Yes, if it's overgrown. The garden is in the listing photos before anyone visits, and the front garden is the first thing a viewer sees. You don't need to landscape it. Cut the grass, cut back hedges and brambles, clear the paths and get rid of the rubbish, then book a final tidy just before the photos.
Why the garden matters when you sell
The property portal OnTheMarket puts it simply: your front garden is "the first and last aspect any viewer will see", and "a tidy lawn will look great in the photographs used to market your property". (OnTheMarket, how to prepare your garden before selling)
We won't pretend a tidy garden adds a set amount to your sale price, because we haven't seen a reliable figure for that. What we see on our jobs is more basic. People can't judge a garden they can't walk into, and nobody can see the fences, paths and patio when they're under three years of brambles.
Two real Llanelli house sales
First viewing the next day
Nobody had touched this Llanelli garden for years. The house was up for sale, the scaffolding only came down a few days before, and the first viewing was the very next day. They'd even tried two goats on it first, which didn't quite do the job, so we went in and gave it a proper tidy up and a cut.
A Llanelli house up for sale, with the first viewing the next day. They even tried two goats on it first.
An inherited house he couldn't sell
He inherited a house in Llanelli when the tenant passed away, and he couldn't sell it until the garden was gone. So he got us in. Brambles, laurels, a spiky bush I still can't name, a path nobody had seen in years and more junk than Callum knew what to do with. It was £450 for the cutting and £100 for the waste, £550 all in. You can see that job and other Llanelli prices here.
What to do first, in order
- Clear the rubbish. Broken bits, old pots and anything dumped in the garden. We take green waste away as a registered waste carrier. Household junk, old furniture and sheds are a different job, so mention them when you ask for a quote.
- Cut back anything over the paths, windows and the front. Brambles, ivy and overgrown hedges can make a house look empty in photos.
- Open up the paths and patio. On the inherited house the path came back for the first time in years. A garden you can walk round is a garden people can picture using.
- Cut the lawn. If it's long, it needs bringing down over a few cuts, not scalping in one go. Most lawns are £35 a cut on our lawn mowing rounds.
- Book a final tidy just before the photos. In spring and summer, grass and brambles grow fast, so a big clearance done weeks early can look tired again by the viewings.
We cut everything to ground level or low stumps and we never dig out roots. For a sale you don't need to: a clear, tidy garden is what shows up in the photos.
Things a buyer will ask about anyway
The standard Property Information Form (TA6) from the Law Society asks sellers who is responsible for maintaining the boundaries, and whether Japanese knotweed is growing at the property or next to the boundary. (Law Society, TA6 explanatory notes) It's a lot easier to answer those properly when you can actually see the fences and what's growing along them. If you think you've got knotweed, that's a specialist job, not a garden tidy.
When to book
If it needs a proper clearance, get that done before the estate agent comes to take photos. Then book a lawn cut and tidy a day or two before the photos and the first viewing. If you're short on time, booking a team for a day gets it all done in one go: 2 people for 8 hours is £600, including one van load of green waste.
Sources: OnTheMarket; Law Society TA6 explanatory notes. Job details are from our own 2026 videos.
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