Landscaping Estimates

Danny30

Hi, I am in the process of trying to get my garden completely done. I have only had rough quotes through sending images to some landscapers and the prices they are quoting seem very high, though I had someone come and look today and should get the quote back soon. Lets see where that goes.

It seems that landscapers profit margins must be very big so I am considering getting the work done by general trades in stages. Does anyone have an idea for rough estimates for the below work, so I know what I should realistically be paying (I know there many factors so impossible to give exact estimate). I have researched online and even the higher end prices seem quite low compared to some of the overall estimates I have received so far so I am a bit confused. 

- Clear 50m2 of garden - including 5 x 3m breeze block garage (Leaving Shed concrete base as is) and loose paving in small areas (both are easy to remove) 
- DIg up garden 6 inches and level ready for turfing.
- Disposal of all waste using grab lorrys
- Turfing 50m2 
- Laying 22 sq/m of patio over existing patio

Anthony147

Having got a landscaping quote (just getting one was hard enough) recently, I can confirm that the disconnect between estimated internet pricing and quotes is phenomenal and genuinely confusing as to why so high.

For mine, taking out retail pricing on materials gave a labour and business costs element approaching £1000 per day skilled, £400 unskilled for a two man job.

I just decided that I wasn’t prepared to pay that so will wait.

Just to mention - you’ll likely get the following reasons from other posters:
1: Material prices are spiralling (Not really relevant to yourself as job not material heavy)
2: The trades don’t want the job (difficult so priced as such)
3: If you won’t pay, someone else will (lots of work needed, not a lot of trades)
4: You get what you pay for (Given the problems often cited, this just doesn’t hold water)
5: You don’t understand what’s involved in running a trades business (patronising but oft repeated)

For me it’s pretty much all about number 3 - No shortage of work regardless of quote pricing.

Hope it all works out for you but if you can wait the “shortage” out, it will pay to do so.

Danny30

Anthony147 said:

Having got a landscaping quote (just getting one was hard enough) recently, I can confirm that the disconnect between estimated internet pricing and quotes is phenomenal and genuinely confusing as to why so high.

For mine, taking out retail pricing on materials gave a labour and business costs element approaching £1000 per day skilled, £400 unskilled for a two man job.

I just decided that I wasn’t prepared to pay that so will wait.

Just to mention - you’ll likely get the following reasons from other posters:
1: Material prices are spiralling (Not really relevant to yourself as job not material heavy)
2: The trades don’t want the job (difficult so priced as such)
3: If you won’t pay, someone else will (lots of work needed, not a lot of trades)
4: You get what you pay for (Given the problems often cited, this just doesn’t hold water)
5: You don’t understand what’s involved in running a trades business (patronising but oft repeated)

For me it’s pretty much all about number 3 - No shortage of work regardless of quote pricing.

Hope it all works out for you but if you can wait the “shortage” out, it will pay to do so.

Thank you @anthony147. Echoes what I am seeing that the prices online are completely different to the quotes coming in. I will await the quote that I should receive over the weekend sometime and if ridiculously high which I assume it most likely will be will look to get the work done by individual trades. I would also not pay the prices you quoted above. 

 I will hire a tradesman to clear, lower by 6 inches and level the garden and dispose of all waste. Then I will hire someone else to turf when that is done and different person if needed to do the patio. Won't be easy to coordinate but likely considerably cheaper.

Regarding the shortages of trades, I just can't see it being rectified anytime soon unfortunately. 

Undervalued

Anthony147 said:

Having got a landscaping quote (just getting one was hard enough) recently, I can confirm that the disconnect between estimated internet pricing and quotes is phenomenal and genuinely confusing as to why so high.

For mine, taking out retail pricing on materials gave a labour and business costs element approaching £1000 per day skilled, £400 unskilled for a two man job.

I just decided that I wasn’t prepared to pay that so will wait.

Just to mention - you’ll likely get the following reasons from other posters:
1: Material prices are spiralling (Not really relevant to yourself as job not material heavy)
2: The trades don’t want the job (difficult so priced as such)
3: If you won’t pay, someone else will (lots of work needed, not a lot of trades)
4: You get what you pay for (Given the problems often cited, this just doesn’t hold water)
5: You don’t understand what’s involved in running a trades business (patronising but oft repeated)

For me it’s pretty much all about number 3 - No shortage of work regardless of quote pricing.

Hope it all works out for you but if you can wait the “shortage” out, it will pay to do so.

I had a very similar experience. Sadly there seems to be plenty of people willing to pay these sort of prices.

I certainly don't expect people to work for nothing and am very happy to pay a decent hourly rate day. I fully understand the economics of running a small business. It seems to be worse in areas where property prices are very high as it seems may customers look at these things as a proportion of the house cost. Obviously the work is just the same where property prices are lower.

One exception was a one-man hard landscaper, who charged a flat rate per square metre (including sand, hardcore and cement). Then you bought whatever paving / edging materials you chose, ideally from his preferred supplier (10% discount) or you could go elsewhere. He does a super job but has a waiting list of about a year!

Belenus

Danny30 said:

Hi, I am in the process of trying to get my garden completely done. I have only had rough quotes through sending images to some landscapers and the prices they are quoting seem very high, though I had someone come and look today and should get the quote back soon. Lets see where that goes.

It seems that landscapers profit margins must be very big so I am considering getting the work done by general trades in stages. Does anyone have an idea for rough estimates for the below work, so I know what I should realistically be paying (I know there many factors so impossible to give exact estimate). I have researched online and even the higher end prices seem quite low compared to some of the overall estimates I have received so far so I am a bit confused. 

- Clear 50m2 of garden - including 5 x 3m breeze block garage (Leaving Shed concrete base as is) and loose paving in small areas (both are easy to remove) 
- DIg up garden 6 inches and level ready for turfing.
- Disposal of all waste using grab lorrys
- Turfing 50m2 
- Laying 22 sq/m of patio over existing patio

Most of that work is straightforward but don't underestimate the skills required to lay a decent patio and ensure that it drains correctly and doesn't drain towards the house (unless you have a french drain or similar) or pool in the middle.

We had our garden landscaped a few years ago with a large area of Indian Sandstone slabs covering about 70% of the garden. The workers took great care to ensure that the slabbed area had a consistent fall away from the house.

Make sure that your existing patio is correct before laying slabs over it. It might be better to remove the existing slabs.

baser999

Sadly there’s a lot who classify trades such as gardeners, landscapers, grounds maintenance as ‘unskilled’ and as such not worthy of a decent pay rate. I worked for years as a general gardener, with a fairly extensive client list for whom I’d be cutting grass, hedge cutting, weeding, planting on a weekly or fortnightly basis. Everyone was charged on an hourly rate. However, there were many clients introduced through a local letting agency who’d baulk at paying that rate despite renting in properties running into three/four figures a week. Their attitude was one of ‘how much? but you’re only keeping the garden tidy’. Simple answer, I walked away

henry24

What you describe you could do yourself. I used to pay people but then couldn't get anyone so started doing jobs myself and yes it takes time might not be 100% perfect but when you look at things knowing you've done it it's wonderful 

EssexExile

Do they give any idea of how many man/hours the job would need? We paid a lot of money to have the garden done some years ago but we did have 6 people on site for about 6 weeks, it soon adds up.

Danny30

Hi all, just received a quote. Not very clear so I have asked for more clarification. I did ask for individual pricing but quote is as a total which comes to just under 11k. Quote below. The patio part of the quote is for paving over existing patio which I assume should be cheap to do but not sure it's a good idea? 

Quote seems a bit high to me considering the patio is just being laid over existing patio. Any thoughts? 

1. Demolish old garage and cart away and leave original slab, garage area (3.5 x 3m)

2. Cart away 6 grab lorry loads of muck and spoil

3. Take out tree roots on 2 boundaries

4. Raise level of old patio by laying new patio slabs on top (ordinary concrete slabs)

5. Garden level and patio level to be the same

6. Supply and fit 4 – 5 new panels at bottom of garden into original concrete posts

7. Supply and fit new fence approx. 7m long (alongside new patio)

8. Supply and fit 1 pedestrian door back line of house

9. Supply and lay turf to 50m² of garden 

10. Supply and lay topsoil

twopenny

That does sound a lot - but taking out tree roots, that's expensive to do.

Ditto removing a garage and disposing of materials

Raising patio, leveling area is again pricey and turf laying if done properly.

I had a small patio and path relaid and 3 steps put in @ £3000 so I'm thinking the patio will be in that area. Wouldn't lay them on concrete slabs though. Expansion and contraction could be different causing it to have problems in a year or two.

IvyFlood

So we are due to have ours done in 2 weeks, finally! (started in March 2021!)

We are paying the contractors approx. 5.5K. This includes laying the flagstones we have purchased ourselves (30m2), prepping the area before hand, constructing brick planter from natural stone and installing a 6ft x 6m new back fence. The fence on its own is £900 but our neighbor is splitting the bill with us.

We have paid 1.6K for our flags but I wanted something specific.

We had a huge mound of earth and rubble on the area we are having paved (24 tones!) which we dug out ourselves, by hand!(me and the husband). Took a few weekends but we saved about 4k. Granted we spent 1k on 3 skips and it was hard work but it was still worth it in our opinion vs the saving. Could you not remove some things yourself?

We also paid £320 to have a large tree stump grinded away. As much as I tried to remove it myself I just couldn't!

I found it incredibly difficult getting quotes, even ones that did manage to turn up, failed to come back with a quote. It was very frustrating. I think since Covid, more and more people appreciate their gardens so they are in high demand. We booked ours in May and they are only starting now in 2 weeks.