Instant Hedge

[AnouskaWarren]

My husband and I were looking at getting an instant hedge as we are living on a construction site and am keen not to keep having builders looking on our windows. We found a place locally that does instant hedges and the trade price is 126.00 GBP (I have a US keyboard so no pound sign) a linear meter. The installer doesn't know that I know the supply price and he has quoted 250 plus VAT per linear meter. Since when did labour match the price of materials? Is this typical with hedging? He will of course have to dig a trench and install drip lines but the supplier said it would only take a day and a half to put in.

We put our own in but it was only a 3m run and we bought the plants online. Due to the height contraints of the pallet plus plants they could only send 6ft or 1.8m plants to us. We bought individual laurels from this place https://www.best4hedging.co.uk/instant-hedging

They are thriving, very healthy plants when they arrived. So it depends on if you want to do it yourself ie buy the plants and dig the trench, or get someone in to just dig the trench and you buy the plants to go in from another place.

It is hard graft though digging a trench. Dh and I did it together.

It's about 200 meters so I think it might kill us to dig the trench. Plus there are quite big trees close by so there will be enormous roots. Normally I do all of my garden and planted my last hedge when we lived in Canada but this is a much bigger undertaking.

I don’t think there’s a standard correlation between labour and materials. And I think people should be paid properly for their work. It sounds like a huge job and not simple. But if you don’t like the price you could always get other quotes.

That sounds like a fair price to me for a day and a half of hard work.

You could ask a digger driver from the building site to dig you a trench as it will take them minutes and you days! Perhaps the hedging labourers included special soil, protectors and maintenance in their quote not just labour?

200 metres at £300 inc vat per metre?

Have you actually worked out how much that is going to cost you?!

I would pay any amount rather than dig and plant an established hedge! It's very labour intensive and you most likely won't have professional tools.

Think how much you will save your back rather than your bank balance!

I spoke to my best friend who is a Quantity Surveyor and works in the industry and she said there is a correlation between labour and materials - typical 30/70 or 60/40 which is why I am questioning it. Having done countless renos including soft and hardscaping I have never seen labour at 100% of materials. I told him he would need to sharpen his pencil if he wants the work as it is currently coming in at £60,000. Unfortunately we're not allowed to put fences up as the developer won't let us.

I mean, it is what it is. I think it's quite old-fashioned to work on those percentages - there are simply some jobs where the labour is trickier, more intensive or more specialist than the production of the materials. Why don't you get another quote and compare?

It's not just labour though, it'll be waste removal + plant hire etc on top of the actual hedge price and then labour.

So if the hedge is £126 pm they also need to dig out the ground - if it's 200m worth they might need to hire a plant digger or similar which will be added to the cost, then it'll be the cost for waste removal for whatever they dig up then perhaps a few tonnes of material to bed the hedge in.

I agree. I think the quote is quite fair given the expenses of waste removal these days.

I told him he would need to sharpen his pencil if he wants the work as it is currently coming in at £60,000.

That's one way to go if you want to pay an extra 20% for labour. Did you really, honest to god say that out loud?

If you want something really good, and you want it instantly, you always pay through the ear for it.

I'm not saying that I think their quote is reasonable, but planting something big and mature is very different to planting saplings (or whatever the hedge equivalent is - idk).

@AnouskaWarren is this something you would have done anyway or just to stop builders looking in, as it is a huge expense just for the sake of builders not looking in your windows. I think I would prefer to pay for much smaller hedging, and have temp window nets or blinds up while it grows or fencing.

Yes I absolutely did. I work in software sales and if a customer tells me to sharpen my pencil I do so - otherwise they just go with a different vendor. It’s called competition.

There is no waste removal as we are using the soil to level the garden.

Never mind the 'per linear meter' - how many days work is he quoting for? What would he be actually taking home for the work per day and how many people doing it?

You work in software sales and I assume when you make a sale somehow the overall cost each time takes into account your daily rate AND the cost of the goods... at least over time. Is he taking home more than you think the labour is worth?

Or - antagonising.

I certainly wouldn't be using that language to get a discount. But, hey, if he comes back and offers it to you for 45k, do please come back and tell us, I'd love to be proven wrong.

He just messaged me to let me know he is reducing his price so I guess asking him to sharpen his pencil worked. It’s all in the delivery I guess or maybe he’s just not that easily offended. It never bothers me personally or anybody I work with.

Good for you. How much cheaper?

no, she hasn't.

🙄

As per above, yes I did work out the cost: £60,000. Hence why I’m asking if anyone has had this installed before and can advise on labour costs.

Christ. I’ve no idea but I’d love to see it once it’s done, it sounds like it will be really
impressive!

Plant your own smaller hedge and keep the curtains closed or blinds tilted till the builders have finished, it will grow into a big hedge and will only cost a couple of grand.

Is your house a new build on an estate? I don't understand why neighbouring developers won't let you erect fences on your own land. And if you are on an estate it sounds like you are soon going to be overlooked by houses rather than builders. And unless your proposed hedges are 30 feet tall you'll be back to square one in 6 months time.

You don't want the builders looking in your windows?

Get thee down to Dunelm and buy some net curtains. Job done.