Well being a Paddy meself, I too take comfort from that.
Bottom line is, if you are'nt happy with the finished job, you have bargaining power. Good luck with your project.

Thanks Roanin. The contractor was actually referred to me by the English guy I hired to paint the basement (he has a scottish assistant) so I'm doing my bit to keep expats in work. Now if I can just get a Welsh guy to do the garden I'll have the full set.

You really want a garden full of leeks?

maybe daffodils would be better

Why are you bothering doing this if your going back to the Old Country?

Well we're getting the place ready to sell, we reckon it will sell quicker if we do a few improvements. It's a small 2 bedroom bungalow with an unfinished basement so we have to make it look as good as we can.

Truer words were never spoken - just a pity to have to go to all that hassel of moving stuff to the basement, hire the contractor, if they're from back home, they'll be good workers at least

Let's hope so, I'm trying to get this stuff organized while OH is off working in Australia, hopefully when he gets back a few things will be sorted

Seven feet by four feet by six inches is fourteen cubic feet. That's about 21 80-lb bags of dry concrete mix, or 1,680 lbs. Including water, that's closing in on 2,000 lbs of wet mix. The contractor has to build the forms, mix the ton of crete, carry it to the basement, place it, and finish it. Then remove the forms. Working with concrete is tough physical labor, and there's no easy way to redo it if you make a mistake. I'd do it myself, but I think $800 is a fair price.

Thanks Bill. When you set it out like that I can see why $800 isn't unreasonable. At the end of the day it needs to be done and I don't think it's the time for me to be learning a new skill