Garden maintenance cost blew my mind.

[Boleynforsoup]

I had a gardener round to quote for trimming some hedges back from my back gate that overhang from the property behind, weeding the patio and jet washing it. Taking all garden waste with them He’s said half a days work for a couple of them max. He’s just emailed me the quote: £750!!! My flabber is truly gasted…. Is this really the going rate?! 5 years ago without the jet washing I paid someone £45!!!

My gardener (well, dude that comes and mows the grass because it's just a bit more than's easy with a plug-in mower and he has a ride-on) charges me 65 quid every 2 weeks (takes him just over an hour) - when I ask him to trim the hedge out front (a good 10m I think) he charges me an extra 20 quid on top - although he does dump the trimmings with my grass cutting at the end of the garden, and I'm not asking for anything fancy, just keeping it under control.

I pressurewash my own patio (and use the pressure washer to weed the gaps) - to be fair that does take me a few hours, but it's a big patio, and I only do it once a year. For the money he's charging get yourself a karcher - its actually quite satisfying and fun.

My advice is stick a request for someone to do what you need done on uoue local resident’s group. Say what your budget is. Go from there.

Sorry to jump on the thread, but can anyone recommend a jet washer for a brick driveway? I've got quite a large driveway that's in need of a clean, but I don't want to pay the almost £400 I was quoted for a clean last Autumn.

That does seem like a lot. We also live in the SE and gardening costs £££ but your garden sounds tiny and ours is a decent size for commuterland. Do you have a neighbourhood Whatsapp/FB/nextdoor group? What about Checkatrade? You should never just get one quote. Gardeners though are expensive, there are too few of them around here and they're often not very good. I once asked a very reputable local bloke to do some work, including removing the wild garlic from under some bushes. He dug up my chives instead! Moron.

You could buy your own jet washer and do it yourself for a fraction of that!

I'm happy to. That's why I was asking if anyone had any recommendations of what I'd be best using. Never needed anything like that before.

We have one of these: www.toolstation.com/karcher-k4-universal-pressure-washer/p42670?store=null&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18510276693&gbraid=0AAAAAD-vLcUZc1Z8MFSYQ4k_ACR7MdAHq&gclid=Cj0KCQjwiJvQBhCYARIsAMjts3Lak3qR0z_7_9b-PWHVOXhm0HzU2p5biRyZubLP9YYhNNwI4T8sCSoaAvXJEALw_wcB

My gardener charges £35/hour and can basically do all the weeding, mowing, trimming. jet washing take all the stuff to the dump in about three hours or less as my garden is only about 50ft long. She’s quite efficient. London. And you could probably buy a decent jet washer for £150.

P take

That's mine also

Karcher is what most households buy, but a Stihl would be the next step up. Our garden is steep and hard work, so we've ended up with the same sort of kit the contractors use, but often second hand.

I would do it myself.

We used to, but age and health.......

We pay £30 an hour for our gardener, in the South East and extensive green waste. Jet washing is easy if you have a karcher or similar and don’t have mobility issues etc. I’d get more quotes, you sound like you’re being fleeced.

Hi we pay a local garden company and they take £35 an hour per man. We pay around £300 for 4-5 hours work 3 times a year. Similar to what you are asking for.

Or even take them to the tip yourself. That's what I do, despite being ancient and arthritic.

I got half a dozen of these:

Bulk waste bags

They hold a surprising amount and I can cram 6 of them into a VW Polo with the back seat down.