How Much Does it Cost to Landscape a Garden?

Job 1…(There is only one example price. It’s the only landscaping job any of us has ever done)

I’m the “average builder” described in the article below. Apart from the odd wall around a patio, the only landscaping job I’ve ever done is make a water feature at the bottom of my own garden. By pure fluke (it certainly wasn’t by design) it looks brilliant, has a 4 foot high rockery and a double waterfall.

The whole thing is about 22 square metres, the pond takes up about 5 square metres, the rockery about 5 and the area of bark and plants the rest. There’s no plastic pond liner showing because I’ve set substantial rocks in concrete all around the edge, gravel in the bottom and the submersible pump is hidden. There’s a little pump house “under” the rockery and big old ancient stone gutter sections taken from my barn.  These direct the piped pond water from where it emerges at the top of the rockery, down two separate routes, which converge at the bottom and flow over a stone slab back into the pond.

There’s one problem, water “disappears” into the rockery on it’s route back to the pond. If I’ve had a glass of wine (of course I’ve had a glass of wine) and leave it on all night, it nearly empties the bloomin’ pond.

Anyway, it took me and my boy 6 days to build: £1650

The liner and pump and gravel were: £170

The rocks should have cost: £400

The stone gutters should have cost: £550

The plants and bark: £230

Armoured electric cable etc: £150,

That’s a grand total of: £3120.00

General Landscape Gardening Information
See that piece of string over there, pop over and see how long it is will you! I can’t think of any other jobs to price up for you where there there are so many variables.

We’re not talking turfing or patios or decking now, but modelling your garden with interesting features, quirky areas and fascinating little corners. You want imagination, you want a certain “je ne say… kwar…choir……………. What you want is that bloke off the telly!

One thing’s for certain, don’t expect to get the average builder along and ask him for ideas. He might come up with “get the grass cut” but that will be it.

Either design it yourself, get inspiration by spending many happy hours having morning coffee in those places that sell plants and stuff on the side…….garden centres, that’s it. Sort out what you want and where, draw a plan, then get the landscapers in.

Or, hang around on a street corner and wait until a thin bloke with a pony tail and no tattoos or earrings comes along. He will be a garden designer, (ex public school drop out, called Raif or Rupert, smokes roll ups, you know the type of thing).

Ask him!