GARDEN CLEARANCE

This is where most of our bigger jobs start. Nobody can tell what a garden is going to be until they can see the shape of it, and a lot of people put off ringing anyone because the state of it is embarrassing. It genuinely is not — we clear gardens like that constantly, and there is nothing you can show us that we have not seen.

What we clear

• Overgrown gardens — brambles, self-seeded sycamore and ash, nettles, ivy, and lawns that turned into meadow years ago
• Probate and house sale clearances — getting a property presentable before it goes on the market, usually to a deadline
• End of tenancy — gardens handed back in a state, cleared for the next let
• Old structures — collapsed sheds, rotten decking, greenhouses, failed fencing, concrete slabs, ponds nobody wants
• Post-builder clearance — rubble, sand heaps and the mess left behind an extension
• Green waste only, where you have done the work and just need the pile taking away

Where the waste goes

We are a licensed waste carrier, and this matters more than most people realise. If you pay someone cash to take your garden waste and they tip it down a lane, the council can and does trace it back to the householder — you have a legal duty of care to check who is taking it. Fines run into the thousands.

Ask anyone quoting you for their waste carrier registration number. We will give you ours without being asked, and the waste goes to a licensed transfer station where it is recorded.

What we watch for

Japanese knotweed

If it is there, ordinary clearance makes it worse — every fragment of root can start a new plant, and moving contaminated soil off site without the right controls is an offence. It also has to be declared when you sell the house. We know what it looks like and we will tell you straight away rather than strimming through it.

Nesting birds

All wild birds’ nests are protected while in use. Between roughly March and August we check hedges and dense cover before cutting, and if there is an active nest that section waits. This is not optional and it is not us being awkward — it is a criminal offence, and it affects the timing of hedge and scrub work.

Protected trees

Self-seeded scrub is one thing; a mature tree in a conservation area is another, and much of Chesham, Amersham and Berkhamsted is designated. We check before anything comes down — see protected trees.

Wildlife

Hedgehogs shelter under exactly the kind of leaf piles and brash heaps that clearance disturbs, and slow worms live in compost heaps. We move things by hand where it matters rather than putting a machine straight through.

What it looks like afterwards

Cleared, cut back to the boundaries, stumps dealt with where you want them gone, and the ground left level enough to walk over and see what you have got. Plenty of people stop there for a season and think about it. Plenty go straight on to a patio, new fencing and a lawn — and doing it as one continuous job is cheaper than bringing a team back twice.

If the whole garden is being redesigned, the clearance is where the design starts: once it is clear we can see the levels, the light and what is worth keeping.

How we work

• Free site visit. We walk the garden with you, talk it through, sketch a rough plan on the spot and take measurements
• Detailed written quotation within 48 hours. Itemised, so you can see what each part costs and leave out anything you’d rather not do yet
• We build it on agreed dates, with our own team doing the clearing, groundwork and construction
• Everything goes. We’re licensed waste carriers, so the spoil and arisings leave legally and the paperwork exists

We don’t put prices on the website. The same job on a flat plot with a drive to the back, and on a sloping garden you can only reach through the house, are genuinely different jobs — any figure here would be a guess. The visit is free and gets you a real number.

Related work

Common questions

QUESTIONS WE GET ASKED

My garden is really bad. Is it too far gone?

No. We clear gardens that have been left ten and fifteen years — brambles over head height, collapsed sheds, self-seeded trees through fences. It takes longer and it needs a machine and a bigger team, but there is no such thing as too far gone, and there is genuinely no need to feel awkward about it.

How do I know the waste is going somewhere legal?

Ask for the waste carrier registration number, and ask where it is going. We are registered and the waste goes to a licensed transfer station. This matters to you and not just to us: if waste from your property is fly-tipped, the council can pursue you as the householder for failing your duty of care.

Can you clear it before a house sale?

Yes, and we do a lot of it — probate properties and pre-marketing tidy-ups, usually to an estate agent’s deadline. Tell us the date at the visit and we will tell you honestly whether we can hit it.

Will you take the shed and the old decking too?

Yes. Sheds, greenhouses, decking, fence panels, concrete, paving slabs, ponds. Anything with asbestos in it — older garage and shed roofs sometimes do — has to be handled by a licensed specialist, and we will tell you if we spot it rather than putting it in the back of a truck.

Can you clear in spring when the birds are nesting?

Mostly, but not everything. Nesting birds are protected by law from around March to August, so dense hedges and thick scrub get checked first and anything with an active nest waits until the young have fledged. Ground clearance, structures and hard landscaping carry on as normal.

Do you clear just the green waste if I do the work?

Yes, that is fine — if you have made the pile, we will come and take it away.