Yes, and it is nearly always cheaper than doing them separately. The saving is not a discount — it is three costs that genuinely only happen once.
Where the money is saved
- Set-up and travel. Incurred per visit, not per job.
- Access arrangement. Getting a chipper in, working out where a vehicle stands — done once.
- The waste run. The largest of the three. Hedge arisings, brash, brambles and general green waste all go in the same load.
The right order
| Stage | Why here |
|---|---|
| 1. Tree work | Heaviest kit and biggest mess; needs room |
| 2. Stump grinding | Ground open, machine can reach |
| 3. Hedge cutting or reduction | Boundary reaches final size before anything is set against it |
| 4. Ground clearance | Now the site is actually visible |
| 5. Fencing | Posts go in on a clear line |
| 6. Hard landscaping, then planting | Last |
The common instinct is to clear the ground first because it feels like progress. It is wasted work — hedge and tree arisings land straight on top of it and the ground has to be done again.
The one exception
Clearing brambles, ivy and undergrowth from along the base of a hedge before cutting it is genuinely worth doing first. It lets the crew get to the bottom of the hedge, which is usually where the untidiness actually is, and it means cuttings fall on clear ground rather than into a tangle that then has to be picked out of.
So a light clearance of the working area first, then the hedge work, then the full ground clearance, is often the right sequence on an overgrown site.
Decisions that get better when it is one job
- How far a hedge face comes back, knowing what is going in front of it.
- Whether the hedge stays at all, assessed against the finished layout rather than in isolation.
- Where material is stacked, so it is not in the way of the next stage.
- Whether to clear the hedge base properly, which is easy while everything is open and awkward afterwards.
- What the boundary line actually is, which frequently only becomes visible once the hedge is cut back.
Hedges before fencing, always
Worth stating separately because it is the sequencing mistake that causes most trouble. If a fence is going in near a hedge, the hedge must be cut back first.
- There is room to work, and somewhere for the cuttings to fall.
- Old stumps and roots come to light before post positions are set out.
- The boundary line becomes visible.
- And crucially, a working gap can be left — if the hedge ends up closer than about 300mm to the new fence, that face can never be cut again.
What to agree before anyone starts
- What the finished garden is meant to be. Even roughly.
- Which hedges are staying, and at what height and width.
- Whether any trees in the hedge line are coming out.
- Where the waste goes, and whether chip is staying on site.
- What is being protected — a tree you are keeping, a wall, a manhole.
- Access and parking, honestly.
Check the tree position in the hedge line
On any long-established boundary this is worth doing before work starts. A hedge cannot carry a Tree Preservation Order, but a tree grown up within one can, and an old hedge that has become a line of trees can be covered too.
Stourport's conservation area covers the canal basin and the streets around it, so a tree in a hedge there needs six weeks' written notice to Wyre Forest District Council above 75mm stem diameter, measured 1.5m up. A TPO tree needs written consent at any size. On a clearance project that is worth establishing at planning stage rather than mid-job.
Got a garden that needs sorting out?
Tell us what's there and what you want at the end of it. We handle hedges, tree work and clearance, so it can be planned as one job.
More Stourport-on-Severn Hedge Maintenance Guides
Also in Stourport-on-Severn
Hedge Maintenance in Stourport-on-Severn →
Tree Surgery in Stourport-on-Severn →
All hedge maintenance guides →