Garden clearance

Clearance runs in two halves: cutting down, then carting out. Brambles, nettles and self seeded sycamore are cut back with a brushcutter and loppers, get stacked, then go through a chipper if there is room to bring one in. Roots are the decision point. Leaving a bramble crown in the ground means it is back by August, while digging it out or treating the regrowth in autumn is what actually finishes the job. Without that step the job is a tidy up rather than a clearance.

Disposal is usually the single biggest line. Removal is charged by volume at roughly £60 to £120 a cubic metre, or by skip: £90 to £150 for a mini, £150 to £250 for a midi, £200 to £350 for a builder's, plus £30 to £60 for a council permit once it stands on the road. What goes into the load changes the paperwork. Cuttings the gardener produced sit under a free lower tier waste carrier registration in England and Wales, numbered CBDL. Add soil, old turf, slabs, fence panels or anything you bagged yourself and upper tier is required, numbered CBDU at £191.02 to set up. Scotland works differently: the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) authorises carriers by activity and there is no tier split, so the question there is what authorisation a business holds.

Structures are priced separately. A shed comes out at £150 to £500, decking at £200 to £700, a concrete base at £300 to £1,000. Access governs the rest. A garden reached only through the house means every load travels down a hallway on dust sheets, which can double the labour against a side gate wide enough for a barrow.