garden clearance, horrible soil, help!

[redwellies]

The previous owners left my garden in a mess, junk and bricks everywhere, loads of weeds. Would like it cleared and levelled, topsoil added, paths, parking area and fencing. Has anyone here had this kind of work done? Examples of costs would really help me, although I know there'll be variations depending on what was done. Creative ideas for horrible, rubbly soil would also be fab! Thank you.

[paddywak]

As you say the price dpends on what you want doing and also how quickly you want it doing. When we moved into our present place (some 20yrs a go) the garden was also in a hell of a mess as well as slopng quite steeply, over the next 10 yrs we built retaining walls terraced it, put in a pond, decking, patios, rockeries and borders, doing it bit by bit as time, the weather and money permitted. luckily most of the top soil was just redisributed and what rubbish I had to get rid off I could do at work but even so I would estimate that over the years we spent �7-10,000 for material, but as I said we did virtually all the labour ourselfs. As to some costs I know skips for instance can cost from about �75-�150 depending on size, but it's that long since we had to buy any thing other then bedding plants I couldn't really say what the sort of materials you'd need would cost

[paddywak]

I forgot to add that while it was hard work at the time for most of the last 10yrs we've been able to do almost all our gardening with a spray can of roundup, a can of cider a bottle of wine and a barbie

[rosyrussell]

I am a garden designer based in the South East, and my experience is that roughly for every � spent on materials, you will spend another � on labour costs. Of course, the clearing of the job can be pretty time consuming, though very rewarding! For hard landscaping you can probably estimate �100 per square metre for paving, including labour. Topsoil would probably cost �40 ish per ton.(and a ton doesn't go as far as you would imagine!) Hope this is of any help! Some garden designers provide a 'consultancy' fee, where they will come and look at the garden and give you a sort of action plan of how to go about getting it sorted, where to source materials and labour, etc., or you could go the whole hog and get a design drawn up for about 300 - �400. I use Garden-Network.co.uk online, and that is a good place to get some useful tips and also find a landscaper near your home. Good luck!!

[redwellies]

Brilliant and helpful answers, thank you! I think money spent geting the clearance done will be worth it, never going to happen if it turns into an endless succession of weekends. And I don't drive, which is a complete pain. Raised beds will sort out the soil problem, and asking for cuttings will save �s. Have a much better idea of costs now, thanks!