HEDGE TRIMMING IN NEW WESTMINSTER, BC

Hedge Trimming in New Westminster, BC

Hedges cut to shape across New Westminster, from the streets above Columbia Street out to Massey and Sapperton. This is the oldest city in the province, and it shows in the planting: most of the hedges we are asked to cut were shaped by somebody else long before the current owner arrived.

BCLNA certified

Licensed and insured

WCB cleared

A written quote before we start

You Have Probably Inherited This Hedge

Very few of the hedges here were planted by the people who own them now. They came with the house, along with the fence line and the front steps, and they have been cut by a series of different people with different ideas about what a hedge should look like.

That matters more than it sounds, because it decides what your options are.

The shape is somebody else's decision

How wide it is at the base, how square the face is, which side has been favoured: all of that was settled by whoever had the shears before you. A hedge carries those decisions around with it, and it is the thing we are actually working with.

Where it was cut from shows

A run that was only ever reached from the front ends up heavier on the back, and one cut from a driveway leans toward the street. You can read which side had easy access off the plant, and it tells us where the work actually is.

So the first visit is looking

We walk the run before quoting and tell you what keeping it costs and what changing it costs. They are different numbers, and finding that out afterwards is how people end up unhappy with a perfectly good cut.

The practical upshot is simple. Tell us the height and the line you want held, and we will keep it there. If what you want is different from what the hedge has been kept to, say so at the quote rather than on the day, because that is a bigger job with a different price and a different look afterwards.

And if you have no idea what it is or when it was last done properly, that is the normal case here, not an awkward one.

The Oldest City in the Province

New Westminster was the first city in British Columbia to be incorporated, and it started out as the capital of the colony, which is where the Royal City name comes from. None of that would matter to a hedge except for one thing: the lots were laid out and planted a very long time ago, and a great deal of that planting is still standing.

So the hedges here tend to be older than the fences beside them and older than most of the people who look after them. That is a nice thing to inherit and an awkward thing to change your mind about, which is why we would rather talk about it before we start than after.

Two things on this page are deliberately not covered here because they are set out properly elsewhere. Whether a tall hedge counts as a tree in this city, and what that means before anyone cuts, is on our New Westminster landscaping page. So is the difference between a garden on the slope above the Fraser and one on the flat, which changes the job more than the plant does.

What the Job Covers, and What It Does Not

The run walked and priced before anyone starts cutting
Faces cut back to the line the hedge has been kept to
The height held where you set it, visit after visit
What we can reach said plainly, and what we cannot
Clippings collected off beds, lawn and hard surfaces
Green waste taken away with us, inside the quoted price
The base left clear so you can see what you have

What we do not do. We do not work within reach of overhead service lines. A hedge growing up into the drop to a house needs a crew qualified to work near live conductors, and we will say so rather than take it on. That is our own rule and not a quote of anyone else’s.

We do not take trees down, grind stumps, or reach past what a platform safely gets to. Weed killer is not something we use at all. Ornamental pruning of specimen trees is tree pruning, and where a hedge needs reducing rather than trimming, the main hedge trimming page sets out what that involves.

Hedge Trimming Across New Westminster

The streets climbing away from Columbia Street, the older blocks around Massey and Royal Avenue, Sapperton out toward the east end, and the properties down closer to the Fraser. Narrow lots and long boundaries, which is why how much of a hedge we can actually reach decides the price more often than the length of it does.

Hedge trimming in neighbouring places is on the Burnaby, Richmond and Surrey pages, and our areas served page covers the whole service area. What a trim includes and how often a hedge needs one are on the main hedge trimming page.

New Westminster Hedge Trimming Questions

I have just bought the place. What do I do with the hedge?

Give us a height to work to and we will hold it there. If you are not sure what to ask for, we will walk it with you and say what it has been kept to so far, which is usually the cheapest thing to carry on doing.

Can it go back to how it used to look?

Maybe, and that is a different job from a trim rather than a harder version of one. It has a different price and it looks different afterwards, so we would rather quote it as its own thing. There is more on what a reduction involves on our main hedge page.

Someone told me my hedge might count as a tree here. Is that right?

It can, and it is worth knowing before anyone cuts. We set that out properly on our New Westminster landscaping page rather than summarising it badly here, and we look at it when we quote.

Do you need to know what kind of hedge it is?

It helps, and most people do not know, which is fine. We will tell you what we can see when we walk it. What matters more for the price is how much of it we can get at.

Half of it is against the neighbour's side. What then?

We cut what you ask for on ground you are entitled to have us on, and we ask first before stepping anywhere else. Where a face cannot be reached we say so and describe how it will look, before you get a price rather than after.

How often does a hedge need cutting here?

It depends what it is and how crisp you want it. One cut a season keeps a soft outline, and more than one keeps a sharp face. An old hedge that has been cut irregularly for years often wants two for the first season and then settles down.

Do you take the clippings?

Yes, all of them, and it is inside the quoted price. On the narrow lots here that usually means carrying them out to the street rather than backing anything in, which we account for when we quote.

Do you take trees down?

No, that is arborist work and we will point you to one. The same applies to stumps, and to anything higher than a platform can safely reach.

Do you spray the weeds around the hedge?

No, spraying is not part of a hedge trim. Anything we clear around the base is done by hand.

Related Services and Areas

Get a Hedge Trimming Quote in New Westminster

Tell us roughly how long the run is and the height you want it held at. If you inherited it and have no idea what it is, say that instead, which is the usual answer here. You can also contact us first.