Garden Clearance and Rip Outs in Southampton

What a garden clearance covers

No two clearances look the same, so we agree the scope at the start. Typical jobs include:

• Overgrown gardens cut back after a house move or a few years of neglect
• Old lawns lifted ready for new turf or gravel
• Rotten sheds, playhouses and broken fencing dismantled
• Cracked paving, old slabs and concrete broken out
• Rubble and buried builder's waste dug out and removed

Garden clearance before a redesign

The most useful time to clear a garden is right before a redesign, because the same visit can tell you what the ground is like underneath. Once the surface is cleared we can see the levels, the drainage and what has been buried, which makes the redesign quote far more accurate. Our homepage project of an overgrown lawn cleared and turned into a gravel garden shows that order of work in practice.

If you are not ready to redesign yet, clearing over autumn and winter still helps. The garden is quieter, the ground is easier to read without summer growth, and you can plan the next stage over the colder months.

Clearance, digout or levelling: which do you need?

These three jobs are often confused. Clearance removes what is on and above the ground. A digout removes soil to a set depth so a patio, path or base can be built. Levelling reshapes the ground itself, cutting from high spots and filling low ones. A full garden rebuild may need all three, in that order.

Protecting what you want to keep

Clearance is not about stripping everything bare. Mature trees, good shrubs, a sound boundary or an established bed can be marked at the start and worked around. Tell us what matters to you on the walk round and we will plan the clearance so those things are left alone.

Overgrown garden clearance, start to finish

An overgrown garden looks like a bigger job than it usually is. Brambles, self seeded saplings, nettles and waist high grass all come out quickly with the right machinery, and what is left underneath is often better than expected. Garden waste removal is part of the job: everything that comes out is taken away, not piled in a corner for you to deal with.

Clearance is often the first stage of something bigger. Once the ground is visible, the real shape of the garden, the state of the fences and any old paving or rubble become clear, and the next stage can be planned properly. The garden redesign page explains what usually follows.

What a clearance typically includes

Every garden is different, but a clearance usually covers some or all of the following, agreed on the site visit before any work starts:

• Cutting back and removing brambles, nettles and overgrowth
• Taking out self seeded trees and shrubs
• Removing old sheds, rotten fencing and broken furniture
• Lifting old paving, rubble and buried debris
• Taking all waste away and leaving the site tidy

Clearance before selling, letting or starting work

A clearance is often needed before a sale or a new tenancy, or simply before any other garden work can be quoted. Ashley regularly clears gardens so that levelling, turfing or paving can be measured properly, and the two stages can be planned together if that is where the garden is heading.