Hedge maintenance is quoted per job. There are six factors, and the one customers most often leave out of the conversation is the one that decides what the hedge costs over a decade rather than this year.
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.
- Access and disposal. Whether a chipper reaches it or the arisings go out by hand.
The faces are the ones that get left out
So a quote for topping alone is not really a saving. It is a smaller job now and a reduction later, and the reduction costs several times what the extra face-cutting would have.
Worth checking explicitly what a quote covers. "Does that include both faces?" takes five seconds and it is the commonest reason two prices for the same hedge look very different.
Maintenance versus reclamation
| Time since last cut | What the job is |
|---|---|
| Within a year | Routine maintenance — quickest and cheapest |
| Two to three years | Heavier trim; the old cutting line is still findable |
| Four years or more | Reclamation — far more material, line usually lost |
| Never properly cut | A reduction project, priced as one |
Be straight about which you have. It costs nothing to say and it means the quote you get is the price you pay.
Where the savings are
- Booking annually rather than rescuing it every few years — the big one.
- All the hedges in one visit rather than one at a time.
- Combining hedge work with tree work or clearance.
- Keeping the chip if you have a use for it.
- Clearing the ground along the base beforehand.
- Being flexible outside the late-summer rush.
Getting an accurate quote
- How long, in fence panels if that is easier than metres.
- How tall, against a door, window or shed.
- What it is, if you know — a photograph settles it.
- When it was last properly done, honestly.
- Whether you want the faces as well as the top.
- How we would get to it, and where the cuttings would go.
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 Stratford-on-Avon 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.
(Stratford-on-Avon District Council remains the authority for that until 1 April 2028, when it is replaced by South Warwickshire Council.)
Want a free quote on your hedge in Stratford-upon-Avon?
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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