Guides · What it costs
What a garden costs
Almost nobody is short of budget. They are short of an order of works, so the money goes on the visible things first and the expensive corrections come later.
Two thirds of a built garden is labour, and the ratio is the whole reason self-build changes what is possible. Skilled landscaping labour runs about 340 € a day for two people in France in 2026. Materials are cheap by comparison and completely predictable: 118 € per m² of stone paving, 24 € per m² of gravel, 17 € per m² of imported topsoil, 9 € per m² of lawn, 38 € per metre of drainage.
| Budget | What it is | What it buys |
|---|---|---|
| 2 000 – 5 000 € | One thing, done properly | A gravel terrace of about 25 m² (600 € in materials), a bare-root hedge along one boundary, and one tree — self-built over two seasons. |
| 5 000 – 10 000 € | A structure you can live in | A small stone terrace with drainage, two planted beds with topsoil at 17 € per m², a hedge and a tree. Built by a professional if the terrace is under 20 m²; much more than that if you lay it yourself. |
| 10 000 – 20 000 € | The whole garden, phased | Terrace of 30 to 40 m², a path, lawn at 9 € per m², full planting of every bed, a hedge on two sides and irrigation to the new planting only. Two phases across a year. |
| 20 000 – 30 000 € | Everything at once, with the hard bits | The above, plus levels — steps, a low retaining wall, real drainage — and mature plant sizes rather than young stock. This is where a garden stops looking new in year one instead of year four. |
The brackets are the ones on our own Brief, and the Dossier's Budget is costed against the one you choose — including a self-build total alongside the built one.
The order that saves the money
- 01Levels and drainage first, always. Everything you build over a drainage problem gets taken up again.
- 02Then hard landscaping, while access is still open and a machine can reach the back.
- 03Then soil: imported topsoil and improvement before a single plant is bought.
- 04Planting last, in autumn — and the hedge bare-root, in the same winter.
- 05Lawn last of all, after the barrows have stopped crossing it.
Keep 10 % unspent. Every garden hits one thing the survey did not show: rubble under the lawn, a spring in the corner, a boundary that is not where the plan said.