Garden landscaping is designing and building an outdoor space as a whole, combining hard landscaping such as patios, paths, walls and steps with soft landscaping such as lawns, planting and beds, plus drainage and lighting, so the garden works for how you live.
We arrange garden landscaping for homeowners in Reading and the wider Berkshire. The job is planned, priced and managed by us and carried out by tradespeople engaged under our contract, so there is one agreement and one contact. On a typical home the work takes 1–4 weeks on site, depending on scope, and guide pricing in the South East is £6,700–£17,000, VAT included.
- Guide price
- £6,700–£17,000 inc VAT
- Time on site
- 1–4 weeks on site, depending on scope
- Postcodes
- RG1, RG2, RG4, RG6 and RG30
- Planning rules
- England
- Local area
- Berkshire
- Survey
- Free, with a written quote
Garden landscaping prices in Reading
In Reading, guide figures for garden landscaping sit at £6,700–£17,000, VAT included. We set them using rates for the South East, currently about 12% above the national guide. The table shows what pushes a project towards either end of the range; your own price is set after a free survey.
| Type of job | What it usually involves | Guide in Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Garden refresh | Clearance, new turf, edging, bark or gravel and some planting. | £1,700–£5,600 |
| Typical garden makeover | A new patio, lawn, borders, paths and planting in a typical rear garden. | £6,700–£17,000 |
| Full redesign | Levels, retaining walls, large patios, lighting and drainage for larger or sloping gardens. | £17,000–£39,000 |
Expect these to shape the final quote:
- Garden size, access and the amount of clearance needed
- Ratio of hard landscaping to lawn and planting
- Drainage, soil quality and ground conditions
- Materials chosen for paving, walls and features
What does the job include in Reading?
- Survey of size, levels, soil, drainage and access
- Layout plan agreed with you before work starts
- Groundworks, levelling and drainage
- Raised beds, low walls or sleepers built to the agreed design
- Turf or artificial grass laid on a prepared base
- Planting, bark or gravel finishing and outdoor lighting where included
Local housing and garden landscaping
Reading's Victorian terraces often show the town's patterned red and silver-grey brickwork, while Windsor, Maidenhead and Newbury mix Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian houses. Bracknell grew as a post-war new town with planned estates, Slough has a great deal of interwar and post-war housing, and newer developments sit on the edge of most towns.
Much of the Thames Valley is low-lying, so flood risk and clay ground near the river can influence foundations and drainage for extensions.
For garden landscaping in Reading, this means checking things like wall construction, roof structure and existing services before we put a figure on paper.
Planning and building rules in Reading
Planning law differs across the UK. For a home in Reading, it is the England rules below that count, and we check them with the council ahead of any quote.
Most garden landscaping in England needs no planning permission. Trees protected by a Tree Preservation Order, or trees in a conservation area, need the council’s consent or notice before work; outbuildings and raised platforms have their own limits.
Building Regulations rarely apply to landscaping, though new drainage and garden electrics must comply.
Rules change and every property is different, so we check the planning history and constraints for your address before we quote.
From survey to handover
A visit to your home
Book a visit and we'll come to you. The survey covers measurements, the state of what's there now and any obvious constraints, so the price that follows is based on your actual home, not an average.
Quote in writing
We turn the survey notes into a written quote. The price is fixed for the specification we agree, and the document sets out materials, scope and payment stages in plain language.
Dates and permissions
With the quote agreed, we book the work in and handle preparation: permissions where needed, building control notifications, material orders and access arrangements for your Reading property.
Finish and handover
During the work we protect the areas around it and tidy up at the end of each day. Once complete, we check the finish, remove our materials and hand over paperwork such as building control sign-off where it applies.
Working with SK Home Improvements
Common questions
How can I make my garden low maintenance?
A low-maintenance garden reduces mowing, weeding and watering. Paving or porcelain patios, gravel areas on a weed membrane, artificial grass and raised beds with hardy, slow-growing plants all help. Mulching borders with bark suppresses weeds and holds moisture. Some planting keeps the space feeling green and supports wildlife. We balance hard and soft areas to suit the time you want to spend.
Is the price fixed?
Yes, for the specification we agree. Your written quote sets out exactly what is included at a fixed price. It only changes if you ask for something different, or if a problem the survey could not reasonably reveal later needs extra work. In either case we explain the change and confirm it in writing before going ahead.
How much does garden landscaping cost?
Landscaping a typical 50–60m² rear garden with a patio, lawn, borders and planting costs £6,700–£17,000. As a guide, allow roughly £90–£220 per square metre of garden plus fixed costs for clearance and set-up, with gardens that are mostly lawn and planting at the lower end and those with large patios, walls and lighting at the top. Slopes and poor access add cost. We confirm a fixed price after the survey.
Do you cover Lower Earley, Wokingham and Crowthorne?
Yes. As well as Reading, we cover Lower Earley, Wokingham and Crowthorne and the rest of Berkshire. Our coverage is UK-wide, so the process is the same wherever you are: a free site survey, a quote in writing that fixes the price for the agreed scope, and one point of contact while the work is planned and carried out.
Can you work around existing trees and plants?
We can design around trees and plants you want to keep, protecting their roots from digging and machinery and keeping levels unchanged near trunks. Some trees are protected by tree preservation orders or conservation area rules, which require permission before cutting or significant root work. We note any trees and plants you want to keep at the survey.
Nearby towns
We cover every part of Reading, including RG1, RG2, RG4 and RG6, and nearby Lower Earley, Wokingham and Crowthorne. Wherever you are within that patch, the survey is free and the quote comes to you in writing.