Cost guide
How much does topiary cost?
Topiary is the least documented of the garden trades for pricing, and published figures are thin. Per piece rates of £25 to £100 and hourly rates of £50 to £80 are the two forms in common use. Formal box or yew maintained properly costs £60 to £300 per piece across a full year.
Typical prices
Ranges, not quotes. A quote depends on your room.
| Work | Typical UK price |
|---|---|
| Routine clip, simple ball or cone | £25 to £50 |
| Routine clip, complex or tiered piece | £50 to £100 |
| Specialist hourly rate | £50 to £80 |
| Formal box or yew shaping, per metre of hedge | £4 to £15 |
| Formal yew or box piece, annual upkeep | £60 to £300 |
| Clippings taken away | £20 to £60 |
Cloud pruning, niwaki and other Japanese-influenced forms are quoted individually and no reliable published range exists for them. Expect a day rate built from the specialist hourly figure, and ask to see photographs of finished work.
What moves the price
- Shape complexity. A ball takes 20 minutes; a tiered spiral or animal form takes an hour or more each visit.
- Species and growth rate. Lonicera needs three or four cuts a year against two for yew and box.
- Height and access. Anything above shoulder height needs platforms or towers and slows the cut considerably.
- Plant health. Box blight and box tree caterpillar bring treatment or replacement costs alongside clipping.
- Region. Hourly rates run £25 to £35 in the North and £40 to £55 in London for the same work.
Who quotes for it
Questions about topiary
What is replacing box in British gardens?
Ilex crenata gives the closest match in leaf size and takes clipping in the same way. Taxus baccata suits larger forms, and Euonymus japonicus microphyllus works for low edging where blight has taken hold.
Is specialist topiary work priced differently?
Specialists charge £50 to £80 an hour against £35 to £60 for general hedge trimming. Complex pieces are quoted per shape at £25 to £100, and quotes for whole collections are usually built from a day rate.