How much to haggle a landscape gardener / builder down by?

[MontyBowJangles]

We've recently had a quote come in and it's a lot more than we were expecting, but it does say he's happy to negotiate.

We really like him and his ideas, and would like to negotiate a lower price... But where to start?! Quote is £7.8k btw.

Anyone got any hints and tips please?!

Negotiating may include compromising design rather than just trying to knock money off.

Is the quote broken down for you? I agree that negotiating the price might involve compromising what you want. I know a landscaper and he says people are often surprised at the cost of materials. Or they change their minds about aspects of the job midway and are surprised that extra costs are incurred.

It's very detailed in terms of materials, design, ideas and that it will take approx 3 weeks. But then just has the total figure.

Perhaps I should go back and ask him to break down the cost to see where most of the money is going? We are then able to review it and perhaps come up with a Plan B which is more cost effective but not compromising on quality.

Ask for a breakdown of costs then consider if you still want him.
Don’t try and bring down the price.
The price is the price.

Huge part of the cost is disposing of the rubbish from the old garden.If you can do that yourselves it might come down.. it sounds really reasonable for 3 weeks work. I paid twice that for my small garden.

@FLOrenze what part of the country are you in? We're south west so may be cheaper.

Thanks for the tips - I've emailed him asking for breakdown on costs. I think I asked for expensive patio slabs as saw them on his FB page and liked them, but maybe we'll go for a different range. He is dismantling and disposing of a 16ft x 8ft shed, and hadn't realised that would be costly. I suppose DH and I could dismantle but we have two children and not much time hence wanting someone to do it all for us.

We are in outer london. Definitely look at different pavers. Cheaper does not always mean lower quality. I got mine from Marshall’s, they have a huge range but are top price. If you look at the catalogue and show the landscaper the ones you like he can probably find similar for a LoweR price. Our landscaper drove us to a couple of places so that we could see them for real. I think if you are short of time letting them do the hard graft makes sense.

You can see the garden evolve under my old name of grannygarden. I can’t do links but it is called The landscapers are her and it’s better than the arrival of santa.

Hi @FLOrenze Thanks so much - just had a look at your old thread and garden transformation and it's beautiful! Although neither myself nor dh are gardeners, so a lot of what you wrote about trees and flowers went over my head! Our garden is about 100ft long and on a hill so two flights of steep steps to get down to the bottom where we'd like the patio and log cabin...I'm sure this has put some builders off wanting the job!

Thanks for helping me realise perhaps the quote is reasonable. Am keeping everything crossed we can book him in soon.

old grannygarden thread with lovely progress photos

Update: went to book him and he's now not free til Sept!

No point getting a summerhouse ready for October so unless I can get someone else in next six weeks will shelve the project til the spring...