Gardener hourly rates in 2026

What gardeners charge by the hour and the day

Hourly rates across the UK cluster at £25 to £45 in 2026. Member listed averages sit near £32 with a spread from £19 to £57, and one trade body publishes a scale by experience: around £28 under four years, £36 between four and ten, and £47 beyond ten. Day rates run £150 to £300 for a maintenance gardener and £180 to £280 for a landscape gardener, based on a seven or eight hour day.

One widely read cost guide publishes £14 to £25 an hour, which falls below every other source checked and contradicts its own figures further down the same page. Treat that as a floor rather than a market rate. Half days run £75 to £180, and two person teams £300 to £500 a day.

What the rate does and does not cover

Labour, tools, fuel and travel to the address sit inside the hourly figure. Green waste almost always sits outside it: £20 to £50 is the usual charge for a standard load, rising to £30 to £60 in London, and a single bin bag is often included with a mowing visit at no extra cost.

Plants, turf, compost, bark, sand and timber are charged at cost or with a margin, and hired machinery appears as its own line. Minimum charges of £25 to £35 cover travel on very short visits, though many gardeners prefer a half day minimum instead, and tree work carries a far higher floor at £150 to £250.

Where you live changes the number

London runs roughly 25 per cent above the national average, inside a band of 15 to 30 per cent depending on the source. Bristol and Nottingham sit around 25 per cent up, Birmingham nearer 17 per cent, and Glasgow at or slightly below the national figure.

Regional gaps widen on specialist work. Hedge and ornamental rates run £25 to £35 an hour in Yorkshire and the North against £40 to £55 in London, a gap closer to 50 per cent. Rural addresses a long way from a tip can carry a travel premium that has nothing to do with the region at all.

VAT, and why quotes are hard to compare

Registration for VAT becomes compulsory once taxable turnover passes £90,000 over twelve months, with deregistration available below £88,000. Gardening services are standard rated at 20 per cent, so a registered firm's price carries tax that a sole trader's does not.

Quotes must show the total price including tax, and VAT invoices must display the VAT separately along with the registration number. A gardener who is not registered must never show a VAT line at all, so a quote with VAT added and no registration number on it is worth querying before anything is paid.

Regular rounds against one off visits

Recurring maintenance is cheaper per visit because travel and set up are spread across a season. Fortnightly visits run £30 to £60 outside London and £45 to £80 inside it, monthly visits £40 to £70, and an annual contract on a medium garden £800 to £1,800.

Marketplace data tells a different story, with a median around £160 a task and a range up to £500. The two are not in conflict: one prices a short recurring round, the other prices larger one off jobs posted by people who do not have a regular gardener. Booking a slot on an existing round is the cheaper route where the work suits it.