Devastated - can't believe my builder did this

Many shrubs benefit from hard pruning, so you might get a nice surprise with some of those. I hope that you will soon have a garden again that you can enjoy.

That's a good update. Glad your DH has manned up and got over his “fear of confrontation”.

It says a lot about you, that you are so upset about this. Our new neighbors have moved in and flattened their beautiful established garden, including cutting down fig and pear trees that were full of fruit, to create a driveway for their expensive cars. They've concreted the entire garden, and put in a huge swimming pool, and a paved terrace. It's 40c here, and they've obliterated all their shade trees. Your respect for established plants is admirable.

Ask him what he did with the plants. Are any possible to rescue?

So sorry.

I can completely understand how you feel. I would also be devastated. I have plants that have great sentimental meaning to me, some over 30 years old and my garden is my sanctuary. I would be inconsolable if I lost everything in it.

Just as well that didn't happen then isn't it? Not sure where you got the idea that OPs father was ever involved in any of this.

"clear the garden (of building materials)"
vs
"clear the garden (completely to a blank slate)"

These are so different.

I have deep sympathy for you - I had a lovely garden once that workmen had been specifically told in writing (part of a council scheme) to avoid completely and not damage anything.
So of course they absolutely destroyed it.
They were presented with clear planting plans and guidance on plant replacements for the entire thing and in fairness they did sort it out. I suspect they budgeted for it.

However I would allow yourself some steam-letting as otherwise it'll fester. You might be best going and shouting at the garden and the emptiness rather than a person.

Wtf. I would go ballistic. I would expect them to pay to put it right and pretty quickly.

Is it actually legal for them to uproot the whole garden without council consent? I do live in a conservation area so things may be different, but I know I needed consent to remove trees in my garden when the builders came in. I think councils are quite protective of trees, nowadays. Might be worth an anonymous phone call to the council to find out - and of course if it proves illegal, the builders will have to refund you quite a lot of money to reinstate....

Where did you get 'father' from? It was DH who spoke to the builder so maybe he was part of the contract.

God, there really are some complete arsholes on here today. OP is obviously very upset as I would be of this happened to my garden. Why the need to stick the boot in and accuse her of lying, blaming her husband etc. If you dont beleive a post then report it. Troll hunting is against Mumsnet rules.

toot sweet comes from the same root as "san fairy ann" British troups brought back french phrases they had never seen written down. It popped up again in Chitty Chitty bang bang. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/toot-sweet_adv?tl=true

Are you sure they didn't rip them out to plant in someone else's garden for profit? Is him mum's cancer not a sob story to explain the long delay?

I'd absolutely demand to be compensated. While the plants may not have been expensive, the real cost lies in the amount of labour and time spent on them.

The contract was with you and not your father. The builder had no right to ask your father for changes and your father had no right to instruct on your behalf.
The builder must replace what he took away and I would inform him in writing.

Sure. Just seeking accuracy in tedious troll-hunting posts.

Oh OP I can quite understand how you feel. Plants have meaning, especially gifted ones and cuttings.

Firstly have they really cleared all the roots? If they used a digger then they probably have. If they have cut down the shrubs then you may well still have a healthy root ball and the chance for the plants to send out new shoots (like the Sycamore gap tree is doing).

Give the ground a bit of time to recover and enough time for any new shoots to show. They will be tiny to start with but your shrubs might still survive this.

It's 'obvious' to you but, obviously (!) isn't obvious to everybody. 'Clear the garden' is an ambiguous phrase. There should have been a more detailed discussion as to what that entailed.

I would be absolutely devastated. Your DH's dad and the builder need to attempt to put it right in the way that you want - new grass, new mature trees and shrubs etc. at their own expense. It won't make up for the sentimental loss but it's the best thing that can happen now.
I would make it very clear to them how upset I was.

@Badbadbunny He should have been clearing/removing periodically as he's gone along rather than make the customer suffer with a huge pile of rubbish and waste for so long. So that alone tends to suggest he has an attitude problem of not caring about the customer as he must have realised the customer didn't want a huge pile of rubbish blocking their garden for month after month, but simply didn't care!

Yes, he should have been clearing up periodically and he would have done if he was working on my property. If you let builders take the piss most of them will walk all over you.

James Wong was on the radio this week saying that there’s a market for stolen plants/shrubs and that plant theft is on the rise.

I would be devastated if I came back to my garden looking like that!
You don't need to go ballistic at the builder but just explain when he asked your husband if it was ok to clear the garden, he thought he was going to clear his rubbish and not your plants, some of which were sentimental. I'd ask him what happened to the shrubs and other plants, maybe he could give them back.

I have seen some crazy stuff on here but this is totally bonkers! I am so sorry OP just total miscommunication all round but no builder would do garden work without being paid.
I would try and talk to the gardener calmly and rationally, explain the situation and see if any of the plants can be retrieved.
I would be devastated.