Gardening prices on the Costa del Sol
You don’t compare quotes by the bottom line
You won’t find a price list here. You’ll find what moves the price and how to compare two quotes. Yours, in writing, within 24 hours.
- Free quote and visit, with no obligation
- In writing, with what’s included and what isn’t
- Green waste removal always included
Ask for yours
With photos and a rough size, a price range the same day.
Let’s start with the awkward bit
Why this page has no price list
Because any figure we put here would be a number to reel you in, not a price. And you know it: you came looking for a figure, and the last three websites you looked at each had one that turned out not to hold.
In gardening, the same job can cost twice as much because of things a table can’t show: the slope, whether machinery can get in, the state of the irrigation, how many metres of edges there are, how much green waste comes out and which way it has to go. A rate that says nothing about any of that only serves to start the call with a figure that then has to be taken back.
What does help you is knowing how to compare. That’s what follows.
What really decides it
Two quotes can only be compared if they use the same unit
It’s the mistake that costs the most money and the easiest one to make: you look at the two bottom lines and pick the smaller one. But one may be charging by the hour, another per visit and another a fixed price for the job, and then those numbers don’t mean anything like the same thing.
By the hour
One-off jobs with no clear end: a tidy-up, a plot clearance, an extra pair of hands. It’s honest when nobody knows how long it will take, and a blank cheque when they do. Always ask how many hours they estimate and what happens if they go over.
Per visit or per month
Maintenance. The catch is the number of visits: a cheap monthly contract with two visits and a dearer one with four can’t be compared by the monthly fee. Always work out the price per visit before you decide.
Per square metre
Lawns, planting, paving. It’s the clearest unit and the easiest to hollow out: the price per m² changes completely depending on what’s included underneath. A metre with a prepared base and a metre with the turf laid straight on the soil aren’t the same metre.
Fixed price per job
Pruning, felling, building work. It’s the best one for the client, because whoever quotes takes on the risk. It requires the job to have been seen, so be wary of a fixed price given over the phone.
And one check that applies to all four: see whether green waste removal is included. It’s the first thing taken out of a quote to bring the number down, and on a tree-pruning job it’s several trailer loads.
Before you call anyone
Four questions that save you two visits
If you have the answers ready, anyone can give you a serious price range over the phone. If not, they’ll all tell you “we need to see it”, and they’ll be right.
- How many square metres, even at a guess. A rough figure will do. What won’t do is “a normal garden”: there’s no such thing.
- What’s planted, and how big it is. Especially if there are big trees or palms. That’s what decides whether the work comes under maintenance or is quoted separately, with a team for work at height.
- How we get in. Whether the truck can park right outside, or whether materials have to be carried up a flight of steps by hand and the waste brought down the same way. It’s the factor that moves the price most and the one that gets mentioned least.
- What you want: to have it maintained, or to have it sorted out. They’re not the same. An overgrown garden first needs bringing back into shape and then maintaining, and those are two different quotes. Mixing them up is where the arguments come from.
With that and two or three photos, we’ll give you a price range the same working day, without coming out. If the job calls for it, we then come and see it, and that doesn’t cost anything either.
Service by service
What each quote looks at
Each service page explains what pushes its price up or down, and the factors aren’t the same.
- Garden maintenanceYour garden looked after all year, with a plan built around the seasons rather than the calendar.
- Communities and urbanisationsAnnual contracts for property administrators, with a monthly work report and a single point of contact.
- Garden and poolOne contract and one contact for your villa’s garden and pool.
- Gardener by the hourOne-off jobs by the hour, no contract: we come, get it done, and that’s it.
- Plot clearanceWe clear the plot and take the waste away. Each town hall sets its own rules and deadlines.
- Tree pruningWe prune at the right time for this coast, not on an inland calendar.
- Palm tree pruningPruning and cleaning in the window of the year when a cut doesn’t draw the weevil.
- Olive and fruit treesFrom the villa’s ornamental olive to the finca’s grove. They aren’t pruned the same way.
- Hedges and shrubsStraight hedges, dense right to the bottom. And with tall ones, the first question is how to reach both sides.
- Tree felling and stumpsA tree rarely comes down in one piece: it’s taken apart from the top. And the stump is another job, with its own access problem.
- Artificial grassThe base decides the result, and here you need to talk about the sun before you buy.
- Natural lawnTurf on properly prepared ground. And we’ll also tell you when it isn’t right for you.
- Lawn careBrushing and cleaning for artificial; scarifying and overseeding for natural.
- Landscaping and designFrom the plan to the first flowering, with plants that survive the summer here.
- Renovation and buildingGravel, paths, lighting and pergolas, with the quote broken down item by item.
- Vertical gardensVertical green for terraces and patios. Built-in irrigation is what decides whether it lasts.
- Automatic irrigationDrip, sprinklers and controller, designed for water that leaves lime in the dripper and salt in the soil.
Where we work
Travel counts too
We don’t charge it separately, but it explains why we can sharpen the price more in some areas than in others.
To help you decide
The whole story
How much it costs to prune a tree: it’s not the tree that pushes the price up
Two identical trees can get quotes that look nothing alike, and it isn’t a rip-off: what you pay for is what’s under the tree, how it’s reached and what comes down. What to ask so you can compare.
Read itA garden tidy-up and garden maintenance aren’t the same job, or paid for the same way
In September almost everyone asks for maintenance when what they need is a tidy-up. They’re two different jobs, and putting them into the same monthly fee costs you dearly twelve months running.
Read itFixed price or hourly rate: which suits you, and why
Paying by the hour seems the fairest option: you pay for the work done. And it’s exactly the opposite of what suits someone who won’t be there watching.
Read itLand clearing cost: what weighs more than the square metres
The square metres say little about the price of a clearance. What decides it is what grows, the slope, the access and what happens to the cuttings, the half that gets forgotten.
Read it
Common questions
What people ask us most about price
Why don’t you publish a price list?
Because any figure we put here would be a number to reel you in, not a price. In gardening the same job can cost twice as much depending on the slope, the access, the state of the irrigation or what has to be taken away, and a table that doesn’t say so only serves to start the call with a figure that then has to be taken back. We’d rather explain what moves the price and give you yours in writing.
So how do I get an idea before I call?
With the four questions on this page answered, you can already compare quotes with some judgement, which is what you really need. And for an actual figure, with a few photos and the rough size we’ll give you a price range the same working day, without coming out and with no obligation.
Do you charge for the quote?
No, neither for the quote nor for the visit to prepare it. And it comes in writing, with what’s included and what isn’t, so you can put it next to another one and compare them properly.
Why do some quotes include green waste removal and others don’t?
Because it’s the easiest item to take out of a quote to make the bottom line lower. On a tree-pruning job the volume of waste isn’t a detail: it can be several trailer loads. We always include it and say so in writing, precisely because it’s the most common surprise in the trade.
Is an annual contract cheaper than calling someone when you need them?
Almost always, yes, but not because of a discount: because of what builds up. A garden looked after season by season doesn’t create the rescue jobs that a garden creates when someone is only called once it’s overgrown, and those rescue jobs are charged by the hour. The difference isn’t in the rate, it’s in the amount of work that’s avoided. What to look for in a maintenance contract.
Shall we price yours?
With photos and the rough size, a price range the same working day. And if we need to see it, the visit is free too.