HOW TO HIRE · GARDEN & OUTDOOR · CHECKED OCTOBER 2026
How to hire a gardener in the UK
The checks, the questions and the paperwork.
No register covers gardeners. The two rules that bite: a certificate for professional weedkiller, and waste carrier registration if they take your clippings away.
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TWO WAYS TO BUY THIS
Which do you need?
An individual by the hour
One gardener booked for an afternoon or a regular few hours, who does the jobs you list: mowing, weeding, pruning, tidying. You pay a rate per hour, and a sole gardener under the threshold adds no VAT.
A company for the job
A gardening company with a crew, a van and a supervisor, working to a written scope: a maintenance contract for the year, or a large overgrown garden brought back in a few days.
What changes
Rate per hour against a price for the job or the contract; one gardener against a crew; your instructions on the day against a written scope; and VAT at 20% from a registered company.
THE 60-SECOND VERSION
Hiring a gardener in five steps
- Write a list of jobs for the first visitMowing, edging, weeding, a hedge, a border: the order matters, because an hour goes faster than you think.
- Ask about the green wasteTaken away, composted on site or bagged for your brown bin. If it leaves with them, ask for the waste carrier number.
- Agree the rate and the minimumThe hourly rate, the shortest visit they will do, and whether travel or tip charges are on top.
- Check insurance before the strimmer startsPublic liability, and the insurer's name. A stone through a window is the usual claim.
- Start with one visit, then book a slotSee the work once before you commit to a fortnightly or monthly arrangement.
BEFORE YOU BOOK
Check before you book
No register applies
No licence or register applies to gardeners in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, so anyone can offer gardening by the hour. That puts the weight on what you can check: that they are a trader who will invoice, who insures them, and the two legal rules below.
Ask for a business name and an invoice, and look at their reviews from booked jobs on Locufy.
Waste carrier registration for green waste
A gardener who drives your clippings and prunings away is carrying waste as a business and must be registered: with the Environment Agency in England, Natural Resources Wales, SEPA in Scotland or the NIEA in Northern Ireland.
Ask for the waste carrier number and look it up on the public register before the first load leaves. environment.data.gov.uk →
Specified certificate for weedkiller
By the 2012 Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations, a gardener using a weedkiller or lawn treatment authorised for professional use must hold a specified certificate, or work under the direct supervision of someone who does. Products sold for amateur use need no certificate.
If they will spray anything, ask what product and see the certificate of the person spraying. hse.gov.uk →
Public liability insurance
No law makes a gardener carry insurance, but a mower or strimmer throws stones, and hedge cutting happens next to windows, cars and the neighbour's fence. Public liability cover is what pays for that damage.
Ask for the insurer's name and the cover limit, and see the certificate if the work is near glass or cars.
VAT
Gardening is standard-rated at 20%. A gardening company with turnover above £90,000 must register, charge it and show it separately; a gardener on their own under £90,000 does not charge VAT and has no VAT number to give.
Ask a gardening company for its VAT number and the 20% on its own line; ask a sole gardener whether they are registered. gov.uk →
A good answer: A realistic answer after seeing it or a photo: a small lawn cut and edged is about an hour; a neglected border is a morning. A gardener who promises everything in an hour is guessing.
A good answer: Either "we compost it here or bag it for your brown bin", or "yes, and here is our number". Taking it away with no registration is the answer to walk away from.
A good answer: The product named, whether it is an amateur or professional product, and — for a professional one — the specified certificate. Many gardeners weed by hand and say so.
A good answer: A clear yes or no. If they use your tools, agree who pays when something breaks; if they bring a petrol mower, it is in the rate.
A good answer: For a one-person gardener, yes. If a helper sometimes comes, they should say so and price it.
A good answer: A minimum of one or two hours is common; the rate should say whether travel and tip charges are included.
A good answer: A good gardener asks this before weeding, walks the beds with you and does not pull up seedlings they do not recognise.
Getting the quote right
- From a company: the jobs and the season in a written scope, with a price per visit or for the job
- Who actually attends, whether the crew is employed or subcontracted, and who supervises
- The company's VAT number, with VAT at 20% shown as its own line
- Green waste: composted, bagged or taken away, the cost of each, and the carrier number
- Any product to be sprayed or spread, named
- Booked by the hour instead, the gardener settles the rate per hour, the minimum visit, who brings the tools and the job list, with ID checked and a rating
Walk away if
- They take your waste away but have no waste carrier number
- They will spray a professional weedkiller and cannot show a certificate
- Cash only, with no name or invoice
- A large payment up front for a season of visits
- No insurance, for work beside windows, cars or a boundary
- They knock on the door offering to do the garden today
What a gardener costs: £25–£49 per hour
Gardeners mostly charge by the hour with a minimum visit; a regular slot usually costs less an hour than a one-off tidy, and taking waste away is often priced on top. Gardening price guide →
Guide prices compiled by the Locufy team from published Irish and UK provider price lists and 2026/27 cost guides. Updated 2026.
KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR? NOW FIND ONE
Gardeners near you, with the badges that matter shown
ID checked, trader status and one score from every review — on the card, before you message anyone. Nearest first. No account needed to look.
Or post the job free and let them come to you, or book by the hour.
- Walk round firstOn the first visit the gardener walks the garden with you, agrees the jobs and asks which plants stay.
- Mow and edgeLawns are cut at a height for the season and edges trimmed; clippings collected rather than left in clumps.
- Beds and bordersWeeds out by hand or hoe, deadheading, light pruning of shrubs that have outgrown their space.
- Hedges and tidyAny hedge is checked for nesting birds before it is cut in spring and summer, then paths and patios are swept.
- Waste and handoverGreen waste composted, bagged or loaded; a quick walk round with you and the time recorded for the invoice.
- Green waste
- Grass, leaves, prunings and weeds — the waste a gardener either composts, bags or takes away.
- Waste carrier registration
- The registration a business needs to transport waste; the number is on the public register.
- Specified certificate
- The certificate needed to use a pesticide, weedkiller or lawn product authorised for professional use.
- Amateur-use product
- A weedkiller or feed sold for home gardeners; no certificate is needed to apply it.
- Minimum call-out
- The shortest visit the gardener charges for, often one or two hours.
- Public liability
- Insurance for damage to other people's property, such as a window broken by a flying stone.
AFTER
When the job is done
Hiring a gardener: questions people ask
No. The law sets no licence and keeps no register for gardeners, in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland alike. The two legal rules that can apply are a waste carrier registration, if they take your waste away, and a specified certificate for professional weedkillers.
Yes, if they transport it as part of their business. In England a gardener carrying only their own work's waste registers in the free lower tier; in Scotland SEPA requires registration even for that. Ask for the number and check it.
£25–£49 an hour, typically around £30. The gardening price guide explains what pushes it up or down; type your town above to compare gardeners near you.
It can be. In England and Wales section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 requires you to take reasonable steps to hand household waste only to an authorised person, and Scotland has its own duty. Keep the carrier number and the invoice.
By the hour suits regular upkeep; a fixed price suits a one-off tidy you can describe. Either way, agree the jobs in writing before the first visit.
Most gardeners bring a mower, strimmer and hand tools. If they use yours, agree who pays for a breakage before they start.
MORE GUIDES
More hiring guides in garden & outdoor
Gardeners near you
Sources — checked October 2026
- gov.uk — register as a waste carrier, broker or dealer (England)
- Environment Agency — public register of waste carriers
- SEPA — waste carriers and brokers
- DAERA — registration of carriers and brokers
- HSE — FAQ: agricultural, horticultural and amenity use of pesticides
- Environmental Protection Act 1990, section 34 — duty of care
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 49 — reasonable care and skill
- Civil Procedure Rules Part 26 — the small claims track (England and Wales)
- mygov.scot — make a court claim for money (simple procedure)
- nidirect — the small claims process (Northern Ireland)
- VAT rates — VAT rates for goods and services: standard rate 20% on most goods and services
- GOV.UK — Register for VAT: when to register