Rough cost of landscaping garden?

Mandalorian17

Hello,
I’ll keep this as short as possible - Im currently on the hunt for my first house and have come across a property me and my partner both like.

The property is outdated so it’s in need of modernisation. The one thing that I absolutely hate about the property is the garden. 

I was wondering if anyone on here could give a rough estimate of how much it’d cost to dig out the soil and concrete to give it one level, ideally like one of the neighbours have done (picture attached).

I’ve done a bit of research and noted supports might be needed to hold the soil in next doors garden, but no mentions of cost.

Thanks in advanced for all replies.

Mandalorian17

Davesnave

You're not only going to need retaining walls alongside, but also something very substantial at the back where the rear neighbours already have retaining walls and their foundations. You have to be aware that creating even more of a 'sump' there may have implications in winter. Their ground water has to go somewhere.

Other considerations:

You need to know what services, like drains, lie under the garden.

Access for a mini-digger?

6m3 skips cost around £250 each. How many will you need and where will they be sited?

If the house itself needs work, be aware that money spent on that will probably not be recouped if you sell. However nice the finished garden is to your way of thinking, it will not add any value either, so this ought to be a very long-term home.

Most problems with property may be solved with the liberal application of money, but one has to consider whether buying the problem in the first place is sensible. I suppose that's what you are considering here. If the house or setting is unique it might be worthwhile, but on the face of it this looks like a typical suburban property, relatively easy to come by.

onwards&upwards

Full landscaping is really really expensive.  Think in the 10-20k range depending on what you end up going for.  

Although, I’m sorry, but your Neighbour’s garden is really ugly and sterile.  I bet they never see a single bird or bee.  You can do a lot better than that! 

babyblade41

I did post a long reply and lost it so here's a short reply.
The cost will be a helluva lot more than you think
Neighbours garden is horrid

I'd love to get my hands on what is already there 

Davesnave

onwards&upwards said:

I’m sorry, but your Neighbour’s garden is really ugly and sterile.  I bet they never see a single bird or bee.  You can do a lot better than that! 

I think that computer generated image is what the OP proposes, though their post is somewhat unclear. I agree it's terrible, but we were asked to judge the practical issues of lowering the level, which feed into pricing.

bucksbloke

A friend did something similar. It cost them in the region of 30k

ScammedandScared

I agree with PP that the suggested garden is horrible. The current garden is actually much nicer. I know it's not about money but I'd hate for you to spend £30,000 landscaping the garden and the property value to actually fall as a result.

trex227

Why do you want it to be level? For me spending the amount of money required to do it is literally throwing money into a hole in the ground. I’d be worried unless the drainage is right the garden could end up waterlogged and if the retaining walls are not done correctly you could end up with your neighbours garden collapsing into yours.

I assume the “sections” are big enough to have a patio with table and chairs on the lowest section? If you really wanted to go modern (not saying you should, I love having wildlife in my garden) something like this would be much easier and cheaper to achieve

[Deleted User]

Put the £30k you want to spend on altering the garden that exists on buying a house with a level garden you like more.

I was recently trying to get quotes for levelling a much smaller sloped garden.  The price increased by 50% when I tried to firm up the 'about' quote and the time proposed for the tiny garden was double what I know it would take (having discussed the process that would be used).  You have to be able to trust the appointed contractor and I decided to not take the risk.  

Mickey666

I’d say the OP should be budgeting £20-30k.

A few years ago I did my own bit of landscaping to lay a 105m2 terrace using clay pavers.  I had my own digger, a tractor plus 3-ton tipping trailer and somewhere to dump the earth.  I removed about 30 trailer loads.  I then laid 20 tons of type 1 MOT sub-base, 15 tons of sand, all thoroughly compacted, then the clay pavers. It took about two weeks in total with one person helping me.  I mention those details to give an idea of the scale of the job.  Even though I only had to pay for the materials the total cost was a shade under £9k.  For a commercial job, add in design time, machinery hire, soil disposal (skips are very expensive these days), Labour, profit and vat and it’s easy to see how such a job could easily reach £30k.  As for carting all those materials in and out of a terraced rear-garden . . .