Business Tips plant selection and final grading
4
Depending on whether you are ordering your plants off a list or travelling to a nursery to select the plants, costs for this operation may be required. Use the following table to add to your costs as appropriate. Unlike with turf areas once the decompaction and rotavating and cultivation is
complete a good raking to finalise the levels before planting is generally necessary. If topsoil has been added this would have to be lightly compacted to prevent post planting settlement. C. The next cost is the time to unload your plants and move them into correct positions: barrow costs per plant
A. Final cultivation Area covered per man hour in m2 Cost per m – £ 2
20
30
50
75
100
125
200
0.98
0.65
0.39
0.26
0.20
0.16
0.10
B. Plant selection costs (based on travel to local nursery travelling time not exceeding two hours each way)
m2 of planting
Selection time – hrs
Cost – £/m2
10
1
11.50
25
1.5
5.30
4
50
2
3.00
100
4
2.20
200
5
1.28
300
6
0.97
Plants per barrow
20
15
8
6
5
3
1
Load and unload time
7
6
3
3
3
2
2
Loading costs £/plant
0.11
0.13
0.12
0.16
0.20
0.22
0.65
Distance
2L
3L
5L
10L
15L
20L
25L
Mins
£/trip
20
15
8
6
5
3
1
10
3
0.98
0.05
0.07
0.12
0.16
0.20
0.33
0.98
20
3.5
1.14
0.06
0.08
0.14
0.19
0.23
0.38
1.14
50
5
1.63
0.08
0.11
0.20
0.27
0.33
0.54
1.63
100
10
3.25
0.16
0.22
0.41
0.54
0.65
1.08
3.25
setting out and planting
Assuming now that the plants have arrived on site they have to be moved into position and set out. The costs of this vary depending on the following:
● Working from a drawing ● Planting groups (mass planting or small groups) ● Density
Table showing - Planting sizes and densities (equal offset centres) times and costs: Sizes and densities Plants spacing’s
Planting time and costs Setting out
Herba’cs/Bedding
2L–3L
5L
10L
15L–25L
Plant centres in mm
Plants per m2
Placing in mins
£/m2
Time
£/m2
Time
£/m2
Time
£/m2
Time
£/m2
Time
£/m2
150
48.7
5
1.63
10.0
3.25
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
200
27.4
4
1.30
6.2
2.01
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
250
17.5
3
0.98
4.4
1.42
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
300
12.2
3.5
1.14
3.3
1.08
6.0
1.95
-
-
-
-
-
-
400
6.8
1.5
0.49
-
-
3.4
1.10
5.0
1.63
-
-
-
-
5
500
4.4
0.5
0.16
-
-
2.2
0.70
3.2
1.04
17.5
5.69
-
-
600
3.0
0.4
0.13
-
-
1.5
0.49
2.2
0.72
12.2
3.95
45.6
14.83
750
1.9
0.3
0.10
-
-
1.0
0.31
1.4
0.46
7.8
2.53
29.2
9.49
1000
1.1
0.2
0..07
-
-
0.5
0.18
0.8
0.26
4.4
1.42
16.4
5.34
examples
ABOUT sam hassall
The following examples assume the following nursery costs (2L = £2.80; 3L = £3.40; 5L = 5.00) (20L = £22.50; 25L = £28.50)
Prepare area by rotavator; rake and grade; add compost by barrowing 25m; hand pick plants from nursery; set out in groups and plant at 300mm centres (21 plants at 2.80 each)
63.82
Planting as above but ordered by phone and planted at 600mm centres
13.82
Herbaceous planting (PC £1.50) at 200mm centres with one 25 litre specimen (PC £25.00) per 10m
2
45.40
Landscape cost consultant LandPro Ltd: 01252 795030 LiberRATE Estimating www.landpro.co.uk
Don’t forget to add your profit onto these figures. www.prolandscapermagazine.com
Sam Hasall2.indd 21
April 2013
21
19/03/2013 15:07