Who to hire for an overgrown garden

Short answer

A gardener or garden maintenance contractor for the clean-up, and an arborist for anything that counts as a tree. Get the quote to separate the one-off clean-up from any ongoing maintenance, because they are different services and bundling them makes the numbers impossible to compare.

Plan itThere is time to get more than one quote, which is where the money is.

When it is someone else

Calling the wrong trade costs an attendance fee to be told so. These are the cases where this problem belongs to someone other than a gardener or landscaper.

  • an arborist

    there are trees over the size your council controls, or anything needing climbing.

  • a pest controller

    the overgrowth is up against the house. Dense vegetation against walls is one of the classic conditions for termite and rodent access.

What to do before anyone arrives

  1. Walk the property and write down what you want kept. Contractors clearing an overgrown garden remove what they are not told to keep.
  2. Photograph everything before, for your own reference and for the quote.
  3. Decide about green waste: removed, or left for your own bin over several weeks. It is a significant part of the price.
  4. Check for anything hidden — taps, irrigation, meter boxes, pit lids. These get damaged in a clean-up and they are invisible under growth.

What to ask when you book

  • Is green waste removal included, and by volume or by truckload?
  • Are you quoting hours or the job? For an unknown quantity of growth, hours can run.
  • What are you keeping, and can we walk it together before you start?
  • Do you do the ongoing maintenance, and what does that cost separately?

What changes the price

No dollar figures here: this directory holds no price data and an invented range is worse than none. What follows is what makes one of these jobs cost more than the same job next door, which is the part you can actually use when comparing quotes.

  • Volume of green waste, which dominates.
  • Access for a truck or trailer, and how far material has to be carried.
  • Whether there are trees requiring an arborist.
  • Whether the site has to be left ready to plant or simply cleared.

What you can do yourself

Is this licensed work?

Not licensed work. Green waste disposal is charged by volume and is a real cost rather than an add-on.

There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state the work is happening in.

Licensing thresholds and certificate requirements differ by state and change with amending regulation, so this page describes the mechanism rather than quoting a figure. The regulator’s own page is the current answer.

Common questions

Who should I hire for an overgrown garden
A gardener or garden maintenance contractor for the clean-up, and an arborist for anything that counts as a tree. Get the quote to separate the one-off clean-up from any ongoing maintenance, because they are different services and bundling them makes the numbers impossible to compare.
Should I pay by the hour or for the job?
For a clean-up where nobody can see the ground, an hourly rate with an agreed cap protects both parties better than a fixed price given blind — a fixed price quoted without knowing what is under the growth is either padded or will be revised. Agree the cap and what happens if it is reached.

Find a gardener or landscaper near you

2,259 gardeners & landscapers in this directory, ranked on published evidence rather than on advertising.

Who to hire for

General information about who does what, not advice about your specific job. Licensing, consumer law and council rules differ by state and change; the regulator for your state is the current source. More guides to hiring a tradesperson.