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How we check our prices

Every number on this site is a real price from a real UK seller, looked up on a date we record. Here's exactly how that works — including the bits we won't do.

The short version: we price the whole job, not just the headline material. Figures come from named UK retailers and merchants, each one logged with the date we checked it and published at the foot of the page it appears on. Nobody pays to be included, and no price changes because a retailer pays us commission. ← if a price looks wrong, tell us and we'll recheck it

Where the numbers come from

Real listings, not averages of averages. We look up what a specific product actually costs at a specific seller — Wickes, B&Q, Travis Perkins, specialist merchants, Amazon — rather than repeating a range we found on another cost-guide site.
Both ends of the market. For most materials we check a budget option, a mid-range one and a premium one, because "what does a patio cost" has a very different answer depending on the slab.
Delivered prices where delivery matters. A bulk bag of gravel with £40 of delivery on it is not the price on the shelf, and we say so.
Labour from trade sources. Installed costs come from published trade rates and quote data, presented as ranges rather than a single figure, because they vary enormously by region.

How we date and publish them

Each price sits in the page's own data with the URL it came from and the date it was checked. That's what produces the "Prices checked [month] [year]" line you'll see near every figure, and the "Where these prices come from" list at the foot of each calculator. The dates aren't decorative — if a page says July 2026, that's when a human opened those listings.

We publish ranges rather than single numbers wherever the honest answer is a range. A calculator that returns "£2,347" for a patio would look more precise and be less true.

What we won't do

We don't sell anything. No grass, no slabs, no leads dressed up as advice.
Nobody pays for placement. Retailers are named because we checked their prices, not because there's a commercial arrangement. Where we earn a commission on a link, we say so on the page, next to the link.
Commission never moves a recommendation. On several pages our honest advice is to buy from somewhere we earn nothing from — the sand that's cheaper at a builders' merchant, the tool that's better hired than bought.
We don't invent precision. If we haven't checked something recently, we'd rather widen the range than pretend.

Keeping it honest over time

Prices move, and a cost site that never revisits its figures quietly becomes fiction. Pages carry the date of their last price check so you can judge for yourself how fresh they are, and material prices get rechecked as seasons and supply change.

If you spot something that's drifted — you've just been quoted, or bought, and the real number was different — send it to us. Real quotes from real gardens are the best correction we get, and they make the next person's estimate better.

It also means we can read a quote you've already got against the same bands — free, if you want a second pair of eyes.

See it in practice Every calculator shows its working: the quantities, the price ranges, and the sources behind them.

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Estimatey is a free, independent UK cost estimator. Some links are affiliate links — we may earn a commission at no cost to you, which is what keeps the calculators free. Retailers are named because we checked them, not because they paid. Last reviewed July 2026.