How much does it cost to remove a hedge?

Taking a hedge out is a different job from cutting it. The top growth comes down, the stumps and roots come out, and the waste is taken away. The roots are usually where most of the time goes.

For an ordinary garden hedge, such as privet, beech or laurel, removal is about £20–£60 per metre including the roots and the waste. Height moves you within that band, and sometimes above it. Under about 1.5 metres, £20–£40 a metre is typical. From 1.5 to 2.5 metres, £20–£60 is the ordinary rate. Over 2.5 metres, £40–£90 a metre is more realistic, because the work needs ladders or a platform and produces much more waste.

A very short run is often charged as a half day rather than strictly per metre, so a few metres of hedge can be £150–£350. That can work out above £60 a metre, which is why the per-metre rate suits a longer hedge. A typical garden hedge, the sort of run most people mean, often lands around £200–£600. A longer ordinary hedge of about 15 to 20 metres is often £300–£1,200. Taller than that, or with poor access, and it costs more than multiplying the bottom of the range.

Conifers, and Leylandii in particular, are a bigger job. The growth is dense, the stems are thicker, and there is a lot of material to shift. Removal is typically £50–£120 per metre including roots and waste, so a 10 metre run is about £500–£1,200. A very tall row, or one that has to come out through the house, can cost more.

Cutting a Leylandii hedge is not the same as removing it, and it costs less. Trimming a tall conifer is often £100–£300 for the whole hedge. Conifers generally do not grow back from bare brown wood, so a hard reduction can leave a permanent bare face. If you only want it lower, say that. Removal is the right description only if the hedge is actually going.

The £20–£60 per metre figure includes grubbing the roots out and taking the waste away. A price that only cuts the hedge to the ground and leaves the stools should be lower, often £10–£30 per metre. Those stumps will try to regrow, and they are in the way if you want to plant or put a fence on the same line.

Roots come out by hand on a short, ordinary hedge. A stump grinder is worth it on a long run or on thicker stems, and it is usually still inside a quote that says the roots are included. A single large tree stump is a different job. Grinding one proper tree stump is often £80–£300, which is tree work rather than hedge work.

Waste is the other half of the bill. An ordinary garden hedge is often one van load. A long or tall hedge, especially Leylandii, can be several. Green waste is often £100–£200 a van load and mixed waste £150–£300. Those load prices are what disposal costs when it is not already in the per-metre rate. A quote that includes them will be higher than one that leaves a pile on the lawn. Ask how many loads are included.

Whoever takes the waste needs to be a registered waste carrier. Ask for the registration and a waste transfer note. If the hedge is fly-tipped later, the householder's duty of care can follow it.

A trim takes off the year's growth and keeps the shape. For an average garden hedge that is £40–£120, or about £3–£25 per metre depending on height. It is what most hedges need once a year. A gardener's day rate for this sort of work is usually £150–£250, or £20–£35 an hour.

Removal is a one-off. It costs more because of the roots and the volume of waste, and you are left with a gap: a fence, a new hedge, or nothing. If the hedge is healthy and you only dislike the height, a reduction is the smaller job, done by someone who knows which plants will grow back from old wood.

Per-metre trimming prices, clippings and when a reduction is enough are in the hedge cutting and trimming cost guide.

It is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to intentionally damage or destroy the nest of a wild bird while it is in use or being built. That applies to a hedge in a garden, and it applies whether you do the work yourself or pay someone else.

The main nesting season runs roughly from March to August, which is also when a hedge is full and when people most want it gone. Avoid removing a hedge in those months unless it has been checked and no nest is in use. Removal is a harder case than a light trim, because the whole hedge is destroyed, nest included. If a check finds a nest, that stretch waits until the young have left.

A competent contractor will look before starting. Someone willing to take out a thick hedge in May without looking is a reason to choose someone else. September to February is the straightforward window.

A hedge between two houses is not the same thing as a countryside hedgerow. In England and Wales, the Hedgerows Regulations 1997 generally require you to notify the local planning authority before removing a hedgerow on or next to farmland, common land, a village green or similar land, where it is at least 20 metres long, or shorter but joined to others that make up that length. The authority has 42 days to say whether the hedge is protected. An ordinary garden hedge is usually outside those rules. A covenant on the house can still restrict you, and if the hedge stands on the boundary, agree it with your neighbour before it comes out.

A short ordinary hedge is often half a day to a day for two people. A long or tall hedge, or a Leylandii row, can take one to three days, longer if the waste has to come through the house.

Access changes the hours more than the species sometimes does. A side gate is a different job from carrying every branch through the kitchen. Say which it is when you ask for a price, and send a photo of the route as well as the hedge.

1. Measure the length in metres. Pacing it is close enough.

2. Pick the rate for the height. Ordinary hedges £20–£60 a metre, tall hedges £40–£90, Leylandii and other mature conifers £50–£120. Those rates include roots and waste.

3. Multiply. Then check a very short hedge against a half-day price of about £150–£350, because the minimum can cost more than the per-metre sum.

4. If the quote leaves the stumps, or leaves the waste, it should be lower than one that includes both. A cut-down with stumps left is often £10–£30 a metre, before any separate waste charge.

Example: 8 metres of privet about 1.8 metres high. 8 times £20–£60 is £160–£480, roots and waste included. A minimum charge can lift the lower end, so a quote around £200–£480 is where you would expect it.

On BidMyJob you can post the length, the height, the species if you know it, and a photo. Local gardeners bid, so the price is for your hedge.

Trim it if you can live with it. A yearly cut is far cheaper than taking a hedge out and then replacing it with a fence or a new hedge.

Be explicit that the roots are included and the waste is included. A low number that leaves both behind is not the cheaper version of the same job.

Clear a way out. A side gate, or a gap you open before they arrive, saves the time that costs the most.

Book autumn or winter. That is outside the nesting season, and outside the spring rush, when everyone wants the same gardener.

If the hedge is coming out so a fence can go up, say so. The line of the stumps matters, and one visit that knows about the fence is cheaper than a second call-out to finish the line.