AIBU to take out a £30k personal loan to revamp our odd garden?

[GardenDeLuxe]

Would you??

We've had a rough quote from a gardener and this is the ballpark. We would have to finance it... at least a big chunk of it.

I've lived in my house for over 15 years and the garden has always been pretty rubbish. We have always struggled to know what to do with it. It has a strange plot shape so consists of multiple triangle shapes around the house. We are on a hill as well, so it's on lots of different levels so feels very disjointed.

We have 8 years left on our mortgage (£55k balance)... I think the current rate is currently similar to a personal loan. So, it seems a personal loan is a better way to go??? Seems 'frivolous' to take out a personal loan somehow - but then we would have a horrible garden forevermore otherwise??!

AIBU to just take out a loan as you only live once?!

I don’t think you are being frivolous. We are literally finishing up a 50K revamp of our garden in next few weeks. Before people start tutting, I have lived in 5 houses over past 25 years and every one had garbage gardens. We own our current home and tried to improve it on our own but it was just not in our wheel house. We’ve had it completely redone, with a patio and awning, lovely plants and a huge pond. I’m so excited. I say go for it.

Maybe it would be slightly cheaper to find another house with a better garden? You can swap mortgages.

I'd do it if it's important to you and you can afford it. We paid 9k just to have the garden of a new build levelled, turfed and paved so if there's a lot of work involved I can see where the figure comes from. Don't put it off, things only get more expensive. One thing, you say you 'think' your current mortgage rate is the same as a personal loan. When you're talking about finances you need to be sure you're borrowing in the most sensible way

I wouldn’t. Assuming that you’re in the uk, you’ll get about 3 days when you’ll actually be able to enjoy it 😂

definitely not worth getting into 30k of debt for!

You're out of your mind, this is how people lose their homes. You have lived x years perfectly fine without a 30k garden. Learn to DIY?

This. Do the math.

I would only do it if the expenditure didn't exceed the extra value on the house, but I wouldn't pay the high interest on a loan for it. - I'd save up instead, or do small amounts at a time.

You need to get more quotes. Just one really isn't enough. Other garden designers may come up with other ideas that fit the spaces and aspects they present even better than the one you have. Plus consider how you will use the garden, not just now but in the future when you are older and maybe less able to get around a multi-level garden.

£30K seems like an awful lot, although the costs of materials has risen considerably. We had our rear garden landscaped in 2018, with lots of patio, paving, paths, pergolas and fences, plus a lot of turf, and involved five lads, a mini digger and at least two wagons for removal of spoil and took eight days (it should have been less but they discovered foundations under the lawn that we hadn't known about, so more work and costs to them than anticipated). It cost us £8K for that.

It's unlikely that we'd get that amount of work done for that amount again, but £30K still seems steep. Are you satisfied with the projected end result for the money? Does the design really work for you and you're convinced you'll want to be out in it as much as possible, kind of thing? Does £30K slapped on your mortgage seem worth it?

Perhaps what you need is to pay for the vision then either diy or find a green fingered handyman?

Can I suggest that if there are similar houses round you then look at what their gardens are like? look at houses for sale, what their gardens are like and what they sell for...do your am I getting value for money due diligence....also seriously consider if your house will be right for you in your 60's 70's if part of your argument is that you won't be moving...and I say this as a garden fanatic. deffo get more quotes and more opinions and ask to look at garden sthey have done...in real life is best but pics would help too...and if you can speak to previous clients even better.

I think you should get your calculator out and work out how much you would have actually paid over the loan period… I imagine that the £30k garden will have cost you at least £50k - £60k when you add up all the interest payments. If it was me, I would focus all my efforts on paying down the mortgage early, as with high mortgage rates you will really benefit from reducing the capital part of the mortgage. I imagine that there would be lots of things that you could do in a simple way to improve how your garden looks and feels, that would not require a garden designer. Have you looked at books / magazines / online for inspiration? When you have paid your mortgage off then you can save and plan further (more substantial) work to your garden.

I love sitting in the garden so tbh if I could afford it I'd go for it.
Do what beings you joy.
Other people will spend that on a car or a kitchen without batting an eyelid.
And TBH I think 30k for landscape gardening would quickly be used up.
However if you are thinking if moving any time soon then I would spend less.

People lose their homes by taking on 30k of debt they can afford on top of a (very small) 55k mortgage..? Don't be ridiculous.

Some people on this thread are very debt-averse. I understand it in theory, but life is short. I'd rather have the benefit now and enjoy the garden for longer even if it costs a bit more in the long run. Everyone has different philosophies on that.

The only thing I have against personal loans these days is that you don't get any leeway if you are able to pay it off early. You used to be able to get a settlement figure that knocked off the outstanding interest, a bit like HP. If you can get it at a relatively low rate then there's no problem.
I would definitely do it. I love my garden and spend hours in it. I would hate it if it made me unhappy.

she asked her opinion, i gave it, personally think its catastrophic.

If you're not gardeners then why put so much into a space you'll have little interest maintaining.
I'd get a cheaper quote for a low maintenance design. 30k debt for a garden seems excessive.

I’d spend 30k cash on a garden if I was so inclined. But no way would I get into 30k of debt for a garden. With interest how much would you actually pay back…..35k? 40k?

you say you can afford the repayments so why don’t you save for a bit and then get the work done? At least then you won’t pay interest.

Though I have to say I’d be learning what to do myself. I was quoted 4k for a patio years ago…..I ended up watching some YouTube videos, bought some slabs and did it myself.

No way, because it's still going to be an odd shape and weird plot whatever you do to it so it's not going to be this massive fix that's worth the money. There must be a cheaper option that simply makes it less horrible.

Do it.
People spend £30k on a car without batting an eye.
It will give you years of pleasure.

I’m not sure I would finance £30k for a garden but that depends what it actually includes and only you can decide if you are happy with the cost of it, but yes I wouldn’t have an issue with a personal loan to finance it.

We have done it via a large personal loan for the works on our house, for us it was better than adding it to the mortgage as we can afford the repayments, it will be repaid quicker than on the mortgage hence less interest paid on it and it’s unsecured so overall lower risk.

Also the alternative was to save the money up first then do the works, but that would take the 5 years whereas this way we can get on and have the benefit of the works being done and repay it in same timescale the saving would have taken. We had whole house to do though so it has also protected us as gives us a more saleable property should we need to sell in the meanwhile etc.

Those that are saying don't do it may have missed that you’re not planning to ever move. You’re still pretty young and that’s a RELATIVELY small mortgage to pay, so if you can take the hit and it will make you much happier til the day you die you don't need the permission of randoms on Facebook to do it. Enjoy!

Get more quotes.

30 k is alot of for a garden I'd probably attempt to save something towards it instead of such a large loan

I paid £20k 3 years ago to have part of my garden terraced, plus a large deck built. It really has been life changing as we now have a usable garden, with flat areas and places to sit and enjoy the view. Ours is also on a hillside so it's a very difficult space.

I still have £260k on my mortgage. Some might say I should have used the £20k to pay some of that off! But I'd rather have a garden.

£30k is a year's salary for someone. Or about 1,000 hours of professional time for someone without extensive qualifications. Perhaps 500 hours for an expert.

Maybe there is quite a lot of materials going into the project, but even if that takes up £10k, the rest is still 350 hours at the expert rate or 700 at the junior rate. That's 8/16 weeks full time. It seems like a lot of money to me unless your garden is huge.

Have you at least got two offers? And is there some stuff you can do yourself? There's not much point paying a landscaping expert £60 per hour to drive to and from the garden centre several times to pick up compost or mulch.