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Firstly, we don't do large lawn turfing, so I may be speaking out of turn - just a warning! We occasionally do lawns upto 300sqm, but not often, as normally renovating whats there or pre & seeding comes in far more economic.
When I have looked at large lawns, I came to the conclusion that they are hard to get right, especially on cost, time taken for us to do, and finished result, especially levels. It needs large machinery from diggers / dumpers / turf layers. All of which can be hired, but at a cost. Also, the big players in this will have a large turf layer (doing a 50mx1m roll). Much better looking result than small 1sqm rolls, quicker, and more cost effective.
So, when I've discussed with people who do big lawns, they are at around £6/sqm+vat laid, plus whatever soil is needed to be brought - which on this job does not sound a lot, but it does not go very far an adds up quickly to overall cost.
So, they may get alternative quotes which are lower that yours, but it's important be realistic on working on such a large area - if you have large kit and good access, then fine, but if doing by hand / pedestrian machinery, it will take time to get the base right and lots of time to lay 1sqm rolls - so economies of scale are lost on extra time needed to give a good result.
When looking at large jobs like this, I ended up around £12+vat / sqm, decided that was hard work for the money, and would be a poor result compared to large rolls mechanically prepped and laid - so searched out a reliable contractor to do the work for the customer (not subcontracted) and took over the ongoing lawncare work afterwards.
So I don't think your £15/sqm is unrealistic, it would reflect the work you'd probably have to do given its a large lawn. Yes £18k is a lot, but only reduce by efficency savings if you can achieve them reliably with good quality.
Hope I've not made too many assumptions on your kit levels etc.
I know it's probably what the customer has asked for, but that's a lot of turf to ensure gets watered and established. Why not seed?
I worked on a project like this it was a playing field that needed turfing (no time for seed to grow - previous contractor let developer down). Like previous posters said we used the large rolls moved with a tele handler type machine.
If you remember last year was a scorcher - factor in watering at this time of year because insufficient water pressure could lead to a seriously expensive f#@k up.
I did 1000 m2 once for a customer. It was fine.
I brought in extra men to get it done and I would say the more the merrier. Try and get at least 5 men laying and five carrying turf. (Approx) The turf was delivered on an artic straight from the supplier. Don’t worry even if you can’t lay it all in one day, it will be fine, just let the customer know the grass laid the following day might be slightly lighter in colour for a few days.
I wont comment on price because everyone is different but I don’t price to lay per m2. I price every job individually as they are all different. If you can’t get a good price for the work just don’t do the job.
When broken down, a large job is only a number of smaller jobs put together and if you feel you want to have a crack, then that is how I would approach this project. Roughly prep the whole area and order the turf in 'bite-sized' deliveries if you can, final prep can be done as you go and will give you something to do if delivery is held up. Be careful not to over estimate how much you can lay in a day and the timing will be essential, mid September - mid October would be ideal, but of course most projects are time dependant. Knock in some levelling pegs to give you an indication of final levels - we always used simple 'boning rods', if it was good enough for the Egyptians etc!!
Many thanks for all the replies and advice on this subject. Really helpful andf much appreciated. Like Colin suggested at the bottom I'm planning on attacking it in five 'bite sized chunks'. Think this will be the easiest method and will save turf drying out. Hoping for good weather this summer buit slightly cooler than last year!
Good luck with everything and thanks for the advice!
Make sure of your ‘supply line’ with Summer coming up.
Last year supplies of Turf were problematical and you could end up with a patch work effect......