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Replies

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  phil@gardenchief.co.uk November 14, 2012 at 9:20pm

  I store them too or give them to friends and family, some use this.

  http://www.tradeleftovers.com/
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  Andrew Evans November 14, 2012 at 9:38pm

  Any materials leftover and unused i try and return to my suppliers and a refund given. Other bits and peices get stockpiled in my garden for any future jobs. I have a good old sort out every few months as leftovers soon pile up!
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  Dan Frazer Gardening November 14, 2012 at 10:01pm

  I keep very very minimal amounts of waste such as tree stakes, but nothing else. Hard waste gets scrapped as I don't want junk lying around. It's all priced into the jobs and I keep a very tight control over quantities, but I rarely do any work with stone materials.

  Any spare plants obviously get used elsewhere at no charge.
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  Simon Smith November 14, 2012 at 10:37pm

  It can get on top of you easily and you end up with a builders yard down the side of the house.

  I have got very hard on it now and take all extra paving back for a refund or take it t the tip if it can't be returned. This irks me greatly as its a real waste but the time spent loading from site - unloading at home- loading back up for another job mounts up and suddenly 3-4 hours of your time was all spent for 20 quid of concrete block pavers.

  I now without exception only keep high value items such as natural stone paving or kerbs.

  Obviously grit sand top-soil etc are easy to get rid of.
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  Thermo November 15, 2012 at 11:04am

  we have a yard, store anything thats reuseable and often come in handy for smaller jobs, providing they are in an as new condition. What cant be used gets scrapped or given away. I try to keep orders for materials tight, but would rather have a few extra slabs to take back than be running around trying to get some to finish a job. I dont like taking them back to the suppliers due to the restocking charge
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  David Cox November 16, 2012 at 1:32pm

  I rent a 8mx4m garage and anything I keep off any job is stored away - I keep a spreadsheet of what I have so I dont forget - then when quoting for a fence say - I know I have 5x 4" sqaure 8ft posts still - I only order the difference I need. So far its working well - though the rubble is building up faster than Im using it...
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  Gareth Leek November 16, 2012 at 3:46pm

  I do exactly the same, and when someone asks me to plan and construct I try to throw the surplus materials into the design somewhere. Even if its just a hard standing for the wheelie bins. One lucky customer had polished sandstone for this use.
  
  David Cox said:

  I rent a 8mx4m garage and anything I keep off any job is stored away - I keep a spreadsheet of what I have so I dont forget - then when quoting for a fence say - I know I have 5x 4" sqaure 8ft posts still - I only order the difference I need. So far its working well - though the rubble is building up faster than Im using it...
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  Thermo November 18, 2012 at 7:08pm

  ill only use as new stuff, but as our yard is close to where we do most of our work its very convenient and cost effective. if we have sand left in bulk bags, we bag it up and use it on other jobs. Very useful on the smaller jobs as sometimes i dont need to buy any materials whatsoever, so it goes towards helping pay the renmt on the yard. Also with ceratin stockists they will only provide paving in set amounts so being able to use the surplus sitting in the yard when we ;a few slabs short is a lifesaver. Another good thing about our yard is we have a skip permanently there, so all teh rubbish from small jobs goes in there, and the farmer has a bonfire building most of the time so any olkd timber or fence panels go there.
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  Jackson's Landscape Design November 18, 2012 at 8:49pm

  I keep hold of all surplus  material......and once a year I design and build a semi recycled garden.....

  The paving, block paving, kiln sand, gravel, white cobbles, 4x4 posts, 4x2, 100x22mm treated timber, screws, nails, a bag of polymer jointing compound grey, poppy red landscape shades paint, black masonry paint, water feature plinth, mirrors, black rattan furniture, a tube of sticks like sh*t exterior adhesive, top soil and terram are all recycled...... the plants will be carefully removed from the next project and planted with in this garden too.

  

  
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  Paving & Landscaping November 19, 2012 at 7:40pm

  My front garden looks like a building site, I don't want it please take it all.