Actually, the piling isn't too bad something like £250 per pile to 4m. And this need specialist machinery etc. But my god the ring beam is pricy. Why so? Mine is specced at 450mm square but is something like £200 per meter. For a trough filed with re-enforced concrete?

DIY?

Well, I think the DIY option might have to be looked into more. I guess it needs to be up to standard / strength as the ground is rubbish – hence the need to have piled foundations in the first place.

Because you have all the formwork and steel cages tied rather than just dumping the conny in a trench with sheet reinforcement – more labour involed

What are you building? Is it a full on extension / building or something more like a conservatory? We currently use a firm called Quickbase for our more complex (conservatory) installations. I know they're still not cheap but might be worth looking at.

http://www.quickbaseuk.com/

cheers stumpyjon. The might do for my porch, but the extension is a 5.5 x 3.5m 2 storey brick extension.

As Yoshimi says, laying the reinforcement steel is very labour intensive.

Are there special methods for tying the steels then? are they welded?

Usually they just twist a bit of steel wire around the joints ! Its only to hold them in place until the concrete is poured.

So what makes it all so labour intensive then? Dig a tench. Lob in a steel cage (I assume it's a cage) cut to length, pour concrete. Am I missing something?

No that is pretty much it! But you need to be extra sure you have the right cages in there and that they are tied properly! Also do you need any protruding steels for vertical pillers/walls later? Always good to think about that… Oh and if you are gonna do it yourself you will need to get a good vibrator (ooeerr) to get all the crete into the space and any air out.

Also if you are getting a truck for the concrete and not mixing by hand then they will advise the best 'mix' for the application.

Don't do it yourself unless you know exactly what you are doing. there will be a very good reason your engineer has specified that foundation type for your extension and it needs to be done properly which is labour intensive.

Also given the size of your extension the contractor won't have a great economy of scale so will be on the expensive side!

Sam if your not happy get a 2nd quote. Or if you like, email me the following details and I'll give you a rough cost of what I would expect to pay.

Perimeter of beam
Rebar schedule (or at least total weight of rebar)
Cross section size of beam
Size of pile caps
Diameter of piles and number of them.

Where you are.
Location of work ie any access restrictions, can a concrete wagon discharge direct ?
Idea of ground conditions.

In a word, labour.

The rebar will have to be bent and tied together before being 'lobbed' into the ground. This will take several hours, as it's a small job your fixed costs (machinery) will be higher in relation to each metre length of ring beam required. It's probably not a DIY job unless you're a concrete labourer?

Concrete is probably close to £100 m3 on a small job, rebar at £400/tonne, so the materials won't be the large element of it.

Just out of interest, what is about the ground that has determined a piled foundation and is the existing building you are extending also piled ?

guess it needs to be up to standard / strength as the ground is rubbish

Also if you are getting a truck for the concrete and not mixing by hand then they will advise the best 'mix' for the application.

Hahahaa! Footings mixes are about the second cheapest crap you can get your hands on ususally, second only to kerb mixes.

Still not cheap though. Wouldn't surprise me if you're looking at the best part of £100 a cubic meter delivered for readymix these days

marcus – neighbours on either side have had nightmares trying to do standard footings. Digging deep and all the nightmares that entails. So it's probably easier to just go with piled foundations.
I doubt very much the existing hosue (built in the 1930s) has piled foundations!

lowey – ta, I'll email you some drawings.

Lowey – ygm.

YGM Back.

Is STW taking over the internet, googled ‘ring beam’ (in a professional capacity) and this post was the fourth in the list? Truly a repository of all world knowledge…

How did the building project go by the way?

Austen