How Much Does it Cost to Build a Garden?

As an experienced team of Landscape Professionals, we often get asked the age-old question “How much does it cost to build a well landscaped garden?”

Much like purchasing a house or a car, it is very difficult to give a definitive answer as there are so many different variables to consider, such as the size of the space, the complexity of the scheme, and the materials required.

Putting this aside, in normal circumstances, we often suggest using a guide of £200 – £250 plus VAT per square metre of the garden, to produce a well-landscaped scheme. This is based on current prices in 2023. This figure considers the cost of higher-spend areas, such as well-finished terraces with occasional steps and changes of levels, mixed with lower-spend areas such as simple gravelled areas or a medium-quality lawn.

Therefore by multiplying this by the area of your garden, will give a realistic budget for your landscaping project. For example, for an average-sized 150m2 garden, a realistic budget would be £30,000 – £37,500 plus VAT.

HARDSCAPE VS SOFTSCAPE

Now, you may be wondering what we class as a ‘high spend area’. This is mostly your hard-standing areas (or ‘hardscape’), such as terraces, decking & pathways together with walls and steps. A lot of the work for hardscape areas happens below-ground to prepare a suitable foundation & sub-base, essential for the longevity of your new scheme, protecting the cost of the expensive materials used on the surfaces above (the bits you see). Gravel is about as cost-effective as it gets when it comes to the hardscape, whilst paved areas are often the most expensive.

When it comes to the softscape areas of the garden, such as your lawns and planting areas, these are generally ‘lower spend’ areas, particularly if you select juvenile plants, trees, and hedges. However, if you want to include mature trees & tall instant hedges within your garden to create that ‘instant effect’, this will become more costly.

OTHER ELEMENTS TO CONSIDER

Although this budget guide will cover the basics of your garden, there are lots of other elements to consider in your brief. For example, pergolas or gazebos, sheds or garden buildings, swimming pools, water features, fencing, lighting & irrigation systems, will all add to the cost of your project. Additionally, more complex schemes involving structural design for retaining walls for example, will require a larger budget.

CAN YOU DESIGN A GARDEN TO A BUDGET?

Whilst it is tricky to design a garden to an exact budget, a good garden designer will want to create an amazing scheme to exceed all your dreams and expectations, why else would you use a designer to do something more ordinary?

Here at Oakleigh Manor, as we design and build our projects, we allow our designers to be completely free thinking, but our build experts are able to bring feasibility and outline budgetary guidance into our design processes before you get to Masterplan stage. This helps our clients make more budgetary-informed decisions even before the landscape design is completed. That being said, it is great if you have a budget for your project at the start of the design process, then the Oakleigh Manor Design & Build team can join hands to help you reach your highest expectations for your space, without simply blowing the budget before a spade hits the ground.