A garden bed halfway through a tidy up

A garden tidy up, to get it back under control.

Sometimes it is a date: visitors, an inspection, spring, the open home. Sometimes it is just that the beds have gone to weeds, the hedge has a fringe, the lawn has grown into the paths, and there is a corner you have been avoiding for a month. Either way you want it sorted in a day, with nothing left on the lawn afterwards.

A tidy up is one visit to get the garden back to where you can keep it. I clear the beds, cut back what has got away, shape the hedges, mow and edge, sweep up, and take everything I cut with me. The waste is separated and removed as standard; if you would rather I filled your green bin first, say so. If the garden has gone properly wild, the overgrown clean up page is the one you want.

How long it takes depends on what has grown, and it varies a lot. Photos tell me most of what I need, and if it looks like more than a day's work I will say so and give you a range of hours before you book.

What a visit covers

  • Weeding and clearing beds
  • Cutting back overgrown shrubs and perennials
  • Hedges shaped to their line, as high as I can reach from a standard stepladder, or single-storey roof height
  • Long grass with the line trimmer, then the mower
  • Edges cut and paths swept
  • Everything bagged and taken away
Wool sacks of garden waste beside a cleared bed

Prices

Prices
Item Price
Garden work, any service $60 per hour*
Minimum, regular visits 1 hour
Minimum, one-off jobs 2 hours
Green waste removal $30 minimum, which covers the first bag. Then $25 per 280 L bag or $40 per wool sack. Trailer loads are time at the hourly rate plus dump fees at cost.
Other waste (soil, rubbish, flax, bamboo, palm, anything mixed in) $45 minimum, then time at the hourly rate plus dump fees at cost.

Every service, lawns and hedges included, is charged at the same hourly rate for the time I am on site.

*I am under the GST threshold, so no GST is added. That could change at any time; if it does, GST goes on top of the rate and this page changes first.

How this works

There are two ways to start. Send me a few photos and I reply within 24 hours with the hours the job will take. Or book a visit straight away and I sort the scope with you on the day.

  1. 1. Get in touch. Send photos through the estimate form, text them to 028 416 1624, or book a visit online.
  2. 2. Agree the hours. From photos, I tell you the range of hours within 24 hours. If you have booked straight away, I look at the garden when I arrive and agree the hours with you before I start. Either way, if the job turns out bigger than expected I tell you before I keep going, and if you have a set budget I work inside it and do the most useful things first.
  3. 3. I turn up and do the work. A text the day before and another when I am on my way. The clippings leave with me, and the invoice is for the hours worked, with a photo of the garden as I left it if you were not home.

Waste. Everything I cut leaves with me unless you would rather it went in your green bin. Removal is priced per bag in the Prices table.

What I don't do

I am a gardener, so a few jobs go to someone else. If yours needs one of these, I will say so up front.

  • Tree felling, stump grinding, and tree work above stepladder or single-storey roof height: an arborist
  • Hard landscaping, paving, retaining walls and decks: a landscaper
  • Lawn renovation, returfing and new lawns: a lawn specialist
  • Anything inside the house

FAQ

How much waste will there be?
More than you think. A tidy up makes a lot more than a regular visit does. All of it is removed unless you ask otherwise, and the removal is charged on top of the time on site: the per-bag prices in the table, or for bigger loads the labour plus the dump fees.
What happens to the waste?
Green waste and anything else are separated, bagged and taken away. Nothing gets left in a corner of the section.
Can you do it while I am at work?
Yes, with parking and access sorted. I text when I arrive and when I leave, and send a photo of how I left it.
Will you come back regularly after?
That is usually the point. A tidy up gets the garden to a state a regular visit can hold, and most people set one up once they have seen the difference. See garden maintenance.
Is the estimate fixed?
The estimate is the range of hours I expect the job to take. Waste removal usually cannot be estimated in advance, so dump fees are on-charged at cost plus only the extra labour to take it. If you have a set budget, tell me and I work inside it, doing the most useful things first.