Landscape gardeners

[Plantstrees]

My DM has had gardeners in to sort out her garden. They prepared a plan showing where everything would go, including a new patio and a path through the garden and various plants etc. The plan was agreed and they did the work. So they have built the patio and laid the path and various other bits of planting and new lawn etc.

My problem is that there was a pile of old building stuff and a bonfire site in the bottom corner of the garden. Their plan shows it as a pretty flowerbed but they are now saying it is not their responsibility to get rid of the rubbish that is there already and have asked DM to arrange to get it removed before they can plant it up. They are also saying that it is not their job to weed the area and that DM will have to find someone else to do this.

Am I being unreasonable to have expected the gardeners to do the weeding and clearance themselves within the price they quoted? It is not obvious from the quote as nothing is stated either way - it mentions planting and sowing the new lawn but doesn't mention weeding etc. Surely one would expect a gardener to do the weeding and clear old rubbish out the way in order to plant the garden they had planned?

Eurgh - this is a real tough one. Is there any correspondence to clarify the scope of the works if isn’t on the quote?

I went through about 7 landscape gardeners before I found one who’d give me an itemised quote so it does seem unfortunately very common.

I get the impression that these 'landscape gardeners' are just not interested in real gardening! Unfortunately the quote is really vague so not helpful.

I'd would assume that if they have come along and quoted to turn a pile of rubbish into a pretty flowerbed then part of that job is to remove the flowerbed. Ideally it would be clearly in the quote.

"it mentions planting and sowing the new lawn" New lawns require massive amounts of preparation before sowing seeds or laying turf. Massive amounts. IMHO removing a pile of rubbish could well be trivial in the context of the work they have to put in before sowing seeds.

Last paragraph assumes, probably unreasonably, that they're planning on doing a proper job.

remove the rubbish not flowerbed, obvs

I - as you and your Mum - would expect the end result to be basically the pretty picture shown. The talk-gardeners topic may have some insight?

I was hugely put off by the number of landscape gardeners who seemed to think it was okay to ask me to sign off on a substantial chunk of money without an itemised quote - we’d never accept that for a new bathroom, would we? Just to say if your Mum is being shafted a bit it really can happen to savvy people because it can seem like ‘the norm’.

Thank you for everyone's input. I think I will have a word with the gardeners on her behalf as I do believe they are taking advantage.

Are they licensed to remove the rubbish?
My neighbour does something building related and I remember overhearing him telling someone who was complaining about rubbish piled up in his garden that he needed a permit or licence or something from the council to remove it and they hadn’t processed it yet.
Could that be the reason for the refusal to dispose of the rubbish?

I do think it’s unprofessional though not to provide an itemised breakdown and I also think refusal to weed is an absolute joke!
Weeding makes up a huge percentage of a gardeners work and if they are starting the bed from scratch, that is by planting seeds rather than planting established plants the ground will certainly need thorough weeding!

DP is a landscaper gardener. Yes, they should have given you an itemised bill. Were there discussions about hard Vs soft landscaping? I.e. DP only does hard landscaping, he is a landscaper, not a gardener. Having said that, clearing the site is part of the hard landscaping.

How are they getting rid of other waste from the project? Presume they have hired skips? Depends how much stuff there is but it shouldn't be too much extra to clear the area.

If they really won't do it, hire your own skip and an odd job man to clear it, would probably be cheaper than the landscapers charge.

I would expect them to change the garden as it was when they initially quoted, whatever condition it's in, into the garden on the plans.

If she'd needed to get rid of rubbish, she should've been made aware of this beforehand.

Of course it's their job to weed it!