Hedge trimming is quoted per job. Length is the number people give first and the least useful of the factors that decide how long the work takes.
The six factors
- Length. The starting point.
- Height. The step up comes where the job needs a platform rather than a step ladder.
- Width, and whether the faces are done. Roughly three times the work of topping alone.
- Species. Soft growth cuts quickly; dense conifer and old woody stems do not.
- Time since the last cut. The biggest variable on a neglected hedge.
- The finish. A formal cut worked to a line takes noticeably longer than a tidy one.
The finish is a real cost factor and it is worth specifying
| Finish | What it involves | Relative cost |
|---|---|---|
| Tidy | Growth off, roughly level, ends squared | Lower |
| Formal | Worked to a line and level, tapered faces, clean ends | Higher |
| Restoration | Re-establishing a line that has been lost | Highest |
What separates a formal cut
- A true top line, set with a line rather than judged by eye. On any run over a few metres, an eye-judged top dips and rises in a way you notice without being able to say why.
- A batter on the faces — slightly wider at the base than the top. Partly appearance, mostly horticulture: it keeps light on the base so the bottom stays green rather than going bare.
- Square ends. Where a hedge stops it should stop deliberately.
Cotswold stone walls and hedges
A common arrangement here, and worth flagging because it changes the job. Cuttings cannot be dropped on that side, cutting a face tight to a wall is slower and more careful work, and it affects where a ladder or platform can be safely footed.
It is also worth walking the base once a year. Ash, sycamore and elder seed readily into the foot of a hedge or wall, and a stem that thickens in a dry stone wall will move the stone as it grows — damage that pruning does not reverse.
Getting an accurate quote
- How long, counted in fence panels if that is easier.
- How tall, against a door, window or shed.
- When it was last properly done, honestly.
- Whether the faces are being done as well as the top.
- How sharp a finish you are after.
- How we would get to it, and where the cuttings would go.
A photograph covers most of it in one go and settles the species question.
One thing that is not a cost factor
Height, legally speaking. There is no maximum lawful height for a hedge in England — two metres is the threshold at which a neighbour may complain to Cotswold District Council about an evergreen hedge blocking light or access, not a limit you must keep to. Even then the council cannot order it below two metres or order it removed.
(Cotswold District Council remains the authority for that until 1 April 2028, when it is replaced by Gloucestershire Council.)
Want a free quote on your hedge in Stow-on-the-Wold?
Tell us roughly how long it is, how tall, and what it's made of if you know. We'll arrange a free quotation.
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