Key Takeaways
- Garden landscaping costs roughly £80 to £150 per m2, with premium designs at the top end (Bark / landscaping cost data, 2025).
- A medium makeover runs £2,000 to £8,000; a full redesign £8,000 to £25,000+.
- Patios cost £50 to £200 per m2 by material; decking £80 to £250 per m2.
- A garden designer typically charges 15 to 20% of the project or £60 to £180 an hour.
- London and the South East run 20 to 30% above the national average, largely because of access and waste removal.
- Decking over 300mm high, fences over 2 metres, and most garden rooms need planning permission.
- A usable, well-designed garden is valuable outdoor living space in London.
In London, the garden is precious outdoor space, and a good landscaping scheme turns it into a usable extra room. This guide covers what garden landscaping costs in 2026, element by element, from a quick tidy-up to a full redesign, plus the access problems that push London prices up and the planning rules that apply outdoors.
How much does garden landscaping cost in London?
Garden landscaping in London typically costs £80 to £150 per square metre, with budget work from £50 and premium designs at £150 or more, according to Bark and landscaping cost data. Most 2026 UK guides give a wider band of £80 to £250 per m² for a professionally finished garden, and London sits in the upper half of it. The total depends on the scope:
| Project | Typical cost | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Small tidy-up | £500 to £1,500 | Clearance, pruning, turf repair, a few plants |
| Lawn and small patio refresh | £2,500 to £5,000 | New turf, a modest terrace, no groundworks |
| Medium makeover (lawn, patio, planting) | £2,000 to £8,000 | Reworked layout, new paving, borders, fencing |
| Full refresh, 80 m² rear garden | £8,000 to £18,000 | Levels, terrace, boundaries, planting, lighting |
| Full garden redesign | £8,000 to £25,000+ | Design fees, retaining structures, drainage, features |
What does each element cost?
Landscapers price by element, not by garden, so this is the table to build a budget from. Add roughly 20 to 30% to national rates for London labour and access.
| Element | Typical installed cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Patio, concrete slabs | £50 to £110 per m² | Cheapest option, simple rectangular layouts |
| Patio, Indian sandstone | £80 to £150 per m² | Includes sub-base, bedding mortar and jointing |
| Patio, porcelain | £100 to £180 per m² | Needs a slurry primer, more skilled laying |
| Patio, granite setts | £120 to £200+ per m² | Labour-heavy, hard-wearing |
| Decking, softwood | £60 to £120 per m² | Needs oiling or staining every year or two |
| Decking, composite | £120 to £250 per m² | Higher upfront, minimal upkeep |
| Turf, laid | £15 to £30 per m² | Includes ground preparation; turf alone is £12 to £30 |
| Close-board fencing | £60 to £96 per linear metre | 1.8m high including posts and installation |
| Fence panels | £40 to £60 per bay, plus fitting | Composite and premium panels £100 to £200+ |
| Planting and borders | £40 to £120 per m² | Topsoil, compost, plants; mature specimens cost far more |
| Garden lighting | £1,000 to £3,000 | Low-voltage scheme, transformer and cabling |
| Drainage and soakaway | £800 to £2,500 | Land drains, channels, soakaway crates |
| Retaining wall or steps | £200 to £400 per linear metre | Sleepers cheapest, engineered masonry dearest |
Patios and paving
A patio is usually the centrepiece, costing £50 to £200 per m² installed by material: budget concrete slabs at £50 to £80, Indian sandstone £80 to £130, porcelain £100 to £180, and premium granite setts £120 to £200 or more. Porcelain has become popular for its clean look and low maintenance.
Labour is 40 to 55% of the total on a professionally installed patio, and laying rates in London and the South East run £50 to £90 per m² against £30 to £52 in Wales, which is most of the regional gap. The invisible half of the cost is what sits underneath: a compacted MOT Type 1 sub-base, a full mortar bed rather than five dabs, and a fall of around 1 in 80 away from the house. Paving must also finish at least 150mm below the damp proof course, which on a London terrace with a low DPC often means digging the terrace down or adding a drainage channel.
Decking
Decking costs £80 to £250 per m² fully installed, with softwood the budget option and hardwood or composite at the top. A standard deck of around 16ft by 16ft commonly costs about £3,000, more for a raised structure with balustrades.
Composite costs roughly double softwood upfront but needs no annual oiling, which usually wins over a ten year view on a small London garden. Whatever the board, the substructure decides how long it lasts: joists at 400mm centres for composite, proper ventilation underneath, and posts on concrete pads rather than straight into soil.
Why London gardens cost more
Access is the single biggest reason, and it is the thing most homeowners underestimate. A typical Victorian terrace has no side gate, so every tonne of spoil comes out and every tonne of sub-base, sand and paving goes in through the house or over the roof of a side return. That can add days of labour to a job that would take hours on a detached property with a driveway.
The rest of the London premium comes from waste. Digging out a terrace and old concrete generates several tonnes of spoil, and skips need a highway licence and often a parking suspension. Small gardens also have poor economies of scale, because the setting out, sub-base and edge detailing take nearly as long on 30 m² as on 80 m². Expect 20 to 30% above national rates across the board.
Do you need permission for garden work?
Most landscaping is permitted development, but four things regularly need consent. Raised decking or a platform more than 300mm above ground level needs planning permission, and decking plus outbuildings must not cover more than 50% of the land around the original house. Boundary fences and walls are limited to 2 metres, or 1 metre where they adjoin a highway used by vehicles. A garden room or office is permitted development only if it is single storey, no more than 2.5 metres high within 2 metres of a boundary, and not forward of the principal elevation.
Trees are the fourth. If a tree preservation order applies, or the garden is in a conservation area, you must give the council six weeks' notice before pruning or felling. Two more London traps: building a garden structure over or within 3 metres of a public sewer needs a Thames Water build over agreement, and Japanese knotweed must be dealt with properly rather than dug out and skipped, which is an offence. Rebuilding or raising a shared garden wall also falls under the Party Wall Act.
Design and other elements
A garden designer charges around 15 to 20% of the project, or £60 to £180 an hour, and is worth it on larger gardens to get the layout right. The Society of Garden Designers' 2026 guidance puts fees at roughly 9% of construction cost on larger schemes, rising towards 20% on smaller ones, with hourly rates of £60 to £150. Other costs include fencing and boundaries, lighting, planting, irrigation and any structures such as a garden room office.
Source: Society of Garden Designers fee guidance and Checkatrade garden design consultation fees, 2026.How long does it take?
A medium makeover takes 2 to 4 weeks and a full redesign 6 to 12 weeks, weather permitting. The order of works matters, because doing it out of sequence means paying twice:
- Clearance, and any tree or knotweed work that needs notice served first.
- Groundworks: excavation, levels, drainage runs and soakaways.
- Structures: retaining walls, steps, garden room bases, boundaries.
- Services: lighting cable, irrigation and any outdoor power, all before paving.
- Hard landscaping: sub-base, paving, decking and edgings.
- Soft landscaping: topsoil, planting, turf last of all.
Turf and planting are seasonal. Autumn and spring are the right windows; laying turf in a July heatwave usually means replacing it.
What is often left out of a quote?
- Clearance and disposal of the existing garden, including skips and any permit.
- Spoil removal, which on a level change can run to several tonnes.
- Access protection: floor coverings if material is barrowed through the house.
- Drainage, soakaways and any land drains under a new lawn.
- Topsoil, which is rarely reusable after excavation and is charged by the tonne.
- Electrical work for lighting and outdoor sockets, which needs a qualified electrician and Part P notification.
- Sealing and first maintenance on porcelain, sandstone and timber.
Does it add value?
In London, outdoor space is at a premium, so a clean, usable, low-maintenance garden is a genuine selling point and a pleasure to live with. The strongest results come from a clear layout with a good seating terrace and tidy planting, not just spending more. A level terrace directly off the house, big enough for a table and six chairs, does more for how the house feels than anything else in the budget.
If an extension is on the cards, do the garden after, not before, and see our guides to which renovations add the most value and driveway costs. GS Renovation delivers hard landscaping and garden projects across London, often alongside an extension or full home renovation. For a free quote, contact us or call 07472 424 226.