one is possibly an extra, i met him there the day of the third spray, he said his price was now €2,500 and €150 for each spray, the total becoming €2,950 increase of €750 from initial price, we were only going starting the lawn last weekend, and he asked me to get in a tracks machine to level the place and rake it from stones, this really annoyed me, so today i sent him a bank draft for €450 and told him to get lost! I have another local landscaper priced it at €1600 to level it, rotivate it stone it and seed it. _________________ http://selfbuildardmore.blogspot.com/ |
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Foxylock Rank attained: Sessile Oak Tree


Joined: 08 Aug 2009 Posts: 291 Location: cork
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Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:19 pm Post subject: |
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I come across this a lot in the trades the " I 'll do ya a good deal coz I know ya " . No such thing as friends when it comes to pricing a job and the price of labour should be going down these days not up ( I know mine is !! ). Another old trick is to give a reasonable price to get ones foot in the door and then bump it up by piling on the "extras " This carry on sickens me and gives the decent guys a bad name, creating suspicion and mistrust along the way. You did well to give this joker the road and I hope the rest of your job is stress free and enjoyable. Look forward to next year when you will be basking in the smell of freshly cut grass. All the best  |
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jollyman Rank attained: Hazel Tree

Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 26 Location: Limerick/Cork
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jollyman Rank attained: Hazel Tree

Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 26 Location: Limerick/Cork
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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:31 am Post subject: |
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Hi all,
Was wondering how much seed ill need, i read other posts here says 1 ounce to a square yard, i have 3/4 acre which works out as 3,630 square yards. There is 35 ounces in a kg, one ounce per square yard is 3,630 ounces so does this mean 103kg of seed? Thats a lot of seed??
Also when should we fertilise it,my uncle said he put down 7:14:7 and his grass looks great, _________________ http://selfbuildardmore.blogspot.com/ |
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James Kilkelly Rank: Site Admin

Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 2173 Location: West of Ireland
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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:03 am Post subject: |
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Is it yourself that's seeding it now jollyman, not the landscaper?
If it is yourself you will need to spread approx 45 grammes of seed per square metre, which can be broadcast by hand or use a wheeled spreader.
A 25kg bag of lawn seed covers approx 550 sq metres at a rate of 45g to the square metre.
Broadcast by hand or use a wheeled spreader you yourself will need approx 135kg.
Firstly, give the grass seed you've bought a good mix with your hands, bringing the seed on the bottom of the bag/carton to the top and then mixing it throughout all the other seed. You carry this out because lawn seed mixture is made up of 3,4,5, or more types of grass seeds mixed together, you don't want to sow all the smaller seeds in one section of the lawn and the larger seeds in another. Divide the grass seed into 2 lots and spread half the seed whilst walking up and down the proposed lawn, with the other half being spread whilst walking left and right across the lawn.
If it is the landscaper seeding then he may be using a direct seeding/seed stitching machine so the quantity of seed required may be lowered.
On the issue of fertilising.....
A general purpose spring/summer lawn feed (without weed or moss killers) can be applied to the new lawn after its third cut. Feeding any earlier or applying a weed/mosskiller in this stage ( weed/mosskiller anytime during first six months) will more than likely scorch the young grass plants.
This sticky I wrote at the top of the lawn section How to sow a lawn from grass seed in Ireland-Lawn Hints/Tips should be required reading for someone in your situation.
Ounces, kgs, and square yards combined can be confusing, so I try to keep everything metric..... grammes, kgs, and square metres.
Roundup weedkiller _________________ Gardening books.
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Last edited by James Kilkelly on Fri Sep 11, 2009 1:53 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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jollyman Rank attained: Hazel Tree

Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 26 Location: Limerick/Cork
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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:15 am Post subject: |
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Hi James,
We are thinking of attemping it ourselves now yes, had the tracks machine there the weekend levelling the place, so looks good now, raked all the dead weeds off and picked the bigger stones.
Our uncle has an old dexta tractorand a rotavator, so will get him in there tomorrow if the rain stays away i will hire a seed spreader and a water filled roller and work away from there, is €70 for 25kg bag, as good a price as i will get? I have read our sticky and its very informative, is there any potential disasters out there for us, doing this ourselves? _________________ http://selfbuildardmore.blogspot.com/ |
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James Kilkelly Rank: Site Admin

Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 2173 Location: West of Ireland
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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:25 am Post subject: |
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jollyman wrote: | Hi James,
We are thinking of attemping it ourselves now yes, had the tracks machine there the weekend levelling the place, so looks good now, raked all the dead weeds off and picked the bigger stones.
I have read our sticky and its very informative, is there any potential disasters out there for us, doing this ourselves? |
If you follow the piece I wrote you should be fine.
However beware of working wet soil......was it wet when the track machine was working it?
From the article........ Ensure nothing but light rainfall occurs when you are carrying out soil movement and grading whether it be by hand or machine. This will prevent creating a pan in the soil (a layer of smeared soil or subsoil that water cannot drain through).
jollyman wrote: | Our uncle has an old dexta tractorand a rotavator, so will get him in there tomorrow if the rain stays away i will hire a seed spreader and a water filled roller and work away from there, |
Yeow, up the Deeexta boy.
jollyman wrote: | is €70 for 25kg bag, as good a price as i will get? |
I've seen cheaper...... try your local farmers co-op for No.2. Lawn Seed Mix as their price will usually be keen. _________________ Gardening books.
http://www.allotments.ie/ Ireland's allotments.
On Twitter... http://twitter.com/Allotments
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