Gardening Services: 2026 Costs & Vetted Local Gardeners
A gardener costs £14–£25 an hour across most of the UK. Beyond the mowing, every garden job has its own price: turf at £12–£18/m², irrigation from £600, drainage from £800. Tell us the job and we’ll match you with vetted local gardeners — three quotes, free.
Every gardening job, priced
Each job below has its own cost guide, its own calculator and its own quote form — so you compare like with like before anyone visits.
What gardening work costs in 2026
The quick version, before the per-job detail: regular maintenance is bought by the hour (£14–£25, more in London), lawns by the square metre (turf £12–£18/m² laid), and the engineering jobs — irrigation and drainage — by the system (£600–£3,000 and £800–£6,000 respectively). A shed properly based and built is £1,200–£2,300 for the common 8x6.
Labour is most of every gardening bill, which makes the regional spread wider than in supply-and-fit trades: London and the South East run 15–30% above the Midlands baseline, Scotland, Wales and the North a little under it.
Gardening in the 2026 season
This summer is the driest in years: nine water companies have hosepipe bans in force. Sprinklers and hosepipes are restricted in those regions — watering cans, water butts and drip irrigation fed from stored rainwater are exempt. Practically, that means butt-fed drip irrigation is the system to specify this year, new turf is a better autumn booking than a summer one, and a dry August is the cheapest moment for drainage work before winter proves the problem.
Browner lawns are dormancy, not death — established grass recovers with September rain. Money spent on autumn renovation (scarify, aerate, overseed) goes further than summer firefighting.
Gardening FAQs
How much does a gardener cost?
£14–£25 an hour for general maintenance across most of the UK, and £35–£49 in London. A full day is £150–£300. Regular fortnightly slots cost less per hour than one-off visits.
What does BestBuilders actually do?
We match your job with vetted local gardeners and send you up to three free quotes. We check the trades we list; always confirm insurance and any certification directly with the gardener you choose.
Which gardening jobs need a specialist rather than a gardener?
Irrigation and drainage are the two: both involve trenching, falls and water regulations, and both are priced as systems rather than hours. Tree surgery beyond light pruning is a third — that is arborist work.
Can I water my garden during a hosepipe ban?
With a watering can or from stored rainwater, yes — bans restrict hosepipes and sprinklers. A water butt plus a drip line is the ban-proof setup, and it is also the cheapest irrigation to install.
Sources & method
Indicative 2026 UK prices compiled from published installer pricing (Checkatrade, MyJobQuote, MyBuilder and BookaBuilder cost guides, August 2026). BestBuilders has no quote history in this category yet — treat every figure as a budgeting guide and confirm against three written quotes. Hosepipe-ban positions reflect the Temporary Use Bans in force with nine water companies in August 2026; exemptions vary slightly by company, so check yours.