What Can I Expect To Pay For Landscaping?
When it comes to personalising your home, garden improvements sit right up there with new kitchens and new bathrooms. But what should you expect to pay for landscaping?
What Can I Expect To Pay For Landscaping?
When it comes to personalising your home, garden improvements sit right up there with new kitchens and new bathrooms. But what should you expect to pay for landscaping?
Reading articles online will give you a whole host of conflicting information, so how will you set your budget? And how will you know if your landscaping quote is reasonable?
The Association Of Professional Landscapers specialises in putting homeowners and developers in touch with landscaping professionals who won’t leave you feeling ripped off. Here’s what we think you should expect to pay for landscaping services.
Should You Believe Everything You Read?
Most experts in any industry will advise potential clients to take magazine articles with a pinch of salt. The internet is bulging at the seams with companies plying their goods and services. Each one will be be publishing blogs and articles to try to encourage you to buy from them. That’s what business people have always done.
Some articles (not this one!) are more like subtle advertorials or PR. The writer may emphasise some facts and skim over others in order to make something seem more attractive or affordable. For example you could be told that paving costs £x per square metre, yet that figure hasn’t factored in things like skip hire, cement, slurry primer or grout. It’s not a fib - but it’s not entirely accurate either.
You need to very vigilant and a little bit cynical when reading articles about landscape pricing. The only true way to know what to expect to pay for landscaping is to have a garden design professionally created and then invite reputable landscapers to tender for your work.
Should You Believe Everything You Read?
Most experts in any industry will advise potential clients to take magazine articles with a pinch of salt. The internet is bulging at the seams with companies plying their goods and services. Each one will be be publishing blogs and articles to try to encourage you to buy from them. That’s what business people have always done.
Some articles (not this one!) are more like subtle advertorials or PR. The writer may emphasise some facts and skim over others in order to make something seem more attractive or affordable. For example you could be told that paving costs £x per square metre, yet that figure hasn’t factored in things like skip hire, cement, slurry primer or grout. It’s not a fib - but it’s not entirely accurate either.
You need to very vigilant and a little bit cynical when reading articles about landscape pricing. The only true way to know what to expect to pay for landscaping is to have a garden design professionally created and then invite reputable landscapers to tender for your work.
The Price Of Garden Design
Any landscaping project that involves more than one garden feature, should start with a professionally drawn garden design. Without that design, how can you possibly know if landscapers are quoting like for like? They may all have different ideas as to what you want built.
Garden design prices vary according to the size of the plot, the design brief and any technical challenges the garden may present - for example slopes, or poor drainage. It’s not possible to give you a finite figure in this article. After all, at the time of writing our economy is in turmoil and prices for any goods or service are changing on an almost daily basis. If you are reading this blog in the future, you can probably expect to pay a different rate to today’s estimate.
Why Are Different Landscapers Quoting Different Prices For The Same Job?
It’s always good practice to get more than one quote for bringing your garden design to life. If nothing else, it gives you an opportunity to meet the people who will potentially be spending quite a lot of time on your property. If you are not comfortable with somebody, then price becomes irrelevant.
Even when everyone has quoted for the same garden design, there will be differences in the quote. Sometimes those differences may even be large enough to make you wonder what’s happening.
When it comes to pricing, all landscaping companies are different. There may be variations in the way they work, in employee salaries and benefits, company overheads, insurances and even in travelling costs for the team to reach your garden.
A higher quote doesn’t mean that a landscaper is being greedy or is trying to make a bigger profit at your expense. In fact, it may even mean that they take more time over their work and pay greater attention to detail, thus building you an even more beautiful garden. It’s for you to use your judgement when deciding which contractor offers best value for money.
How Do I Decide Which Landscape Contractor Is Offering Best Value For Money?
Price is not the same thing as value for money. If you were to award your landscaping work to the company with the lowest quote, and then be disappointed with the results, you wouldn’t feel as though you’d received good value for money. As a garden makeover can be a sizeable financial investment, feeling disappointed should not be an option. Neither should the stress and strain of trying to get recompense. After all, a new garden is not something that can be returned if you’re not happy with it.
The Association Of Professional Landscapers advises anyone who is thinking of buying a garden to learn as much as possible about the landscapers they are thinking of hiring, BEFORE signing any contracts or making any commitment. Read the reviews. Visit their website, ask around to find out what their reputation is locally. Most importantly, check that the landscape company has of the correct insurances, and that they work to the standards outlined in the CDM (2015) Regulations. https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg411.pdf.
As a rule of thumb, you can expect to pay less for the services of a trader who is inexperienced or who uses outdated methods that no longer comply with industry best practice. Having said that, there are some very good landscapers whose business overheads are low and who choose to pass those savings on to their clients. Every landscaper is different and you must use your best judgement to decide which company you want to work with.
One way to assure yourself that a landscaping professional is competent, honest and reputable, is to find out whether they are a member of the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL). No landscaping firm can become an APL member without their work and their business practice being thoroughly vetted by industry experts. Members have a strict code of conduct which is designed to protect clients against rogue traders. And each one is a member of the Trustmark Scheme. Trustmark is the only Government endorsed quality scheme for work carried out in or around your home. https://www.trustmark.org.uk
Discover more about the APL Here.
Click here to find an APL Landscaping Professional. https://www.landscaper.org.uk/find-a-landscaping-professional/landscaper-directory
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What Lies Beneath
For the Gardeners’ World Live show in 2021, the APL built an exhibit showing exactly what is involved in building the various elements of a landscaped garden. Follow the link below to discover what lies beneath a well built deck, driveway, patio, path and other important garden features.
Click Here To Discover What Lies Beneath.