Cost guide
How much does grass cutting cost?
Most gardeners quote a regular cut per visit rather than by the square metre. £20 to £45 a visit is the typical price outside London and £30 to £60 inside it. Nearly every round carries a minimum charge, so the smallest lawns cost much the same as a medium one. Where the work is charged by time instead, hourly rates run £20 to £45, and £35 to £60 in London.
Typical prices
Ranges, not quotes. A quote depends on your garden.
| Work | Typical UK price |
|---|---|
| Small lawn, up to about 50 square metres | £20 to £35 a visit |
| Medium lawn, about 50 to 150 square metres | £30 to £50 a visit |
| Large lawn, about 150 to 300 square metres | £45 to £75 a visit |
| Medium lawn, London and the South East | £40 to £70 a visit |
| Charged by the hour instead | £20 to £45 an hour |
| First cut on grass standing since autumn | £90 to £200 |
Almost every round carries a minimum charge, so a small lawn and one three times the size are often quoted the same. Published figures run from £20 a visit to over £100, and most of that gap is a regular fortnightly slot against a one off cut on grass nobody has touched.
What moves the price
- Lawn size and shape, since a flat open rectangle mows far quicker than the same area cut up by beds, trees and a slope.
- Whether it is a regular slot or a one off, because a fortnightly round is priced well below a single visit.
- Access, as a narrow side gate rules out a ride-on and turns every load into barrow trips.
- Whether the clippings go, which adds £10 to £25 to the visit once they are bagged and tipped.
- Postcode, with London and the South East running about £10 to £15 a visit above the rest of the country.
Worth knowing
A council green bin subscription is charged by most councils and runs from about £30 to £130 a year, with the median near £70. A few, mostly in London, still collect free. For a small garden a subscription is usually cheaper than paying for removal visit by visit, so it is worth checking what your council charges before booking a clearance.
Local authority garden waste collection charges, 2026
Who quotes for it
517 of the 4,012 gardeners listed on this site take on grass cutting.
Where most of them are: Exeter (15), Bournemouth (14), Worthing (13), Birmingham (12), Manchester (11).
Questions about grass cutting
Why does a small lawn cost nearly as much as a bigger one?
Minimum call-out charges. Travel, unloading and setting up take the same twenty minutes whatever the lawn measures. Most rounds set a floor around £20 to £25, so anything under roughly 50 square metres lands on that floor.
What does the first cut of the year cost?
£90 to £200 outside London where grass has stood since autumn, and £130 to £300 inside it. Long grass has to be reduced in stages, raked and carted off. That is why it is priced as a one-off job rather than as a visit.