How much does landscaping cost in Northamptonshire?

Every landscaper gets asked this before anything else, and most dodge it. These are the ranges we actually quote at, installed, in Northamptonshire in 2026. Every job is priced on a site visit, but you should be able to read this and know roughly what you are in for.

Patio costs

The slab is usually a third of the price. The rest is dig-out, sub-base, mortar, labour and disposal, which is why a cheap slab does not make a cheap patio.

• Porcelain, 20mm large format: £140 to £220 per m² installed
• Indian sandstone: £110 to £170 per m²
• Reclaimed setts or cobbles: £180 to £260 per m²
• Removal of an old patio: £25 to £40 per m² on top
• A typical 40 m² porcelain patio: £6,000 to £8,500

Driveway costs

A drive carries two tonnes several times a day. The sub-base is the cost; the surface is the choice.

• Block paving: £100 to £160 per m²
• Tarmac: £70 to £110 per m²
• Gravel on a stabilising grid: £55 to £85 per m²
• Permeable drainage or soakaway to avoid planning: £600 to £1,800
• Dropped kerb including the council application: £1,200 to £2,500

New lawn costs

A lawn is only as good as the preparation, which is where the money goes.

• Turf on prepared ground: £18 to £30 per m²
• Artificial grass on a drained sub-base: £75 to £120 per m²
• Lawn edging in block or porcelain: £35 to £60 per linear metre

Fencing costs

Priced per linear metre, installed, including posts and gravel boards.

• Closeboard on concrete posts: £90 to £140 per m
• Panel fencing: £65 to £100 per m
• Post-and-wire stock fencing: £25 to £40 per m
• Taking down and disposing of the old fence: £8 to £15 per m

Garden wall costs

Walls are footings, drainage and labour. Retaining walls cost more than free-standing because they have to hold ground back for decades.

• Dry-stone-style raised beds in local stone: £300 to £450 per m
• Block retaining wall, clad or rendered: £250 to £400 per m
• Reclaimed brick garden wall: £280 to £420 per m
• Steps: £350 to £700 per step depending on material and width

Complete garden transformation costs

Most of ours fall between £8,000 and £35,000. The spread is because a full garden can be a patio, lawn and fence, or it can be terracing, an outdoor kitchen, lighting and planting to a designer's scheme. As a rule of thumb, £15,000 to £20,000 buys a very good rear garden on a typical semi.

What pushes the price up

These are the things that move a quote more than the choice of slab.

• Access: if a digger and dumper cannot get in, everything moves by barrow
• Dig depth: clay and old concrete mean more muck-away
• Drainage: a soakaway or channel drain is not optional on a drive
• Levels: a sloped garden needs retaining walls before it needs a patio
• Material choice: porcelain over sandstone, setts over blocks
• Waste: skips and grab lorries are £250 to £400 a load
• Size: price per m² falls as the job gets bigger

What we will not do

Spot-bed slabs on five dabs of mortar to save a day. Lay a drive on 75mm of stone. Price a job without seeing it. All three are cheaper on the day and all three are why patios rock and drives sink.

Written by the White Cottage Landscapes crew, Daventry. Prices are our own installed rates in Northamptonshire, updated October 2026.