Booking
Five steps, and none of them is waiting for a quote
On the day
From first message to cleared ground
- Step 1
Send photographs and a postcode
Two or three photographs from different corners, and a rough size: metres if you know them, car lengths or a comparison to a tennis court if you do not. Say how tall the growth is at its worst.
- Step 2
An estimate in hours comes back
Not a fixed price for the job, but a number of hours and what that should achieve, plus what would make it quicker or slower. If the job wants two people, that is said now rather than on the day.
- Step 3
A 50% deposit holds the date
Half the estimated time, paid to book. That is what fixes the day in the diary. Weather moves dates sometimes, and you are told when it does rather than left wondering.
- Step 4
The visit
A walk round first to mark anything hiding in the growth, then the cut, then the rake off and the load out. Most domestic jobs are a single visit from start to finish.
- Step 5
The balance when it is done
You pay for the time actually used, subject to the two hour minimum. Invoiced by Hembury Contracting with the VAT shown, and photographs of the finished ground if you were not there.
The report
What you are left with
Short, even stubble
Cut close to the ground, not mown. Long grass cut hard looks yellow and flat for a week or two and greens up once light reaches it.
Your boundaries back
Fences, walls, posts and gates visible and reachable again, which is usually what makes the next job possible: fencing, selling, letting or simply mowing.
The cut material dealt with
Loaded and taken away, stacked in a corner to rot down, or left in windrows where it fell. Whichever you asked for, decided before the day rather than during it.
Bare patches where growth had smothered it
Normal, and not damage from the cut. Most of it recovers on its own within a few weeks of getting the light back.
Photographs of the finished ground
Same corners as the before shots. Useful for landlords, agents and executors who need a record of what was done and when.
How soon, and why there is no promised turnaround
Ask for the next available dates and you will get real ones. What you will not get is a printed promise of clearance within so many days, because a number like that on a website is one nobody can be held to and a wet week makes it meaningless. Cutting sodden growth takes longer, wraps the head and leaves a worse finish, so a job moved by a day of rain is a job done better.
Weather and rules
The rules of the rate
£60 an hour, including VAT
One rate for domestic and commercial work alike. It covers the machines, the fuel, the insurance and the travel inside the covered area.
Two hour minimum
So £120 is the smallest job on the book. A twenty minute visit is not something a machine, a trailer and a drive across Exeter can be run for.
Half a day and a full day
Four hours is £240 and eight hours is £480. Most bank, paddock and boundary work is booked this way because the work is a length rather than a plot.
A second person is £30 an hour
Some jobs go faster with two, and heavy bramble clearance usually does because the dragging is what takes the time. It is offered where it saves you money overall, not by default.
Waste removal at cost
Tipping is charged on at what the tip charges for the load, with nothing added. Leaving the arisings on site costs nothing and is quicker, so it is worth asking whether you need them gone.
The deposit and the balance
50% of the estimated time to book, the balance on completion based on the time actually used. If a job runs short you pay less, subject to the minimum.
Before you book
Common questions
- How much does it cost?
- £60 an hour including VAT, with a two hour minimum, so the smallest job on the book is £120. Half a day of four hours is £240 and a full day of eight hours is £480. A second person, where the job needs two, is £30 an hour on top.
- Why price by the hour instead of quoting for the job?
- Because nobody can tell what is under a season of growth until it comes off. A fixed price for clearance is either padded to cover the worst case or gets revised on the day, and both of those cost you more than an hourly rate does. You are told roughly how long it should take, and you pay for the time it actually takes.
- Do you come and look first?
- Not as a rule. Photographs and a rough size are enough to estimate the hours, and a site visit adds a trip to the cost of a job that has a published rate anyway. If the access is unusual or you want someone to stand in it with you first, say so and it can be arranged.
- What happens to everything you cut?
- Your choice. It can be raked up and taken away under the waste carrier registration, with the tipping charged on at cost. It can be stacked in a corner to rot down, spread as a mulch, or left in windrows where it fell if you are happy to deal with it yourself, which is the cheapest option because it is quicker.
- How do I book, and what do you need up front?
- Send photographs, the postcode and a rough idea of the size. Back comes an estimate of the hours and the next dates that work. A 50% deposit of the estimated time holds the date and the balance is due when the work is finished.
- How far do you travel?
- Exeter and roughly twenty miles around it, which takes in the estuary and the coast down to Teignmouth, east to Honiton and Sidmouth, north to Tiverton and Cullompton, and west to Okehampton and the edge of the moor.
- Is there anything you will not take on?
- Tree work needing a chainsaw at height, anything requiring a licence to move ragwort or Japanese knotweed off site, and ground you cannot reach without going through a house. Say what you have got and you will be told straight away if it is not a job for a brush cutter.
- How quickly can you come?
- It depends on the week and on the weather, since cutting sodden growth takes longer and makes a worse job of it. Ask for the next available dates rather than a promised turnaround, because a turnaround printed on a website is a number nobody can hold anyone to.
See the hourly rate
Book a clearance with Exeter Strimming Services
Send a postcode, a rough size and a couple of photographs. Sam Hembury will come back with an estimate in hours and the next dates available.