Routine cuts done properly, on every species I work with.

What's included

• Top, sides and front face cut to your chosen height and width
• All arisings cleared from site and disposed of properly (Margate HWRC on Manston Road for garden waste; chipped for reuse where it makes sense)
• Brush-down of the path, lawn or driveway underneath
• Six-week section-211 notice filed on your behalf if you're in one of Broadstairs' three conservation areas and the hedge has any stems over 75mm at chest height
• Fixed price quoted in advance — no day-rate creep

Pricing

Most routine cuts in Broadstairs fall in the £120 – £400 range depending on hedge length, height, and how much access I need. Fixed price after seeing photos and the postcode — no surprises on the day, no charge if the quote isn't accepted.

Timing by species — the Thanet-coast cadence

Coastal hedges want a firmer, more formal cadence than inland ones. Two cuts a year on the salt-wind evergreens is the norm — one late spring, one late summer — because a single hard cut in an exposed position leaves the hedge visibly ragged for months. This is the "formal 2× per year coastal cadence" that a Broadstairs hedge needs and a Canterbury one does not.

• Escallonia, Griselinia littoralis, Olearia macrodonta — the seafront workhorses. Two light cuts a year (late May and mid-September) keep the density that shelters the plants behind them.
• Elaeagnus × ebbingei, Euonymus japonicus — twice a year, similar cadence. Very forgiving of a hard clip once established.
• Privet, Leylandii, thuja — fast-growing, twice a year (late spring and late summer).
• Holm oak (Quercus ilex) — a single late-summer cut is enough; the classic Kent-coast salt-tolerant windbreak.
• Hawthorn — winter only (September to February) to comply with nesting law; the reliable native option on Broadstairs' thin chalk topsoil.
• Yew — single late-August cut; happy with a hard clip once a year and resentful of more. Native to the North Downs chalk and moderately salt-tolerant, so works well set back from the front line — contrary to the common myth.
• Holly, laurel — late summer; both bruise easily, so secateurs and loppers on visible faces over a hedge trimmer where time allows.

Cliff-adjacent and roof-adjacent work

If the hedge sits above the Thanet Coast SSSI edge, or the property has a herring-gull roof nest anywhere on the same building, I check before any Mar-Aug (extending into September for late broods) work goes ahead. Herring gulls are UK Red-Listed (BoCC5, 2021) and general licences have been withdrawn — an individual Natural England licence is now needed to disturb an active nest. In practice: no work below or beside an active nest until the young have fledged. This is written into every quote where it applies.

What I don't do on cutting jobs

If a hedge needs more than a routine cut — it's overgrown, gappy, leaning, or has outgrown the position — that's a reduction job, not a cut. I tell you that at quote stage rather than do a botched cut and pretend it solved the problem.