Contractors Directory
Find a hedge layer, a supplier of stakes and binders, or determine what factors to consider when asking for a hedge laying quote.
Hedgerows Ireland maintains a list of its members that carry out hedgerow services. This list is arranged alphabetically and is not a complete list of hedgerow workers in Ireland. If you are an official member of Hedgerows Ireland and would like us to advertise your service on this page, please email info@hedgerows.ie.
Accredited Hedge Layers
In order to maintain professional standards of work, members are expected to achieve a professional qualification through the National Proficiency Tests Council (NPTC)(UK), or equivalent.
NPTC Assessor – Has proved competence over and above basic standards. Can assess candidates to a basic standard.
Clive Lyttle
Covers: Republic of Ireland & Northern Ireland
Teaching traditional countryside skills including hedge laying and drystone walling for over 20 years. After joining the hedge laying society (now Hedgerows Ireland), attained a hedge laying qualification in 2008 and continues to work in the countryside, teaching and laying hedges. NPTC AO20 Certified. Insured. Provides Training
Eamonn McLoughlin
Covers: Midlands
NPTC AO20 Certified. Insured. Provides Training.
Emmet Dolan
Covers: Offaly
NPTC AO20 Certified. Insured.
Eoin Donnelly
Covers: Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wicklow, Kildare, Laois, and Dublin.
Master hedge layer with 40 years’ experience of working on all types of hedges, in a number of styles. Training can be arranged on a one-to-one or group basis. Powerpoint presentations and talks given to interested groups. Consultation service available. NPTC AO20 Certified. Insured.
James Carroll
Covers: Dublin and South-East.
NPTC AO20 Certified. Insured.
Joe Gowran
Covers: Areas in 40 mile radius of Drumcliffe, Co. Sligo
NPTC AO20 Certified. Insured.
John McKeon
Covers: Monaghan, Meath, Cavan
NPTC AO20 Certified. Insured. Provides training.
Mark McDowell
Covers: Leinster
NPTC AO20 Certified. Insured. Provides training.
Paul McNally
Covers: Co. Mayo and nearby
NPTC AO20 Certified. Insured. Provides training.
Paul O’Hagan
Covers: Northern Ireland
NPTC Assessor. Provides Training. DARD demonstration farm.
Richard Markham
Covers: Republic of Ireland & Northern Ireland
Lantra accredited. Runs a small tree and hedge care business, concentrated for over 10 years on hedge laying in Ireland. Provides Training.
Robert Hogg
Covers: Republic of Ireland & Northern Ireland
Lantra accredited. Insured. ABA International chainsaw certified. Safe pass certified. Does garden and hedgerow maintenance, hedge laying, and hedgerow translocation.
Steve Bass
Covers: Republic of Ireland & Northern Ireland
Also has the Coillte Chainsaw Safety Certificate. Provides a service for farmers in agri-environment schemes and takes on private contracts. Laid over 800 metres of hedges in Ireland covering all counties. NPTC AO20 Certified since 2008. Provides Training.
Thomas Baker
Covers: Down & Antrim
NPTC AO20 Certified. Insured.
Suppliers of Hedge Laying Materials
Clive Lyttle
Location: Collection on Ards Peninsula, County Down. Delivery can be discussed.
Description: Supplies timber for chair making, large bean poles and other coppice produce, stakes and binders for hedge laying, large willow rods for living willow features and all types of willow cuttings from basket making to biomass. Coppice materials are sustainably grown and cut from or near his own smallholding on the Ards Peninsula, Co. Down.
Clive is a basketmaker, green woodworker, dry stone waller, hurdlemaker, greenwood chair maker, spoon carver, roundhouse builder and thatcher, as well as a hedge layer.
Cost: £1 per 5ft hazel stake. Some hazel binders available, but mostly willow binders at £1 each.
Mike Carswell
Location: Collection preferred from Wicklow, near Glenealy, but happy to discuss delivery.
Description: Hedge stakes and binders from coppiced woodland. The stakes are 5ft not pointed, mostly hazel, with some other hardwoods mixed in, both stored dry from previous years and freshly cut each year. Binders are a minimum of 6ft long and bundled in 30’s. Orders for stakes and binders can be guaranteed if placed before Samhain, last orders for freshly cut material is the winter solstice. After that, only stocked material is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Also available: cleft and round sweet chestnut stakes and posts all year round – price on request.
Mike Carswell is a professional coppice worker and greenwood worker. He has more than ten years of experience in utilising traditional methods to produce sustainable woodland products. A graduate of the Bill Hogarth Memorial Apprenticeship Trust, Mike is fully qualified and insured in coppice restoration, felling and conversion of raw materials. He has knowledge of ecological impacts and the heritage of woodland management in Ireland.
Cost of Hedge Laying
The cost of laying a hedge is usually based on what length of the hedge can be laid each day. This will require a site visit from an experienced hedge layer. Hedges vary so much in condition that it is not possible to give a general price for this work. However, costs are estimated to start at £15/€17-20 per metre for a straightforward hedge (e.g. one that is a few years old, 3-4m in height, but has not been flailed or laid previously). You can reach out to an accredited hedge layer using our list above to arrange a preliminary site visit and get an exact quotation.
Some of the factors that will influence the cost are :
– Size and number of stems
– Amount of brambles, etc. to be cleared
– Fencing/wire to be removed
– Amount of ivy
– Ground conditions
– Access to the site
– Disposal of brash
Landowners looking to have hedges laid are advised to request a written quotation for the work.
Hedge laying, as part of a long-term management programme has been shown to a be more cost-effective boundary option than standard fencing. Hedges also give many other benefits that fences do not – shelter, wildlife, visual amenity, etc. Read more in our “The Value of Hedgerows” section. Farmers may apply for hedge laying funding under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
Meyen, S. (1997) “Cost comparison of boundary options” Unpublished report produced by Donegal Farm Relief Services Ltd. for Crann