Why is your Garden Butler Care rate £26.50 per hour?
Garden Butler Care is our core maintenance service, providing regular, ongoing stewardship of gardens throughout the year.
Our hourly rate reflects the professional, consistent and fully insured service we provide, together with the knowledge, equipment, planning and continuity required to care for gardens properly over the long term.
Unlike fixed-price gardening, our hourly approach ensures clients pay only for the time genuinely worked, without inflated estimates or unnecessary contingencies.
Current 2026 Garden Butler Care rate: £26.50 per hour per Estate Butler.
Why are Estate Butler projects charged at £30.00 per hour?
Estate Butler projects involve a different level of planning, labour, responsibility and resources than routine Garden Butler maintenance.
This rate applies to services such as garden and estate clearances, seasonal cutbacks, property support projects, vacant property care, probate and estate assistance, property preparation work and other one-off or project-based services.
These projects often involve intensive physical work, greater waste handling, additional equipment use, project coordination and a higher degree of decision-making than regular maintenance visits.
Charging £30.00 per hour allows us to carry out this work carefully, safely and responsibly, without rushing to meet a fixed quotation or compromising on standards.
Current 2026 Estate Butler Care rate: £30.00 per hour per Estate Butler.
Do you offer different rates?
Yes.
Our current 2026 rates are:
Garden Butler Care: £26.50 per hour per Estate Butler
Estate Butler Care: £30.00 per hour per Estate Butler
The rate applied depends on the type of work being carried out. Routine garden maintenance is charged at our Garden Butler rate, while project work, clearances, seasonal cutbacks and wider property support services are charged at our Estate Butler rate.
In some cases, existing clients may remain on previously agreed pricing arrangements.
What Our Hourly Rate Covers
Our rates cover everything needed to deliver a reliable, professional and sustainable Garden Butler or Estate Butler service, including:
Loyalty & Advocate Benefits — recognition and reward credits for participating clients.
Trained Estate Butlers — skilled, reliable team members committed to consistent standards of care.
Public Liability Insurance — protection for your property and peace of mind while we work.
Registered Waste Handling — responsible collection and disposal in line with current regulations.
Structured Scheduling — planned visits, diary continuity and year-round service management.
Time-Based Transparency — charged only for the time worked, with no hidden packages or unnecessary extras.
Business Continuity — a structured team approach that provides reliable support and service continuity.
Eco-Conscious Practice — soil-aware, wildlife-friendly and environmentally responsible methods wherever practical.
Professional Equipment & Maintenance — tools and equipment are maintained to a safe and professional standard.
Local Knowledge & Stewardship — an understanding of the gardens, properties and communities we serve.
Our aim is not simply to complete tasks, but to provide long-term stewardship that clients can rely on year after year.
What is the Earthly Comforts Loyalty & Advocate Programme?
The Earthly Comforts Loyalty & Advocate Programme is our way of recognising clients who support our business through repeat custom, recommendations and local advocacy.
Clients who choose to display an Earthly Comforts window poster are recognised as Earthly Comforts Advocates. This visible support helps local people discover our services and strengthens our presence within the community.
As a small thank-you, Advocate credits are recorded while a poster is displayed. From time to time, additional recognition may also be given where a client introduction leads to new work.
Once Advocate credits reach a value of £10, clients may choose to:
Receive £10 off a future Earthly Comforts invoice, or
Exchange it for a £10 reward with a participating local independent business.
Participation is entirely optional; there is no obligation to take part. The programme does not affect our pricing or billing structure and exists solely to recognise local support and loyalty.
I heard prices might change — how often do you review rates?
Our rates are reviewed periodically to ensure they remain fair, sustainable and reflective of the quality of service we provide.
Where possible, we publish our current pricing framework and identify the applicable year, such as our Current 2026 Rates. This helps provide transparency for both new and existing clients.
Any future changes are considered carefully and communicated appropriately.
If you ever have questions about pricing or how a particular rate applies to your garden, property or project, we’re always happy to explain.
What areas do you cover?
We’re based in Sandwich and work within roughly an eight-mile radius, including nearby villages. Keeping our work local allows us to offer consistency, familiarity, and long-term care rather than rushed visits spread too thinly.
Do you offer one-off visits or only regular maintenance?
Both.
Many of our clients choose ongoing Garden Butler Care, where we provide regular maintenance and long-term stewardship throughout the year. Others contact us for seasonal work, garden clearances, property support projects or one-off Estate Butler services.
We’re happy to help with both, provided expectations are clear and the work aligns with our approach to responsible, long-term care.
Whether we’re visiting regularly or assisting with a single project, our focus remains the same: thoughtful, reliable support delivered to a professional standard.
What’s the difference between Garden Butler Care and an Estate Butler project?
Garden Butler Care focuses on continuity — providing regular maintenance and long-term stewardship to keep a garden healthy, tidy and manageable throughout the year.
Estate Butler projects are more involved pieces of work that often require change, restoration, reduction, organisation or problem-solving. These may include garden clearances, seasonal cutbacks, property support projects, vacant property care, probate-related assistance or preparing a property for sale.
Maintenance is about preserving and improving what already exists. Projects are about helping a garden, property, or space move from one condition to another.
Both require care and attention, but project work often involves greater planning, coordination and decision-making, which is why it falls within our Estate Butler Care services.
Why don’t you always recommend frequent mowing or heavy tidying?
More work does not always mean better results.
Gardens are living systems, and many lawns, borders, shrubs and plants benefit more from thoughtful, well-timed interventions than from frequent cutting purely for appearance.
Our approach is based on long-term garden stewardship rather than short-term presentation. This means considering soil health, plant growth, seasonal conditions, wildlife and the overall resilience of the garden before deciding what work is genuinely needed.
Sometimes that means mowing regularly. Sometimes it means waiting. Sometimes it means leaving part of a garden undisturbed for a period.
We believe good garden care is about understanding when to act — and when not to.
Are you happy to work in gardens that feel overgrown or neglected?
Yes.
In fact, many of the gardens we are asked to help with have been left for a while due to busy lives, illness, age, family circumstances, bereavement, property transitions or simply a lack of time.
We don’t judge. We assess the situation, discuss priorities and work with clients to create a practical plan for moving forward.
Some gardens respond quickly. Others require a slower, more gradual approach. Our focus is not on criticism or quick fixes, but on helping bring a space back into balance in a way that is realistic, manageable and sustainable.
Every well-cared-for garden starts somewhere.
Do you use chemicals or pesticides?
Our preference is always to work with organic, wildlife-friendly and environmentally responsible methods wherever practical.
We believe healthy soil, appropriate planting, good garden management and long-term stewardship are often the most effective ways to reduce pests, disease and other common garden problems.
Occasionally, intervention may be necessary. When that happens, we explain the situation, discuss the available options and look for the least disruptive approach appropriate to the circumstances.
Our aim is to balance the needs of the garden with the wellbeing of the wider environment, including wildlife, pollinators and soil health.
Why does Earthly Comforts structure green waste charges the way it does?
| Earthly Comforts is a Garden and Estate Butler service, not a waste disposal company. Our green waste charging structure reflects the way we work — practical, transparent and environmentally responsible. For clients receiving regular Garden Butler Care, waste handling is managed through a simple monthly add-on. This avoids per-visit bag counting and helps keep costs predictable throughout the year, reflecting the typical volume generated during routine maintenance. For Estate Butler projects, seasonal cutbacks, garden clearances and one-off work, waste is charged per 125-litre bag. This ensures costs remain fair and proportionate when significantly larger volumes of material are produced. As a registered Lower Tier Waste Carrier, we handle green waste responsibly. Wherever practical, we aim to recycle, compost, or reuse materials locally rather than treating them simply as waste. This approach supports our longer-term vision of developing a more circular approach to garden stewardship through initiatives such as the Soil Hub and responsible green waste recycling. Our aim is to keep pricing clear, structured and aligned with the type of work being carried out — without hidden fees, bundled estimates or unnecessary charges.We aim |
Can you help make a garden more manageable or easier to use?
Absolutely.
In fact, helping people regain enjoyment of their garden is often one of the most valuable things we do.
This may involve reducing bed sizes, simplifying planting schemes, removing unwanted features, improving access, reclaiming overgrown areas, or reshaping a space to better suit changing circumstances.
Our aim is not simply to make a garden look better, but to make it easier to live with and enjoy over the long term.
A well-designed garden should support the people who use it, not become a source of stress, worry or endless maintenance.
Sometimes the most positive change is not adding something new — it’s making a garden work better for the life being lived around it.
Will the same people look after my garden each time?
You’ll usually see one familiar Estate Butler on the ground, supported by a small team working together behind the scenes.
While faces may occasionally change due to holidays, illness, training or workload requirements, our approach remains consistent. We maintain shared records, notes and knowledge about each garden so that care continues smoothly regardless of who is visiting.
We believe clients should benefit from both familiarity and business continuity. That means building long-term relationships while ensuring your garden is never dependent on a single individual being available.
Our aim is for every visit to feel informed, considered and aligned with the long-term wellbeing of your garden.
How do you handle access, privacy, and being in someone’s space?
We work quietly, respectfully and with discretion at all times.
Many of our clients are at home while we work, while others prefer to provide access and carry on with their day elsewhere. Either way, we recognise that gardens, homes and properties are personal spaces, not simply places of work.
Whether carrying out Garden Butler Care, Property Butler support or a wider Estate Butler project, we aim to be considerate, professional and unobtrusive. We respect privacy, safeguard keys and access arrangements, and treat every property as we would wish our own to be treated.
Trust is an important part of our service, and we take that responsibility seriously.
What if Earthly Comforts isn’t the right fit for my garden?
That’s perfectly okay.
We’re not trying to be the right fit for everyone, and we believe it’s important to be honest about that.
Our approach tends to suit people who value care, reliability, discretion and long-term thinking. Whether we’re looking after a garden, supporting a property or helping with a wider Estate Butler project, we focus on stewardship rather than quick fixes.
Some clients are looking for the lowest price. Others want work completed as quickly as possible. There are many good businesses that may be better suited to those priorities.
What we offer is thoughtful, dependable support delivered with consistency and care.
If we feel another service would be a better fit for your needs, we’ll always try to say so honestly.
