Every price band we publish, on one page — DIY and fitted, at each spec level, with the date we last checked the sources. Free to quote and link to.
Rates per unit, at each spec level we price. The first column links to the calculator that works out how much you need and what it comes to for your actual size.
| Element | Spec | DIY materials | Fitted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clearance (per m³) | Mostly green waste | £45–£65 | £60–£90 |
| Mixed waste (rubble, timber, general) | £55–£80 | £90–£120 | |
| Patio (per m²) | Budget concrete slabs | £30–£55 | £75–£125 |
| Indian sandstone | £40–£85 | £85–£155 | |
| Porcelain | £55–£110 | £100–£180 | |
| Decking (per m²) | Pressure-treated softwood | £40–£75 | £65–£130 |
| Composite (never oil again) | £65–£105 | £85–£160 | |
| Fencing (per panel) | Lap panels, timber posts | £70–£110 | £110–£165 |
| Closeboard, concrete posts | £120–£160 | £200–£275 | |
| Real lawn (per m²) | Seed (patience required) | £1–£2.50 | — |
| Turf onto a prepared bed | £5–£10 | £10–£27 | |
| Full rebuild — new topsoil bed + turf | £15–£35 | £25–£60 | |
| Artificial grass (per m²) | Mid-range 30–35mm pile | £20–£35 | £45–£70 |
| Driveway (per m²) | Gravel (permeable, cheapest) | £28–£52 | £40–£75 |
| Tarmac (sealed workhorse) | — | £45–£100 | |
| Block paving or resin-bound | £60–£90 | £90–£160 | |
| Raised beds (per bed) | Gravel-board bed + fill | £150–£230 | — |
| Sleeper bed + quality fill | £210–£320 | — | |
| Oak sleepers, double height | £330–£470 | — | |
| Planted borders (per m²) | Prepared & bark-mulched (plants priced separately) | £5–£11 | £12–£25 |
Prices checked July 2026 — the same researched bands that power each calculator. A fitted band is the materials band plus the labour rate published on that element's own page, so the two always add up. "—" means no honest benchmark exists for that route.
The same bands multiplied by a representative size, at the spec the planner starts you on. Rounded the way the planner rounds, so these never disagree with the tool.
| Element | Typical size | Spec | DIY materials | Fitted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clearance | ~10 m³ | Mostly green waste | £450–£650 | £600–£900 |
| Patio | 25 m² | Indian sandstone | £1,000–£2,100 | £2,100–£3,900 |
| Decking | 15 m² | Pressure-treated softwood | £600–£1,120 | £980–£1,950 |
| Fencing | 7 panels (~12 m) | Lap panels, timber posts | £490–£770 | £770–£1,160 |
| Real lawn | 50 m² | Turf onto a prepared bed | £250–£500 | £500–£1,350 |
| Artificial grass | 24 m² | Mid-range 30–35mm pile | £480–£840 | £1,080–£1,680 |
| Driveway | 30 m² | Gravel (permeable, cheapest) | £840–£1,560 | £1,200–£2,250 |
| Raised beds | Two beds | Gravel-board bed + fill | £300–£460 | — |
| Planted borders | 10 m² | Prepared & bark-mulched (plants priced separately) | £50–£110 | £120–£250 |
Your garden is not a typical garden. Spec your own project to price your real sizes, mix the elements you actually want, and generate a brief you can send out for quotes.
We price materials from UK merchants at real listed prices, and labour from published trade rates — then we log the source and the date we checked it. 359 sources across 123 sites sit behind the table above. When a source moves, the band moves; we do not carry a number forward because it was true last year.
Bands stay bands. A single "average cost" for garden work is close to useless — access, ground conditions, spoil removal and how busy the trade is locally move a real quote more than the material choice does. What a band is good for is spotting the quote that sits well outside it, which is the whole point of this page.
Got a quote in hand? Our free quote check reads it against these bands and tells you honestly whether it is fair, high, or worth questioning.
Each band is researched from UK merchant pricing and published trade rates, logged with the date we checked it — 359 sources across 123 sites at the last count. Nothing here is a made-up average or a national "typical price" lifted from another site. Every row links to the calculator that derived it, and each of those pages lists its own sources in full. How we check prices.
The DIY band is materials only — what you would spend buying the stuff and doing the work yourself. The fitted band is materials plus the labour rate published on that element's own page, so the two always reconcile. Where a row shows "—", no honest benchmark exists for that route: raised beds have no reliable fitted rate (expect day-rate pricing), and seed is not a job anyone gets quoted for.
They are national UK bands. Labour is the part that moves most by region — London and the South East sit at or above the top of these bands, and much of the North and Scotland sits nearer the bottom. Use the band width as the regional signal rather than expecting a single number to be right everywhere.
Yes — please do, with a link back to this page. The figures are updated as we recheck sources, so a link stays current in a way a copied number will not. If you need something we do not publish yet, tell us.