Absolutely thrilled with the work from Sydney Gardeners! The team transformed our overgrown backyard into a beautiful, low-maintenance garden. They were professional, punctual, and paid attention to every detail. Highly recommend their services!
The experts in backyard clean ups
Yard Tidy Up Services
Overgrown, cluttered, or just months behind — we clear it, cut it back and take every bit of it away in one visit. Most yards people describe as "a disaster" are a single day's work, and you get a fixed price before we start.
Rated 5 out of 5 by our customers
- Green waste and hard rubbish both taken away
- Fixed price agreed before anything starts
- End-of-lease, pre-sale and pre-summer clean-ups
- Open 7 days, 7am–6:30pm
Request a tidy-up quote
Suburb and how far it has got away. A photo helps. We'll come back today.
Google reviews
What customers say about our yard tidy-ups
Real reviews from our Google Business Profile, word for word.
Sydney Gardeners helped us clean up our backyard after months of neglect. The team was punctual, friendly, and worked efficiently. Our lawn and hedges now look fantastic. Would happily use them again.
My usual gardener wasn't available to me so I decided to go with the guys at Sydney Gardeners. I was surprised with how quickly they managed to do the job (I have a large backyard with hedges).
Sydney Gardeners were amazing at working on my lawn and the rest of my backyard. They were very friendly and enthusiastic to complete the job.
The guys at Sydney gardeners serviced my gardens with a professional manner, it's rare to find a quality gardening service in Sydney that is this good now-days.
Incredible service, excellent communication skills and a pleasure to work with! Would definitely recommend to anyone looking to maintain or brighten up their garden! Thank you
Backyards get away from people. It is rarely one dramatic thing — it is a wet spring, a busy few months, a dead shrub nobody got around to pulling out, and a corner where the old barbecue and a broken pot have been living since the last tenant. By the time it registers as a problem it looks like far too much to start on, which is exactly why it keeps getting left.
A tidy-up is the one gardening job where handing it over makes the most obvious sense, because the hard part is not the skill, it is the volume and the disposal. Cutting everything back is half a day. Getting three cubic metres of green waste and an old mattress off the property is the part that stops most people, and it is the part we are set up for.
We do one-off clean-ups, end-of-lease and pre-sale tidy-ups, pre-summer clearing on bush-edge blocks, and regular tidy-ups on a schedule for people who would rather it never got to this point again. Everything leaves with us on the day.
More than appearance
Backyard Tidying: More than Just Cleaning Up
A backyard is an extension of the house, and the reasons to keep it clear go well past how it looks. These are the ones that actually matter.
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Enhanced Aesthetic Appeal:
You notice it every single day. A tidy yard changes how the whole property reads, from the street and from every window that looks onto it. It is also the difference between a space you glance past and one you actually walk out into — which is the real return on a day's work.
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Increased Property Value
The cheapest presentation work there is. Buyers and tenants factor outdoor space into their decision, and a clear, cared-for yard signals a house that has been looked after. Before a sale or an inspection it is the highest-return few hundred dollars you can spend on a property — nothing else moves first impressions that fast.
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Safe Outdoor Environment
Most of the hazards are the ones you have stopped seeing. Overgrowth hides trip hazards, broken edging, old star pickets and rusted metal, and long grass against a fence line is where snakes and spiders sit. If children or pets use the yard, clearing it is a safety job before it is a cosmetic one.
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More Usable Space
Most people get a room back. A cluttered yard quietly shrinks to a path from the back door to the line. Cleared, it becomes somewhere you can put a table, let the kids run, or have people over — usually more square metres than any renovation would add for the money.
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Better Mental Well-being
The nagging job stops nagging. An overgrown yard is a visible to-do list you cannot escape, and clearing it lifts something surprisingly disproportionate. Getting outside into a space that feels calm rather than reproachful is worth more than the tidiness itself.
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Eco-Friendly Benefits
Where it goes matters as much as that it goes. Green waste taken to proper processing comes back as mulch and compost rather than sitting in landfill generating methane. Sorting hard rubbish so metal, timber and e-waste go the right way keeps the genuinely bad material out of the ground.
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Prevention of Pest Infestations
Clutter is habitat. Piles of prunings, stacked timber, old pots and long grass are where rats, mosquitoes, cockroaches and ticks breed. Standing water in a forgotten container is a mosquito nursery within a week in a Sydney summer. Clearing it removes the housing rather than treating the symptom.
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Easier Maintenance in the Long Run
The first one is always the expensive one. Once a yard is back to a baseline, keeping it there is a fraction of the work — an hour here and there instead of a full day of rescue. Almost everyone who books a big tidy-up and then goes onto a schedule spends less over a year than the people who rescue it annually.
Work out where you sit
How big is your job, really?
Nearly everybody who calls us describes their yard as the worst one we will have seen. Almost none of them are. These are the four sizes tidy-ups actually come in, and most fall in the first two.
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1. A light tidy
- Looks like
- A month or two behind. Lawn long, edges gone, leaves banked up, a few things to prune. Nothing structural.
- Involves
- Mow, edge, cut back, weed the beds, blow down and take the waste.
- Time
- Two to three hours, one visit.
Roughly: $160–$300, which is the usual tidy-up range.
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2. A full tidy-up
- Looks like
- Six months to a year. Beds lost under weeds, shrubs well over their shape, a corner of accumulated junk.
- Involves
- All of the above plus hard pruning, bed clearing, and a trailer or two of waste.
- Time
- Half a day to a full day, two-person crew.
Roughly: quoted on site — volume of waste is what moves it.
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3. An overgrown reset
- Looks like
- Years. Shoulder-high growth, self-seeded trees, lantana or privet through the fence line, paths gone.
- Involves
- Brushcutters and machinery, tree work, staged clearing so the site is never fully bare.
- Time
- One to three days depending on access.
Roughly: quoted after a visit. Access decides more than area does.
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4. A full property clear
- Looks like
- Deceased estate, abandoned rental, hoarding. Green waste plus substantial hard rubbish and structures.
- Involves
- Skip bins, sorting for recycling, sometimes demolition of sheds and old decking.
- Time
- Several days, planned in stages.
Roughly: a project quote. We handle these regularly and without commentary.
Send a photo and skip a step
Two or three photos from the back door will usually get you an accurate ballpark on the phone the same day, without anyone coming out. For anything past a light tidy we still do a free site visit before committing to a price, because access — whether we can get a trailer near the waste or it all comes through the house — changes the job more than the size of the yard does.
More Google reviews
Sydney homes and businesses we've looked after
Unedited reviews straight from Google — the same crews, the same standard.
Would highly recommend to anyone looking for any gardening maintenance needs
Great communication and exceptional workmanship. The team arrived on time and did an amazing job with pruning, planting, and lawn care.
Great service, extremely timely and professional. Thanks!
These boys did a great job, very responsive, very professional.
I highly recommend Lachlan and the team at Sydney Gardeners. Not only do they do great work, but more importantly they are reliable! Lachlan was also more than happy to help me out when I needed an extra service squeezed in just before Xmas.
Lachlan and his team have been looking after my Strata Property for over 2 years now. He is diligent with his timekeeping, punctual, provides attention to detail and does not hesitate to go above and beyond to provide satisfaction to our strata residents and property management team.
I'm very happy with Lachlan and his team at Sydney Gardeners. They did a professional, clean and well-rounded job. I would highly recommend their work.
Been getting great service and value from Sydney gardeners now for a number of years, always great high quality work in my feature gardens. Attention to detail is second to none. No job to big for these boys to tackle.
Can't thank Lachlan and the rest of the team enough for the professionalism and outstanding service I have received. I have been using their services for the past 18 months and I am always impressed with the results of their work. Highly recommended.
Sydney Gardeners provide exceptional services. Their team is professional, efficient, and knowledgeable. They transformed my garden beautifully, exceeding my expectations. Highly recommended for all gardening needs!
My first time using Lachlan from Sydney Gardeners. I had overgrown high hedges to be significantly cut back and I was impressed with the finished job. I will be using them again and recommend him for all your gardening needs.
I highly recommend Sydney Gardeners to anyone seeking professional garden design and maintenance services. Their commitment to excellence, creativity, and client satisfaction is unparalleled, and I am thrilled with the beautiful garden they've created for me. Thank you, Sydney Gardeners, for turning my garden dreams into reality!
Lachlan did a great job mowing my lawn!
Greatest gardening service ever, couldn't be happier.
Great job on my garden
Lachlan and his men have been doing my garden for some years. My hedges and trees are beautifully trimmed every time. I share the same experience with the majority, those with excellent reviews.
Lachlan and his team were fantastic. They were professional and did the job in a timely manner. He gave me some great insights on how we could develop our business garden.
Very happy with the job Lachlan did mowing and pruning at our home. He was very pleasant to deal with and did a great job with prompt service. Thank you
Lachlan provided high quality gardening services including trimming of trees on our property in Mosman. We were very happy with the excellent communication, efficiency and professionalism. We would be happy to recommend Lachlan to friends and family.
Highly recommend. They took over from long-time gardeners for our apartment building and Sydney Gardners standard is far greater and less expensive.
Great quality work and professional service. Was very happy with the job that was done! Will definitely be using these guys again 😊
Lachlan did a great job mowing and edging the property. Only just starting using them. Very happy
Great gardener with a very strong work ethic and excellent attention to detail. Well priced and timely.
Lachlan is very professional and hard working. Highly highly recommend.
Great service, friendly staff, my garden looks amazing.
Thank you so much. You guys did a great job. I will be a continuing customer.
Professional and polite. They did exactly what I wanted. Highly recommend.
Amazing service, highly recommend!
Prompt and excellent service
Excellent service and quick, helpful responses.
Super helpful!!
The part people underestimate
How much waste does a tidy-up actually produce?
Cut-back green waste takes up far more room than it did on the plant, and this is the single biggest reason people who start a tidy-up themselves do not finish it. Everything below is drawn to the same scale.
Straight answers
What goes with us, and what cannot
We take far more than green waste, and there are a few things nobody can legally take without the right licence. Worth knowing before the day rather than on it.
Goes with us
- ✓All green waste — prunings, clippings, leaves, weeds, branches and stumps we have removed
- ✓Old garden furniture and pots, broken planters, collapsed trellis and shade sails
- ✓General hard rubbish — timber, metal, old fencing, star pickets, rusted equipment
- ✓Broken garden equipment, mowers, hoses, sprinklers and the bits of things nobody can identify
- ✓Soil, mulch and rubble in reasonable quantities, and full loads by arrangement
- ✓Small structures — rotten decking, old sheds and dog runs, where they can be safely dismantled
We can’t take
- ×Asbestos or anything suspected of it — old fibro sheeting, some eaves and fencing. Legally a licensed removalist only, and we will stop and tell you
- ×Paint, fuel, oil and garden chemicals — these go to a council chemical drop-off, which is free
- ×Gas bottles and pressurised cylinders
- ×Car tyres and batteries — these need specific disposal streams
- ×Anything hazardous or unidentified in drums or containers
- ×Food or household waste — that is a bin job, not a yard job
Where the rest of it goes
Green waste goes to proper processing and comes back as mulch and compost rather than sitting in landfill. Hard rubbish is sorted so metal, timber and e-waste go into the right streams. If you are on a bush-edge block, weed material like lantana, privet and asparagus fern is bagged rather than loose-loaded, because a single dropped tuber starts the problem again somewhere else. See our weeding page for how invasive species are handled.
Why us
Why Choose Sydney Gardeners for Backyard Tidy-Up and Rubbish Removal?
A tidy-up is easy to do badly — the difference shows up in what gets cut, what gets left behind, and whether the price you were told is the price you pay.
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Experienced Landscaping Pros
We are gardeners rather than a clearing crew, which matters more than it sounds. The difference is knowing what to cut hard, what to cut lightly and what is worth saving — a rubbish crew takes out an established camellia and a rare rose along with the lantana, and you do not get those back.
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Efficient Rubbish Removal
Systematic disposal, sorted properly and taken to the right places under Sydney's waste rules. Nothing gets left in a pile behind the shed, tipped over a back fence or dumped in a reserve, which is unfortunately how a lot of "cheap removal" works.
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Affordable and Transparent Pricing
A fixed price agreed before we start, not an hourly rate that grows through the afternoon. If we find something on the day that genuinely changes the job — asbestos, a stump nobody knew about, twice the waste volume — we stop and talk to you rather than adding it to the invoice.
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Eco-Conscious Practices
Green waste to recycling as mulch and compost, hard rubbish sorted into the right streams, and chemicals directed to the free council drop-offs rather than quietly buried in a load. It costs us a little more in time and it is the right way to do it.
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Versatility for Every Yard
Courtyards where everything comes out through the house, steep north shore blocks where it goes up a flight of stairs, acreage where a machine can drive to the pile, and everything between. Access is usually the real problem, and we plan for it rather than discovering it.
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Client-First Approach
We ask what you want kept before we cut anything, we work around what matters to you, and we leave the site swept. On deceased estates and difficult clean-ups we get on with it without commentary, which is worth saying plainly because it is what people are quietly worried about.
Garden maintenance
The schedule that stops it ever getting back to this — and cheaper over a year than annual rescues.
Weeding services
For beds that need the roots out properly rather than the tops taken off.
Tree lopping
Where a tidy-up turns out to need real tree work, with council approvals handled.
Hedge trimming
Overgrown hedges brought back into shape, with scaffolding for the tall ones.
Mulching
The finishing step on a cleared bed — 75 mm of mulch is what keeps it clear.
Lawn mowing
Regular visits from $55, so the lawn half never becomes a tidy-up again.
1 day
Most "disaster" yards, start to finish
7
Days a week, 7am–6:30pm
$0
Site visit & written quote, always
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions About Backyard Tidy-Up and Rubbish Removal in Sydney:
How often should I consider a backyard tidy-up and rubbish removal service?
It depends on the size of the yard, how much you use it, and what is growing around it. For most Sydney homes a comprehensive tidy-up twice a year works — one coming out of winter before the spring growth starts, and one after summer. If the yard gets a lot of use, or you are near trees that drop heavily, quarterly is more realistic. Bush-edge blocks are better on a quarterly cycle for fire-fuel reasons as much as appearance.
What types of rubbish do you handle during the tidy-up?
A wide range. All green waste — leaves, branches, clippings, weeds — plus non-organic material like old garden furniture, broken pots, timber, metal, fencing and broken equipment. We follow local disposal regulations and prioritise recycling. The exceptions are asbestos, paint and chemicals, gas bottles, tyres and batteries, which need specific licensed streams. If you have anything unusual, tell us in advance and we will sort out where it goes.
Can I schedule regular tidy-ups and rubbish removals with Sydney Gardeners?
Yes, and it is much cheaper than repeat rescues. We set up monthly, quarterly or twice-yearly schedules to suit the property. Beyond keeping it looking right, a regular visit means problems get spotted early — a dying tree, a drainage issue, a weed getting a foothold — while they are still small and cheap to deal with.
How much does a yard tidy-up cost in Sydney?
A light tidy-up — mow, edge, cut back, weed and take the waste — generally runs $160 to $300. Past that it is quoted on site, because the number is driven by the volume of waste and the access rather than the size of the yard. A day's work for a two-person crew with several trailer loads is a different job to a two-hour tidy, and we would rather price it accurately than give you a range that turns out wrong.
Do you need me to be home?
Not usually, as long as we have access and we have agreed what is being cleared. Plenty of our tidy-ups happen while people are at work, and end-of-lease and pre-sale jobs are frequently done for agents with nobody on site. We will send photos when it is finished.
How long does a tidy-up take?
A light tidy is two to three hours. A full tidy-up on a yard six months to a year behind is half a day to a full day with a two-person crew. Genuinely overgrown properties run one to three days, and full property clears are planned in stages. Access matters as much as area — a courtyard where every load comes through the house takes far longer than a bigger yard with a gate onto the driveway.
Can you do end-of-lease or pre-sale clean-ups?
Yes, and they are a regular part of what we do. For an end-of-lease we work to what the agent has asked for. For a pre-sale we focus on what actually shows in photos and at an inspection — the frontage, sight lines, edges and anything that reads as neglect. Both are usually booked at short notice and we can generally accommodate that.
What if you find asbestos?
We stop, leave it undisturbed and tell you. Old fibro sheeting, some eaves and certain fencing are common on older Sydney properties, and removing it is legally restricted to licensed asbestos removalists. Nobody should be putting it in a trailer with the green waste, and any contractor who offers to is a risk to you as well as themselves. We will point you to who can handle it and work around it in the meantime.
Do you bring a skip bin?
Only where the job needs one. Most tidy-ups are handled with trailers, which is faster and cheaper and does not need a permit or driveway space. On full property clears with a lot of hard rubbish a skip makes more sense, and we arrange it as part of the quote rather than leaving you to organise it.
Will you cut back things I want to keep?
Not without asking. We walk the yard with you first, or work from a clear list where you are not home, and we flag anything we are unsure about rather than guessing. This is where using gardeners rather than a general clearing crew genuinely matters — we can tell an established camellia from a privet seedling, and that distinction is not recoverable once it is in the trailer.
Do you clear bushfire fuel loads?
Yes. On bush-edge blocks around Ku-ring-gai, Hornsby, the northern beaches and the Sutherland Shire, clearing fine fuel, leaf litter and long grass from around the house before summer is a real part of what a tidy-up is for. Gutters matter too. It is worth booking that work in late winter or early spring rather than in the middle of a hot December.
Which areas of Sydney do you cover?
All of them — the North Shore, Northern Beaches, Eastern Suburbs, Inner West, CBD, Western Sydney, the Hills District and Southern Sydney, from Bondi across to Greater Western Sydney.
Who you are dealing with
Nobody here is judging your backyard
Sydney Gardeners is family operated and has been running for over twenty years, with eight-plus utes on the road and one training standard across all of them. We have cleared a lot of yards that people were embarrassed to show anyone, and the honest truth is that it is a normal Tuesday for us. Getting it back is almost always faster and cheaper than people expect.
If our customers aren't happy, we aren't happy.
Lachlan Kavanagh
Operator of Sydney Gardeners
Same day quotes
Reclaim your outdoor space
Send a couple of photos for a same-day ballpark, or book a free site visit for a fixed written price. Everything leaves with us on the day. Across Sydney, seven days a week.