You asked for a quote for a patio. What came back mentions MOT Type 1, a 150mm sub base, falls to a channel drain, haunched edges and pointing with a jointing compound. Three quotes, three different sets of words, and no clear way to compare them.
That is the problem this guide solves. Below is every term you are likely to see on a landscaping quote or hear on site, explained in plain English, grouped by the part of the job it belongs to. No fluff, and where a term matters to your wallet or your garden lasting, we say so.
We build gardens across Glasgow and the Central Belt and have done for 19 years. Everything here is written the way we would explain it standing in your garden.
Why the words matter more than you think
Most of a landscaping job is buried. Once the garden is finished you cannot see the sub base, the drainage, the mortar bed or the footings. The only place those things exist, before the work starts, is on the quote.
That means the terminology on your quote is the only way to compare what you are actually buying. Two quotes for “patio, 40m², porcelain” can differ by thousands of pounds and one of them can be built to fail, and you would never know from the headline.
Learn twenty of the terms below and you can read a quote properly. We have marked the ones that matter most with a note on why.
Quick reference: the 12 terms that decide your quote
If you read nothing else, read this table.
| Term | What it means | Why it matters |
| Sub base | The compacted stone layer under a surface | The main thing cheap quotes cut. Decides if your patio lasts |
| MOT Type 1 | The standard crushed stone used for sub bases | Named on good quotes. Its absence is a question worth asking |
| Fall | A deliberate slope on a surface | Without it, water sits. Every surface needs one |
| Full bed | Mortar spread across the whole underside of a slab | The correct method. The alternative, dabs, causes rocking and cracking |
| Spot bedding / dabs | Mortar blobs under each corner | A shortcut. Slabs crack and rock within a few years |
| Excavation depth | How deep they dig before building up | Shallow digs mean thin sub bases |
| Spoil removal | Carting away soil and rubble | Real cost, often several tonnes. Check it is included |
| Soakaway | A buried pit that takes water away | Essential on clay. Often missing from cheap quotes |
| Haunching | Concrete supporting the edge of a surface | Stops edges dropping and spreading |
| Membrane | Fabric layer separating stone from soil | Cheap to include, stops the sub base sinking into soft ground |
| Provisional sum | An estimated allowance, not a fixed price | Where quotes grow later. Ask what could change |
| Setting out | Marking the design accurately on the ground | Bad setting out means nothing lines up |
Groundworks and preparation terms
The first third of any job, and the part that decides whether the rest survives.
Aspect
Which way your garden faces. A north facing garden gets far less direct sun, which changes planting, material choice and where the seating should go.
Backfill
Putting soil or stone back into a hole after building something in it, such as behind a retaining wall.
Base course
The lower layer of a build up, whether that is stone under paving or the first row of blocks in a wall.
Compaction
Whacking a layer down with a plate compactor or roller so it cannot settle later. Sub bases are compacted in layers, not all at once. If a quote does not mention layers, ask.
Cut and fill
Digging soil off the high part of a sloping garden and using it to build up the low part, creating a level area. Cheaper than importing material, but only works if the soil is suitable.
Excavation
Digging out. Every surface needs the ground taken down to a depth that allows for the sub base, bedding and the surface itself. Typical patio excavation is 200mm to 300mm deep.
Formation level
The level of the ground after digging, before anything is built on it. Everything above is measured from here.
Geotextile membrane
A permeable fabric laid between soil and the stone sub base. It stops the stone sinking into soft ground and stops mud pushing up. Cheap, and worth having on clay.
Ground conditions
The state of your soil: clay, sand, made ground, rubble, waterlogged. This is the biggest source of price changes once digging starts.
Made ground
Ground that is not natural soil, usually builders rubble or fill from a previous development. Common on new builds and it often needs digging deeper.
MOT Type 1
Crushed limestone or granite graded to a Department for Transport specification. The standard sub base material. Compacts hard, drains reasonably, and does not move. If a quote does not name the sub base material, ask what it is.
Reduced dig / reduced level
Digging the ground down to a specified depth across the whole area.
Setting out
Marking out the design on the ground with lines, pegs and paint before building. Getting a garden square and level from a starting point that is neither is a real skill.
Spoil
The soil, turf and broken material dug out of the garden. It has to be legally disposed of.
Spoil removal / muck away
Carting spoil off site, usually by skip or grab lorry. A modest patio can generate several tonnes. Check whether removal is priced in or excluded.
Sub base
The compacted stone layer that carries the load. Usually 100mm to 150mm for a patio, 150mm to 250mm for a driveway. This is the number one place corners get cut, because nobody can see it afterwards.
Sub grade
The natural ground underneath the sub base.
Topsoil
The fertile upper layer that plants grow in. Quality varies enormously. Screened topsoil has stones and debris removed.
Subsoil
The poorer layer beneath topsoil. Plants struggle in it, so beds need topsoil depth over it.
Levels, slopes and drainage terms
In Glasgow we get roughly 170 wet days a year, and much of the Central Belt sits on clay. These terms matter here more than almost anywhere.
ACO drain / channel drain
A long narrow drain with a metal or plastic grate, set into a surface to catch running water. Usually placed at door thresholds and across the bottom of paved areas.
Aggregate
Any loose stone material, from sub base stone to decorative gravel.
Cross fall
A slope running across a surface rather than along it.
Datum point
A fixed reference level everything else is measured from, often the house damp proof course.
Damp proof course (DPC)
The waterproof barrier in your house wall, visible as a line of different material near ground level. Paving must finish at least 150mm below it, or water can bridge into the wall. This is a common and expensive mistake.
Fall
The deliberate slope built into a surface so water runs off it. Usually expressed as a ratio like 1:80, meaning it drops 1 unit over 80. Every patio, path and driveway needs a fall, and it must run away from the house.
French drain
A gravel filled trench with a perforated pipe in it, used to intercept and move water away from a wet area.
Gradient
The steepness of a slope, given as a ratio or percentage.
Land drain
Perforated pipe laid in gravel below ground to collect water from waterlogged soil and carry it somewhere it can disperse.
Levels
The relative heights of different points in the garden. “Changing levels” means altering the height of ground, which is the most expensive thing you can ask for.
Percolation test
A simple test of how fast water drains through your soil. Dig a hole, fill it, time it. Tells you whether a soakaway will work.
Permeable paving
Paving designed to let water pass through the surface and joints into the ground below. Increasingly used to reduce runoff, and relevant to front garden and driveway rules.
Retaining wall
A wall that holds back soil where there is a level change. These are structural. They hold back tonnes of wet soil and need proper footings and drainage behind them. This is not somewhere to save money.
Runoff
Water that flows off a hard surface rather than soaking in.
Soakaway
A buried pit filled with stone or purpose made crates, which takes water and lets it disperse into surrounding ground. On clay soil, often essential. Its absence from a quote on a wet site is a red flag.
Standing water
Water that sits rather than draining. If you have it, it gets solved before anything is built, not after.
Terracing
Cutting a slope into two or more flat levels with retaining walls and steps between them.
Water table
How high groundwater sits below the surface. A high water table limits what drainage solutions will work.
Paving and hard surface terms
Bedding layer / bedding mortar
The mortar layer slabs sit on, between the sub base and the slab.
Block paving / monoblock
Small interlocking concrete or clay blocks. In Scotland usually called monoblock. Laid on sand or mortar depending on use.
Bond / laying pattern
The arrangement of the units. Stretcher bond, herringbone, basketweave, random or coursed. Herringbone is strongest for driveways because the blocks lock against each other.
Calibrated
Stone cut to a consistent thickness, which makes laying faster and more accurate. Uncalibrated stone varies and takes longer.
Coping
The finishing top layer on a wall, shaped to shed water off the wall face.
Crazy paving
Broken irregular slabs fitted together.
Edging / edge restraint
The border that stops a surface spreading sideways. Without it, paving creeps and joints open up.
Efflorescence
A white powdery bloom that appears on new concrete and stone as salts come to the surface. It is normal, it is not a fault, and it weathers off within a year or so.
Flags / slabs
Large flat paving units.
Full bed / solid bed
Mortar spread across the entire underside of each slab. This is the correct method. It supports the whole slab and stops water sitting in voids underneath.
Haunching
Concrete placed against the outside edge of paving or kerbs to hold them in place. Stops edges dropping and spreading.
Jointing / pointing
Filling the gaps between slabs or blocks. Can be mortar, dry kiln sand for monoblock, or a resin jointing compound brushed in and watered.
Kerb
A raised edging unit, usually concrete, defining the edge of a driveway or path.
Laying course
The layer directly under the paving, whether sand or mortar.
Porcelain paving
Fired ceramic paving. Dense, frost proof, stain resistant, does not go green quickly, and stays grippy when wet if you choose a textured finish. The best performer in Scottish weather, and priced accordingly. Usually needs a slurry primer on the back of each slab to bond properly.
Priming slurry
A bonding coat painted onto the back of porcelain or dense stone so the mortar adheres. Skipping this causes slabs to lift later. It should be on the quote.
Riven
A naturally split, textured stone surface.
Sawn
Stone cut with a saw, giving flat faces and clean edges. More contemporary, more expensive than riven.
Sealing
Applying a protective coating to paving to resist staining. Optional, needs redoing periodically.
Spot bedding / dot and dab
Mortar placed only in blobs under each slab corner. Fast, cheap, and wrong for paving. Voids underneath fill with water, and slabs rock, crack and lift. Worth asking directly whether a quote uses full bed or dabs.
Sub base depth
Covered above, but repeated here because it is the most important number on your quote.
Tolerance
The acceptable variation in level across a finished surface. Good work is within a few millimetres.
Decking, timber and structures
Balustrade
The railing around a raised deck.
Bearer / joist
The timber frame supporting a deck’s boards.
Composite decking
A blend of wood fibre and plastic. Does not rot, does not need staining, does not splinter, and grooved profiles stay reasonably grippy in wet weather. Costs more upfront, costs almost nothing after.
Deck board
The visible surface board. Grooved and smooth profiles are both common. Grooved is often chosen for grip.
Fascia board
The board covering the exposed edge of a deck frame, for a finished look.
Feather edge
Overlapping vertical timber boards used for close board fencing.
Gravel board
The board at the bottom of a fence, in timber or concrete, that takes the contact with wet ground so the fence panels do not rot. Concrete gravel boards last far longer in our climate.
Joist spacing / centres
The distance between deck joists, often 400mm. Wider spacing means bouncy decking.
Newel post
The vertical post at the end or corner of a balustrade.
Pergola
An open overhead structure, usually timber, giving partial shade and a sense of enclosure.
Postcrete
A fast setting concrete mix poured dry into a post hole and watered. Common for fence posts.
Pressure treated / tanalised
Timber that has had preservative forced into it under pressure. Essential for anything in contact with the ground here. Untreated timber outdoors in Scotland has a short life.
Sleepers
Heavy timber beams used for retaining walls, raised beds and steps. New treated sleepers are the norm. Reclaimed railway sleepers are often coated in creosote and are not suitable near planting or where children play.
Sub frame
The structural frame under a deck.
Ventilation gap
The space under a deck that lets air circulate. Without it, the frame stays damp and rots.
Planting and soft landscaping terms
Annual
A plant that completes its life in one year and needs replacing.
Bare root
Plants supplied without soil around the roots, lifted during dormancy. Cheaper, and only planted in the dormant season.
Compost
Decomposed organic matter used to improve soil or as a growing medium. Different from topsoil.
Cultivation
Breaking up and preparing soil before planting or turfing.
Deciduous
Loses its leaves in winter.
Evergreen
Keeps its leaves all year. Does the structural work in a garden through winter, which matters here where winter is long.
Ground cover
Low spreading plants that carpet an area and suppress weeds.
Hardiness
How much cold a plant tolerates. Most of the Central Belt sits in a hardiness zone that rules out a lot of what southern gardening content recommends.
Herbaceous perennial
Dies back to the ground each winter and regrows each spring.
Mulch
A layer of bark, compost or gravel spread over soil. Holds moisture, suppresses weeds, protects roots. Cheap and one of the highest value things you can do to a planted bed.
Root ball
The mass of roots and soil a plant comes with.
Seeding
Growing a lawn from grass seed. Cheaper than turf, slower, and needs the right season.
Soil conditioner
Material dug into soil to improve structure. On clay, this makes a real difference.
Soil pH
How acidic or alkaline your soil is. Affects what will grow. Much Scottish soil leans acidic.
Staking
Supporting a newly planted tree until its roots establish.
Turf
Pre grown grass supplied in rolls. Instant lawn, but needs proper soil preparation underneath and consistent watering for its first weeks. Most “the turf died” problems are watering or preparation, not the turf.
Topdressing
Spreading a thin layer of sand or soil mix over a lawn to level it and improve it.
Quote and contract terms
This is where money is gained and lost.
| Term | Meaning | What to watch |
| Estimate | An approximate price | Can change. Not binding |
| Quotation | A fixed price for defined work | Binding for the work described. Get this, not an estimate |
| Provisional sum | An allowance for work not yet fully known | Ask what could make it change and by how much |
| Variation / extra | A change to the agreed work | Should be agreed in writing before it happens |
| Schedule of works | The itemised list of what will be done | The more detail, the easier to compare quotes |
| Specification | The technical detail of materials and methods | Where sub base depth and bedding method should appear |
| Prime cost (PC) sum | An allowance for materials not yet chosen | Common for paving. Ask what the allowance buys |
| Retention | Money held back until completion | Uncommon on domestic jobs, reasonable on larger ones |
| Public liability insurance | Covers damage or injury caused by the contractor | Ask to see the certificate |
| Deposit | Upfront payment, usually for materials | 20 to 30% is normal. Very large deposits are a warning sign |
| Stage payments | Payments at agreed points through the job | Normal on longer jobs. Tie them to completed stages |
| Snagging | Fixing minor defects at the end | A short snagging list is normal, not a sign of bad work |
The two words that cause most disputes are “provisional” and “excluding”. A quote that excludes spoil removal, or carries a provisional sum for groundworks, is not necessarily a bad quote. It becomes a problem when nobody points it out. Ask directly: what in this quote could change, and what would make it change?
Scottish and regional terms you will hear
Some words differ north of the border or in the west of Scotland specifically.
- Monoblock is what block paving is nearly always called here
- Whin / whinstone is local hard igneous stone, often used for walling and aggregate
- Dyke is a wall, usually a dry stone or field wall, not a ditch
- Chips or chuckies means decorative gravel
- Planning permission and building warrant are separate things in Scotland. Warrants are handled by your local council building standards department, and some raised structures need one
- Permitted development rules differ from England. Always check with your own council rather than a UK wide article
Frequently asked questions
What is a sub base and why does it matter so much?
It is the compacted stone layer beneath your paving that carries all the load. Typically 100mm to 150mm for a patio, deeper for a driveway. It is invisible once finished, which is exactly why it gets cut on cheap quotes. Almost every sunken, cracked or rocking patio traces back to an inadequate sub base.
What is the difference between an estimate and a quote?
An estimate is an approximate figure that can change. A quote is a fixed price for clearly defined work. Always ask for a written quote with an itemised schedule of works.
What does “laid to falls” mean?
The surface has a deliberate slight slope built into it so rainwater runs off rather than sitting. It should always run away from the house. Falls are usually expressed as a ratio like 1:80.
Is spot bedding ever acceptable?
Not for paving slabs. Mortar blobs under the corners leave voids that fill with water, and the slabs rock, crack and lift over time. Full bed is the correct method. If a quote specifies dabs, ask for it to be changed.
What is a soakaway and do I need one?
A buried pit that collects water and lets it disperse into the surrounding ground. On clay soil, which is common across the Central Belt, and on any site where water sits after rain, you very likely do.
What does MOT Type 1 mean?
Crushed stone graded to a Department for Transport specification. It is the standard sub base material because it compacts to a hard, stable layer. If a quote does not name the sub base material, ask what is being used.
Why must paving finish below the damp proof course?
Because water can bridge from the paving into your wall and cause damp inside. The finished surface should sit at least 150mm below the DPC line on your house.
What is efflorescence and is it a fault?
The white powdery bloom that appears on new stone and concrete as natural salts migrate to the surface. It is normal, it is not a defect, and it weathers away over the first year or so.
What is a provisional sum on a landscaping quote?
An allowance for work whose full extent is not yet known, often groundworks, because nobody knows exactly what is under the ground until digging starts. It is not dishonest, but you should ask what could change it and by roughly how much.
Do I need planning permission or a building warrant in Scotland?
Patios, paths and planting usually need neither. Raised decking above a certain height, tall walls and fences, and work on listed buildings or in conservation areas may need consent. Rules in Scotland differ from England, so check with your local council.
What is the difference between hard and soft landscaping?
Hard landscaping is the built structure: paving, walls, decking, fencing, drainage. Soft landscaping is the living element: turf, planting, soil, beds. Hard landscaping is usually 70 to 80% of the cost.
What questions should I ask before signing?
What sub base and depth are you using? Where does the water go? Is it full bed or spot bedded? Is spoil removal included? What is provisional? Can I see a job you finished three or more years ago?
The short version
You do not need to learn the whole trade. You need enough of the language to read a quote and ask two or three pointed questions. The terms in the table at the top of this article will do most of that work for you.
A good landscaper will welcome those questions, because detailed specification is how they justify costing more than the outfit quoting half the price for half the build up. Vagueness on sub base, bedding method and drainage is the thing to pay attention to.
If you have a quote in front of you and it is not making sense, or you want a second opinion on what your garden actually needs, we are happy to come and look. Nineteen years, family run, building gardens across Glasgow and the Central Belt, and we will tell you straight what the ground needs before anything gets priced.
