How much did you pay for a garden overhaul?

[CountingDownTheLongDays]

Our garden, approx 85m² so not huge, is in need of an overhaul - it's not overgrown, but the lawn is lumpy , there's some concrete that needs removing, and it's frankly very boring.

It's also an irregular shape (triangle... ish...), and I have trouble finding anything on Pinterest that matches the shape we're working with. I'm no visionary, so we need some design work. But I'd like the end result to feature a natural lawn, a patio and a raised bed for some herbs, plus some shrubs.

Unfortunately between health (two bad backs!) and work, we're just not in a position to DIY it.

Can anyone give me an idea of a ballpark figure of how much I might expect to pay? I really have no idea. We need to do some saving up, so it's good to have an idea of how much we need before I start wasting some poor tradesman's time with getting a quote.

Check out lawnstripesandhedges on Instagram. They post garden makeovers with budgets, so itight give you an idea. It will vary hugely though! I suggest you start by just pricing up the patio tiles you want.

Ours is a similar size to yours maybe a little smaller. Last year we paid 3.5k for new patio and paths near the house, £2.2k for composite decking for down the back of the garden where we get sun all day. Shrubs and tree removed/taken away and double siding some of the fence and replacing 2 posts as the tree was leaning on the fence, £800. So all in £6.5k. Bought new furniture too was another £500 so £7k.

We cld have been doing with digging up all the grass to make it more even/flat but we decided to leave the grass as is. It was expensive enough to do what we did.

How long is a piece of sting. Are you talking just hard landscaping or plants too. plants are crazily expensive. If youre going for an overhaul I'd be saving now anything that you can possibly save and pot up. Then I'd start asking friends and family for cuttings etc since planting up a new garden from scratch is eye wateringly expensive

I went to horticultural college and we often had requests from people like yourself wanting the help of a horticultural student.

Might be worth seeing if there's a college/course in your area and contacting them. You could pay a student (I reckon about £20 an hour would do it) to do some general tidying up in your garden and, whilst they're there pick their brains for ideas, design suggestions etc.

I funded my way through college by taking jobs like this. I was so full of enthusiasm for my subject I would offer ideas, draw up designs, cost plans all for nothing (or beer money). When I qualified I carried on working for some of the clients I met this way.....because I knew them and was recently qualified they got the jobs done quite cheaply - plus, I knew a lot of other recently qualified gardeners with different skills who I could call on to get the job done.