How much does gardening cost?

If you do all of your gardening yourself, you will save significantly on gardening – if you already have all of your tools and materials, that is! These can quickly add up… These are the average costs for the gardening essentials:

Mind you, if you choose the lower end tools and materials, you may be less successful in your gardening endeavors. If you are certain you want to invest your time and energy into your garden, in the long run, investing in the right tools is of the utmost importance. If you aren’t sure this is the case, you may be better off hiring a gardener, which means comparing garden quotes!

A gardener’s services will cost at least £15 an hour. However, in general, gardeners charge between £20 and £40 an hour depending on the gardening service they will be providing. They aim to earn around £150 per day.

Here is a more detailed table with the average costs of the big garden jobs you will hire a gardener to do:

Save money on garden quotes by comparing local providers

The best way to save money on gardening is to gather as many quotes as possible and to assess them side by side. Do this quickly and easily by entering your postcode into our online form, and get up to 5 local gardeners’ quotes in a couple of days. We have hand-picked the best professionals around, so it’s up to you to decide if any of them meet your requirements!

How to get the best garden quotes ever:

Here are our top tips for getting affordable gardening quotes, and choosing the best one for your home:

• Think about your needs/requirements

The first step in a happy quote request process is to have a long, hard and thorough think about what you want from your garden. How much time are you willing to dedicate to your garden? How much is your time worth? What do you want out of your garden? Whether you want a relaxation haven, a cornucopia of fruit and vegetables or a blooming oasis, you have to decide in advance. A gardener can help you with many things (including inspiration), but to ensure you get exactly what you want, you have to know what that is first. Make your “garden wish list” before beginning to save yourself time down the line.

• Get lots and lots of recommendations

This step is also crucial when getting the best possible price for your gardening job, so take your time and ask around as much as possible. This can be your friends, family, neighbours, co-workers and local connections. If you cast a wide net you may begin to see a pattern in the recommendations, and you may be able to distinguish trustworthy companies more easily after discussing other people’s past experiences. If you’ve never dealt with tradesmen before, this is a great way of avoiding untrustworthy ones.

• Compare lots of quotes

This tip is in the top three for a reason. Getting at least 3 garden quotes before choosing a company to go with is one of the best ways to find a reduced price. This is also a good way of interacting a little bit with local companies to see if you get along with them or not. A fantastic way to make this process work for you in the most effective way is to track the quote variables with a spreadsheet or other list. That way, you will be able to see the outliers in the data and decide on the most appropriate tradesman or company for you.

• Find local gardeners

Local gardeners’ services will be best suited to your needs since they will be used to working in conditions similar to that of your garden. This means they will know exactly the right type of soil to use, when the last and first frost will be and other important information that varies a lot according to where you live. Finding a local gardener you can trust is also essential for long-term maintenance satisfaction. If you have a good relationship with your regular gardener, you will reap more benefits from them in the long-run. As an added bonus, you will save money on travel costs with a local gardener!

• Do some background checks

You can do this by going online, googling the name of the gardener you’ve been talking to, and seeing what other people may have said about them online. This way you can also check if they have any special certifications and a website perhaps with reviews or examples of their work. A reputable gardener will be happy to provide these for you, but of course, you are free to do your own research and to ask around. You may also be able to determine the quality of a gardener through the quality of their website – if they put the time, effort and money on their website it says something about them.

• Research what kind of licenses or qualifications they may need

Depending on the kind of job you need your gardener to do, they may need to hold special licenses or certifications to carry it out. This is almost always true for waste removal (don’t assume they can carry your rubbish away at the end of the day! Always check with them first) and for the application of fertilisers and chemicals. They may hold certifications in specific gardening tasks so ask about this, and weigh up what each gardener specialises in versus what you need doing. This is where your garden “wish list” comes in handy!

• Have a chat with them in person

Once you’ve narrowed down your favorite candidates from your gardening quote requests, the best thing to do is to try to sit down with them to determine how they might be able to help you. You’ll also be able to check that they are exactly the right person you need for the job. Ask them about their insurance, and try to see if there are any extra costs (like travel) you should expect if you are to receive their services. In our world of online convenience, it can be easy to forget about the importance of a tradesman’s personality, so if you get a chance to see them in person, do it!

• Get some references from them

To be as certain as you can be about the gardener you hire, ask them if you can talk to any of their previous clients. This is a super effective way of finding out if their skills, expertise, and personality will jive with you. Even if they are absolutely perfect for you, it can be good to know if they have had any pitfalls in other areas of their professional life. Of course, this is not always a deal breaker but could help you to manage your professional relationship with them in an effective way.

Have up to 5 local gardeners send you personalised garden quotes

Casting a wide net when searching for gardening quotes is essential for finding the right person for a job, and what better way to do that than to get up to 5 quotes at once? Enter some information into our secure online portal and do just that. Our customers have saved up to 40% on their garden quotes. It’s no skin off your nose either, since you’ll be under no obligation to buy.