Enter your garden size and how overgrown it is. We'll estimate the waste volume — the number clearance quotes are really built on — and honest 2026 costs.
Quick answer: Garden clearance costs £150–£300 for a light tidy-up, £300–£800 for a medium garden and £800–£1,800 for a badly overgrown one in 2026. A typical job — a three-bed semi's garden gone wild, with a rotting shed — comes in around £900–£1,600. Most of the quote is the cost of taking the waste away, at £60–£120 per cubic metre.
Prices checked July 2026 · how we check them · how we work it out
Rough size is fine — pace it out: one stride ≈ 0.9 m.
No measurements yet? Tap a typical size above for an instant estimate.
Some links are affiliate links — we may earn a commission, at no cost to you.
Waste-per-m² figures are planning averages — brambles and hedges bulk up fast, but green waste also compresses hard when cut small.
Sense-check it: compare these figures with real quotes from local tradespeople — free, no obligation. Already got a quote? We’ll read it against these same price bands — also free.
Prices checked July 2026 · how we check them · how we work it out
These figures are planning estimates. Structures (sheds, decking, concrete), soil and rubble are priced separately — see the tables below — and anyone removing your waste must be a licensed waste carrier, or the fly-tip is legally yours.
Pick your stage — each opens Amazon.
Affiliate links — we may earn a commission, at no cost to you.
Our figure is researched, but it is not your garden. Post the job free and local tradespeople reply with real prices — the honest way to check the estimate above before you commit.
Compare with real quotes →Free to use. If you get quotes through this link we may earn a commission, at no cost to you.
Man and van is a team who turn up with a van, load your garden waste for you and drive it away.
A skip is a big open metal container dropped outside your house — you fill it yourself and the firm collects it later.
Either way, most of what you pay for is getting rid of the waste — so the size of the pile matters more than the size of the garden.
A clearance quote is really a waste quote: you pay for the work of cutting and bagging, then for taking the waste away legally. So we estimate how much waste your garden will make, based on its size and how overgrown it is. A garden that just needs a tidy makes ~30L of waste per m² (a square metre — a patch one metre by one metre). Properly overgrown makes ~80L. A real jungle makes 150L+ once the brambles, hedges and young trees come down.
Having a professional take the waste away costs £60–£120 per m³ (a cubic metre — a box one metre on each side). Green waste sits at the cheap end; mixed waste costs more. That price includes the crew's time. Sheds, decking and concrete are always priced on top — pulling down a rotting shed is small-scale demolition, not gardening.
Prices checked July 2026 against trade cost guides and waste-removal price lists. Rounded ranges, not quotes.
| Job | Typical range | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Light tidy-up, waste taken away | £150–£300 | 2–4 hrs |
| Medium garden clearance | £300–£800 | ½–1 day |
| Large / overgrown garden | £800–£1,800 | 1–3 days |
| Heavy job with soil & rubble | £1,200–£2,500+ | 2–5 days |
| Shed removal | £150–£500 | — |
| Decking removal | £200–£700 | — |
| Concrete base removal | £300–£1,000 | — |
| Old fencing removal | £100–£400 | — |
A useful marker job: a three-bed semi's badly overgrown garden, with mixed waste and a rotting shed, usually comes in at £900–£1,600 all-in.
Quote covers clearance plus landscaping? Price the whole job in the planner, or email the quote for a free check.
Why isn’t the tip free for this? It is — but only for about two bags. In England, councils are no longer allowed to charge for DIY waste. The catch is the free limit: 100 litres a visit, when a garden clearance makes cubic metres of the stuff. We checked 65 UK councils, and 14 of the 39 English ones we could verify still charge for soil and rubble above that limit: what your council actually charges →
| Route | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Man & van — transit load (~8m³), loaded for you | £150–£300 |
| Skip — 4-yard / 6-yard / 8-yard (per week) | £160–£280 / £220–£380 / £300–£450 |
| Skip road permit (if no driveway) | £20–£90 |
| Council green-waste bin / your own tip runs (the HWRC — your local council tip) | Cheapest — often free |
| Disposal by waste type (per load) | green £50–£150 · mixed £100–£250 · soil £150–£300 |
• Access — if every load has to be carried through the house or down a narrow alley, that alone adds £200–£500 in labour. More carrying, more hours.
• Structures — sheds, decking and concrete turn a gardening job into small-scale demolition, and the waste costs more to get rid of.
• Waste type — green waste is cheap to get rid of; soil, rubble and treated timber are not.
• The licence question — only use a registered waste carrier (someone licensed to take waste away), and keep the waste transfer note (the receipt that says who took your waste). If your waste ends up dumped illegally, the fine can land on you.
• What happens next — asking one firm to quote for the clearance plus the new lawn, patio or fence often works out cheaper than hiring twice.
It depends on the size of the job. A light tidy-up with the waste taken away costs £150–£300 (2–4 hours). A medium garden is £300–£800 (up to a day). A large or badly overgrown garden is £800–£1,800 (1–3 days). The classic job — a three-bed semi's garden gone wild, with a rotting shed — comes in around £900–£1,600 all-in. Lots of soil or rubble can push the total to £2,500+.
For green waste, man-and-van usually wins — a team who load the waste for you and drive it away. It costs £150–£300 for a full van load, and you only pay for what they take. A skip (£220–£380 for a 6-yard one) is better for heavy mixed waste, or jobs that run over several days. Cheapest of all is driving it to the tip yourself, if you have a car and the patience — most council tips (HWRCs) take green waste free.
Fly-tipping means dumping waste illegally — in a lay-by, a field, anywhere it shouldn't be. If someone quotes a suspiciously low price, asks for cash, and your waste later turns up dumped, you can be fined — by law, your waste stays your responsibility. So ask for their waste carrier licence number (you can check it on the Environment Agency register) and a waste transfer note (a simple receipt saying who took your waste and where it went). Genuine firms hand over both without a fuss.
A two-person team clears a typical overgrown garden in 1–3 days. A real jungle with a shed or decking to pull down takes 2–5. Doing it yourself, double that and spread it over weekends. The cutting is the quick part — the hours go on bagging the waste, moving it and getting rid of it.
Access — how easy it is to get the waste out — is the big one. If every load has to be carried through the house or down a narrow alley, that alone adds £200–£500 of labour. After that: structures (shed removal £150–£500, decking £200–£700, concrete bases £300–£1,000), soil and rubble (heavy, so charged at £150–£300 a load), and tree stumps.
Bare cleared ground grows weeds again within weeks — so plan the next step before the clearance. Weed membrane (a fabric sheet that stops weeds growing through) topped with bark keeps beds clear. A new lawn or artificial grass gets the space back in use. A patio makes it usable all year round. Hiring one firm to clear and landscape in one go often costs less than two separate jobs.
Every price band on this page traces to a source we checked ourselves, with the date we checked it. Prices move — if one of these looks out of date, tell us and we'll recheck it.
We'll carry this over — your clearance and the size you just worked out — and you can add anything else you're thinking about: clearance, paving, decking, fencing, lawn, driveways, planting. You end up with one brief to send to three landscapers, so they all price the same job and you can see which one has quietly left something out.
Doing it yourselves? It sizes your materials list too. Already holding a quote? It gives you the same numbers we'd check it against.
Real turfHow many rolls, what they cost delivered, and what laying adds on top.
Artificial grassOrder the right rolls first time, and know the price before anyone quotes you.
PatioWhat a patio should really cost — and where quotes quietly differ.
Shed baseWhich base your shed actually needs, and what it costs to get it level.