# How long does it take you DIYers to finish your paver project?



## htabbas (Oct 25, 2011)

One of my neighbors hired professional landscapers to do their paver project: a driveway, some walkways and a patio totally 1000 sq-ft. It took 4 men 5 full days to finish the job.

So I am wondering how long will it take for DIY the same thing. Anybody who has DIYed some paver project can you chime in? Thanks!


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## Clutchcargo (Mar 31, 2007)

Spring - summer - and well into the fall but never before the snow starts.


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

4 men taking 5 days for a 1000 sf job is a little longer. The only thing that could have required that was preparation and problems getting material to the setter. On a large commercial project, it common to see 3 tenders supplying pavers to a good setter. Usually material handling/supply is the critical item on a commercial job.

On a DIY job, it all depends on the number of people, ability to supply pavers and speed of the setter. Most DIYers are not 2 handed, hand over hand setters. Also, the hours per day and work ethic can be a problem.

Dick


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

The actual placement of the pavers goes quick. It is the preparation that takes some time. How much digging was involved, was the removal of existing turf necessary? Were the grades shot-in properly? How much layout and staking was required? I don't think it is reasonable to assume five days for that crew was outlandish. How many were skilled at installing pavers and how many were just warm bodies there for the burritos?


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## htabbas (Oct 25, 2011)

concretemasonry said:


> 4 men taking 5 days for a 1000 sf job is a little longer. The only thing that could have required that was preparation and problems getting material to the setter. On a large commercial project, it common to see 3 tenders supplying pavers to a good setter. Usually material handling/supply is the critical item on a commercial job.
> 
> On a DIY job, it all depends on the number of people, ability to supply pavers and speed of the setter. Most DIYers are not 2 handed, hand over hand setters. Also, the hours per day and work ethic can be a problem.
> 
> Dick


 
That being said, for my case, I will hire two unskilled day laborers to do the digging work and I will make sure the prep work is right (grading, compactness, flatness etc). How many days (8 hrs a day) do you think I can reasonably finish? Just give me a ball park number from your gut feelings. My estimate is 4 days. Thanks! I just want to estimate the time now so that I can arrange my vacation days.


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## kmpittman (Oct 7, 2011)

You're wanting to do an entire driveway, patio and walk ways? Keep in mind you have to dig almost twice as far down for a driveway...digging alone for all of that will take a day and a half if you are going to the correct depths and getting the right pitch and leveling


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

Just hire someone to have a machine do the grading, spreading the base for drainage and compacting it. - A day at most. There is a time and place to hire a man and equipment to allow you to get the most out of your DIY portion. The compacted base does not have to be level, but should follow the desired drainage and the 1" sand thickness should be uniform and consistent to reflect the drainage desired.

Then all you have to do isset edge restraints, the 1" sand setting bed and the pavers. Then just rent a vibratory plate compactor for a few hours (max) to vibrated sand into the joints and even out the surface.

I have seen 20 to 40 acre industrial installations done with 5 skilled setters and 20 laborers, (more than normal because of the distance and accessibility).

Dick


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## High Gear (Nov 30, 2009)

If you are one man crew you may wish to plan on some vacation days for recouperation.

A thousand feet is alot unless you have help , maybe break up your 

projects in sections.


You won't be so tired and apt to get careless as it will show up in your work.


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## htabbas (Oct 25, 2011)

High Gear said:


> If you are one man crew you may wish to plan on some vacation days for recouperation.
> 
> A thousand feet is alot unless you have help , maybe break up your
> 
> ...


 
I will hire somebody to do the excavation thing. Like Concretemasonry suggested, I can get some professionals to excavate and level the patio/walkway and maybe the grading also. I will go from there. I am just trying to reduce those $8-10/sq-ft labor cost down to maybe $2/sq-ft. Of course, a true DIYer might want to reduce that number to utter zero.  Not for me.


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## Mark Hill (Oct 22, 2011)

I did a 500 sf patio by myself last fall, and here's how it went. First, it was covered by grass and sprinklers, so I ripped out all that. Ripping out all the grass and re-routing the irrigation lines and reconfiguring valves took about 2 days of working 10 hr days, by myself. Next I went through and made sure I had a VERY firm foundation. This took me about 1 day. I didn't want to skimp here so I rented one of those dirt compressors and made the whole thing super firm, and even graded it correctly for drainage :thumbsup:

Then, to prevent weeds, I laid down weed barrier, this took a couple hours. After that, I did a layer of sand, and repacked it, which took about a day, since I had to move it from driveway to backyard. Next I did the same thing with gravel, but it took two days. The mortar and laying the pavers was actually the most fun part, cuz I could finally see it coming together. This part took about 3 days, and absolutely KILLED my body. After taking a few days off, I laid sand through all the cracks and was done! I think it took me about 2 weeks in all, but it was so fun to do and see come together, especially since I got a quote for $8,000, and only spent about $1,500 in total on it. Hope this helps!


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## htabbas (Oct 25, 2011)

Mark Hill said:


> I did a 500 sf patio by myself last fall, and here's how it went. First, it was covered by grass and sprinklers, so I ripped out all that. Ripping out all the grass and re-routing the irrigation lines and reconfiguring valves took about 2 days of working 10 hr days, by myself. Next I went through and made sure I had a VERY firm foundation. This took me about 1 day. I didn't want to skimp here so I rented one of those dirt compressors and made the whole thing super firm, and even graded it correctly for drainage :thumbsup:
> 
> Then, to prevent weeds, I laid down weed barrier, this took a couple hours. After that, I did a layer of sand, and repacked it, which took about a day, since I had to move it from driveway to backyard. Next I did the same thing with gravel, but it took two days. The mortar and laying the pavers was actually the most fun part, cuz I could finally see it coming together. This part took about 3 days, and absolutely KILLED my body. After taking a few days off, I laid sand through all the cracks and was done! I think it took me about 2 weeks in all, but it was so fun to do and see come together, especially since I got a quote for $8,000, and only spent about $1,500 in total on it. Hope this helps!


Thank you very much for the very detailed description of your experience! :thumbup: 

I have about 600 sq-ft of patio and walkways (I ditched the driveway idea now) to do. It gives me a very good idea now.


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## htabbas (Oct 25, 2011)

Hi, Everybody, it's been 4 months since I posted this and now I am back here to update on my progress.

Looking back at what I wrote last November, I was so naive at the time. (I work a lot on cars but none on houses so probably I wasn't realizing the massiveness of the scale of the paver project.) So I am going to write what happened so far as a reference to people who are like me, first time house project DIYers with big ambitions.

As a refresher, my project is to install a patio and some walkways totalling 600 sq-ft. I started digging the walkway (6" deep, ~100 sq-ft). ---> this took me maybe 6 hours of hard labor. 

But then realized I need to reroute my sprinkler water lines and also dig an underground downspout. Leaving the down spout directly over the future patio will probably wash the locking sand away between pavers. (I haven't done this part yet up to now....  )

Then I came across a lot of tree roots. I never thought a small fig tree can have its roots extending that far out from the trunk (20 ft). I decided to remove the fig tree. I don't like it anyway. This last for one whole day! I dug all the roots out in that portion of the yard.

OK. let's continue digging. Now I found out that I need to regrade most of where my patio will be. Massive amount of soil needs to be removed. I am still working on this. I work on it maybe 1 - 2hous every few days so the progress is pretty slow.

Also for the shape of the patio and walkway, I have changed my original curvy design to rectangular shapes, which should minizes cutting. I don't think I have the capacity to handle cutting too many pavers. 

Now I realize that this patio project is not 1-week jobs for solo DIYers. You need to be prepared that your backyard will be torn up for quite some time.

I will update later.


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## cibula11 (Jan 6, 2007)

Last year my 12' diameter (circular) patio took me 2 days with me and another friend....we had the area already dug out....but that also included adding a retaining wall. It's all in the prep. Once we started laying pavers it look a couple of hours.


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## Jim F (Mar 4, 2010)

htabbas said:


> Hi, Everybody, it's been 4 months since I posted this and now I am back here to update on my progress...
> Now I realize that this patio project is not 1-week jobs for solo DIYers. You need to be prepared that your backyard will be torn up for quite some time.
> 
> I will update later.


Do you have pictures? This would be a great thread for the Project Showcase.


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