With the constant change in garden trends, changing your garden can come at a price! It's estimated that over the course of a gardener's lifetime, they'll spend £30,000 on tending to their garden. A staggering amount by anyone's standards, but just how does the amount break down to?
£10,000 is said to be spent on plants alone and £9,000 on renewing decking or patios in the garden, Gardening Express found out from their survey. This decking cost is based on renewing the patio and decking six times over their lifetime.
£30,000 was the average spend in 2014 according to the survey, but this seems to be changing. The survey by Lloyds Bank Insurance found that households spend an average of £587 on gardening in a 12 month period between 2015 and 2016.
If we take the average UK lifespan at 80 years old, and consider that most Brits won't buy their first home until they're 30, we can assume around 50 years of gardening. Based on the £587 average household spend, more recent data suggests that this spend has dropped to £29,350 - a £750 decrease on the figures from 2014.
For those who just want a nice garden without having to put in all the effort themselves, hiring a professional to do it for you could be an option. However, this isn't without cost. Compost Direct, compost retailer have looked at how much the most popular garden tasks will cost you if you ask the expert:
Your lawn
Depending how much lawn you have in your garden, hiring a professional can cost you on average around £30. Between March and September, this will usually be required fortnightly, racking up a total cost of £420 annually.
What you should consider is that a regular lawnmower can cost around £100 - this could be higher or lower depending on which one you wish to buy. But this is just a fraction of the price of what you would pay a cutting service to do your lawn.
Having a patio to host your social events!
A patio could be the stand out feature of your garden, especially when you have your friends and family over for social events. Laying a patio around 4m by 2m costs £475 on average. If you were to do the work yourself, you'd need around 18 900mm x 900mm paving slabs. You'll also need to consider the cost of hardcore and bedding mortar. It is also a labour-intensive task so, while you may be able to save money, it may be more worthwhile to call in the professionals.
Having a shed to store your equipment!
A shed is the perfect way to protect your equipment like bikes, lawnmowers and garden furniture. It will stop them from rusting and you know that they're safely locked away. The average cost of a shed is around £150 for a standard design. However, the cost of building a garden shed is £150 too, assuming the flat base is already in place. Although it may seem complex, building your own shed could save you some cash.
The cost of decking
As decking can be hard to install, most people leave it to the experts. This overall cost can be high, but how does this differ?
When buying decking, you need to have the right information - how much for the raw materials and how much for installation? It's good to stick to your budget. For budget timber, you can expect to pay around £14 per square meter. For a decking that's around 14m2 - approximately the size you'll need to house a dining table and chairs - you can expect to pay £196 just for the basic boards.
Depending on the decking that you want to fit your garden, such as premium hardwood boards, the price can change. This price can rise to approximately £90 per square meter, bringing the total to £1,260 for the same 14m2 area. You'll also have the cost of fittings on top of this, as well as a drill and saw if you don't already have this.
Two days is usually what it takes to install decking neatly into the garden, so you'll be hosting your events in no time - UK joiners, on average, charge £150-200 for one day's labour so it is important to be aware of the final cost. In total, installing basic decking will likely cost around £596, while you can expect to pay £1,660 for premium hardwood decking.
