Hedge cutting is priced per job, and in Chipping Campden the factor that most often surprises people is not the hedge at all. It is what happens to the cuttings.
Disposal is the local variable
A good deal of property here has narrow frontage and an enclosed garden behind, reached through the house or along a shared passage. That means the arisings — which on a decent hedge fill more than people ever expect — cannot be chipped where they fall and carried away in one load.
It is the thing most worth being accurate about at enquiry stage, and the thing most often glossed over.
What else sets the price
- Length. The starting point.
- Height. The price steps up where the job needs a platform rather than a step ladder.
- Width. Both faces plus the top is roughly three times the work of topping alone.
- Species. Soft growth cuts quickly; dense conifer and thick woody stems do not.
- Time since the last cut. One year and five years are entirely different jobs.
- What's along the base. Borders, walls and outbuildings slow everything.
Cotswold stone walls and hedges together
A common arrangement around Chipping Campden is a hedge growing along or behind a stone wall. It is worth flagging at quotation, because it changes two things: the crew cannot simply drop cuttings on that side, and cutting the face tight to a wall is slower and more careful work than cutting a hedge standing free.
It also affects where a ladder or platform can safely be footed, which occasionally decides how the job is done at all.
The first cut versus the maintenance cut
| Time since last cut | What the job is |
|---|---|
| Within a year | Routine maintenance — quickest and cheapest |
| Two to three years | Heavier trim; the old line is still findable |
| Four years or more | Reclamation — far more material, line usually lost |
| Never properly cut | A reduction project rather than a cut |
Be honest about which you have when you ring. A quote given for routine maintenance on a hedge that has not been touched in six years is a quote that changes on the day.
Where the savings are
- All the hedges in one visit rather than one at a time — the access arrangement happens once.
- Combine hedge work with tree work or clearance.
- Keep the chip if you can use it. On a difficult-access site this is worth more than it sounds, because it saves carrying the material back out.
- Clear the ground along the base beforehand.
- Book annually rather than rescuing it every few years.
What to have ready when you ring
- Roughly how long, in metres or fence panels.
- Roughly how tall, against a door or window.
- What it is, if you know.
- When it was last cut.
- Whether you want the faces done as well as the top.
- Honestly, how the crew and the cuttings would get in and out.
- Whether anything — a wall, a border, a greenhouse — runs along the base.
Want a free quote on your hedge in Chipping Campden?
Tell us roughly how long it is, how tall, and what it's made of if you know. We'll arrange a free quotation based on the actual work required.
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