Rewilding garden savings.

Rewilding gardens replaces high-maintenance lawn with low-maintenance native habitat. Setup cost: 200-2,000 for typical garden (wildflower seed, native shrubs, removing turf). Ongoing maintenance drops to ~30% of conventional lawn cost (mowing 2x/year vs weekly, no fertilizer, no pesticides). Some councils now offer biodiversity grants 200-2,000 for rewilding projects.

200sqm garden × 600 annual conventional maintenance reduces to 180 rewilded. Annual savings 420. 500 setup + 200 grant = 300 net first-year cost. Year 2 onwards: pure 420/year savings. 5-year savings: 2,100 - 300 first year cost = 1,800 net. Plus environmental benefit unmeasured.

Beyond cost savings: rewilded gardens support biodiversity (pollinators, birds, hedgehogs), reduce flood risk (better water absorption than lawn), capture more carbon, and need no irrigation. Property values can increase 5-10% with attractive native landscaping vs neglected lawn. Multiple benefits beyond pure financial return.

A worked example

Try the defaults: garden size of 200, current maintenance annual of 600, rewilding setup of 500, biodiversity grant of 200. The tool returns 420.00. You can adjust any input and the result updates as you type — no submit button, no reload. That's the real power here: seeing how sensitive the output is to one or two assumptions.

What moves the number most

The result responds to Garden Size (sqm), Current Maintenance Annual, Rewilding Setup, and Biodiversity Grant. Frequency and unit price pull the total in different directions. The biggest surprise for most people is how small recurring amounts compound into large annual figures — that's where this calculation earns its keep.

The formula behind this

Reduced maintenance = current × 30%. Annual savings = current - reduced. Net first year = savings + grant - setup. Everything the calculator does is shown in the formula box below, so you can check the math against your own spreadsheet if you want.

Beyond the number

Carbon, health, and local air quality don't show up on the calculator but often drive the decision. The financial figure is a lower bound on the value; the rest is whatever you'd pay for the non-financial benefits.

What this doesn't capture

Carbon reduction, health benefits, and local air quality have real value the financial figure doesn't price. The calculation gives the money side honestly; for the full picture, note the non-financial benefits alongside.