A well-maintained garden will add value to any home as well as an attractive entrance leading to the front door. To reduce the stress when deciding on your project, HaMuch has put together information including questions to ask to keep thinks running smoothly during the gardening project to how much to budget as well as how to find the right gardener for you.
When choosing a Gardener or Landscaper try to get 3 comparison quotes so you have a feel for the value of service and what is being offered at what price. For general tidy up maintenance work, search for a gardener but for hard landscaping suck as patios, decking, fencing, find a landscaper to quote (if a landscaper quotes for cutting and watering the lawn it would be more expensive than a gardener’s quote). Most gardeners won’t be vat registered but if you are getting a landscaper in, they might be, so do ask if VAT has been included on your quote. For your own safety to avoid any arguments over payment, insist on being given a ‘written quote’. Agree payment terms, which might be per visit of the gardener. If you are committing to a serious of visits, ask if you can have a discount for weekly or bi-weekly visits. A lot of gardeners may only accept cash and not have card payment facilities, so have a chat before-hand about their preferred method of payment.
When receiving a quote, discuss if the quote includes the gardener bringing their own tools, such as a lawn mower, rake and spade, or if they intend on using tools that you will provide. While working in the garden, garden waste will be generated, so remember to discuss before the job commences whose responsibility it will be to remove the garden waste. If your gardener is coming to do a once off job, (e.g. cut the hedges back and remove some shrubs) they may include in the quote a trip to the local tip to clear the waste. If it is a regular lawn mowing, edging and tidying while removing weeds, the gardener may ask you to arrange a regular garden collection from your local council.
Ask for references from previous clients and investigate whether the gardener has been reliable showing up on said days as well as finding out how tidy they are in the garden. If it is for a landscaping job, e.g. a pond construction or placing paving in an area, ask for ‘before and after’ photos of similar projects carried out recently.
Ask if the gardener or landscaper will be using a sub-contractor, team or colleague around as you will want to know who will be working outside your home and if you are paying extra labour charges. If you live in an area where street parking is metered, agree before-hand who will pay for the parking as over a long period these costs can add up.
When your chosen gardener arrives at your home to quote the job, be clear what project you need doing, whether you are wanting general garden upkeep of lawns, hedges, weeding, tidying flower beds or a construction of a garden creating a happy space filled with colourful planting flowers. If you are wanting a garden formed, let the gardener know an idea of how you envision your garden to look; how many flower beds you want constructed, if you want them raised or flat, where or what shape you want the flower beds, whether you would like a water feature (pond or fountain), if you want an easy to maintain hardy garden or if you don’t mind a garden that will need attention from you.
Draw on inspiration from neighbours’ gardens and visit a garden centre, even B&Q and Homebase have a great variety of beautiful plants. Walk through the garden centres and take note of colours that appeal to you as well as some shrubs for all year-round greenery in the garden. If you are having a gardener lay lawn for you, discuss the different types of grass available and which grass would best suit your needs.
For wood structures that you might want help with (i.e. fencing, shed, gate, pergola or gazebo) make sure the gardener will have access to the area in your garden where you would like the structure repaired or erected. Ask for advice on types of products available e.g. if discussing fencing, ask about feather edge, picket fencing, overlap panels vs closeboard panels.
We have compiled a list of jobs that a gardener does with an estimated price. We also have a table which shows the gardener rates around the UK. At HaMuch we are trying to help you keep your costs down so search wisely and good luck.
Rough guide for how much basic gardening in your home costs;
| Job | Job details | Estimate |
| Clearance gardener | Once off clearance - removal of ivy & weeds, hedge trimming | £80 |
| General gardener | General garden maintenance, based on 2 hours of tidying | £50 |
| Jet cleaning | High pressure jet cleaning paths, drive, gutters, walls, patio | £110 |
| Landscaping | Levelling some of the garden, creating flower beds & a pathway | £400 |
| Lawn | Clearing a garden to lay grass | £20 p sq/m |
| Path | Levelling out a section and laying slabs to create a pathway | £300 |
| Patio | Digging out & levelling the area, laying slabs to create a patio | £300 |
| Pond | Dig a section of the garden and create a pond | £400 |
| Tree removal | Cutting down a small tree and removing the trunk as well as digging out some of the roots | £300 |
| Turf | Clearing a garden and laying artificial turf down | £60 p sq/m |
| Wooden fencing | Replacing an old wooden fence for a new fence | £500 |
| Wooden shed | Erecting a wooden shed on an existing base | £200 |