Got a patio quote? Here's how to tell if it's fair

The short version

A patio quote is fair when it pins down the three things that decide whether the job lasts and what you'll actually pay:

- Sub-base and its depth. 100 mm of compacted MOT Type 1 is the floor. If the quote doesn't say, you don't know what's under your slabs. - Waste away. Turf, soil and old paving have to go somewhere. Skips and grab lorries are the line most often "added later". - VAT status. "Plus VAT" is a 20% surprise. "Not VAT-registered" is fine, but you should know which one you've got.

If all three are on the paper, you're most of the way to a quote you can trust. If none of them are, the number is a guess dressed as a price.

Why cheap quotes are cheap

Very rarely because someone is doing you a favour. The usual reasons, in order of how often we see them:

- Spot bedding. Five dabs of mortar instead of a full bed. Quicker, cheaper, and the slabs rock within a couple of winters. - Thin sub-base. 50 mm instead of 100 mm saves a lorry of stone and a day of digging. It also sinks. - No waste line. The skip turns up on the invoice, not the quote. - Ex-VAT. The number looks 20% better than it is. - Unnamed paving. "Sandstone" covers a threefold price range. If the quote doesn't name brand and thickness, you can't compare it with anything.

None of these makes the trader a crook. They make the quote incomplete — and an incomplete quote is always the cheapest one on the table.

Why dear quotes can still be fair

- Access. Everything through the house, or a long barrow run, adds days. - Region. A two-person crew costs more in London and the South East, and the calculator's range moves with it. - Premium stone. Real porcelain or a named sandstone at 22 mm costs what it costs. - Real waste costs. A permit for a skip on the road, or muck-away by the tonne, is money someone has to spend. - A written guarantee. Years, in writing, is worth paying for.

A quote above the range with all of that spelt out is usually the honest one. A quote below the range with none of it spelt out usually isn't.

Check yours

Put in the number you've been quoted, tick what the quote mentions, and the Quote-Checker shows where it sits, what it's probably leaving out, and the questions to ask before you sign. It's free, it doesn't want your name, and nobody gets your quote but you.