Garden and DIY

Garden and DIY tool costs, per use

A tool used six times a year is a different financial object from one used six times a week, and the shed is full of the first kind. These pages work out how many uses it takes before buying beats hiring, for tools where that break even is genuinely close. Where it is not close we say so rather than manufacture a dilemma.

Read

Cost per cut: petrol, electric and manual mowers24 August 2026What a UK lawn actually costs to cut with a petrol, corded electric or manual mower, purchase price and fuel both included, at August 2026 prices.
Buy or hire? The break even for common tools22 August 2026How many uses it takes before buying a pressure washer, carpet cleaner or tile cutter beats hiring one, at UK 2026 hire rates and shop prices.
Cost per kilo: what home grown veg really costs22 August 2026What it actually costs to grow vegetables at home in the UK, per kilo, once seed, compost and water are counted, against the supermarket price.
Paint cost per square metre, and per room22 August 2026What emulsion actually costs per square metre in the UK once coverage and two coats are counted, from own brand to trade to premium paint.

Everything we have priced in this room

Priced at the tariffs shown in the bar at the top of the page. Sorted cheapest first.
Item	Running	Cost per use	Relative
Per session
Hedge trimmer	6.53p	£3.07
Pressure washer	£1.15	£5.63
Per cut
Electric lawnmower	9.14p	£1.09	nothing to compare with yet
Per day
Inflatable hot tub	£1.17	£2.48	nothing to compare with yet
Per hour
Patio heater, electric	54.8p	£1.55	nothing to compare with yet

Open the calculator to put your own tariff, your own purchase price and your own usage against any row above.

Worked through

The cheapest and the dearest of the things here that are measured in the same unit, with every term of the sum shown, so you can see which part of the number is the part that actually matters.

Hedge trimmer, £3.07 per session

Cost per session, the working

Purchase, £120 over 40 sessions£3.00

Electricity, 0.25 × 26.11p6.53p

Cost per session£3.07

500W trimmer, 30 minutes.

Pressure washer, £5.63 per session

Cost per session, the working

Purchase, £215 over 48 sessions£4.48

Electricity, 0.9 × 26.11p23.50p

Water and sewerage, 200 litres92.00p

Cost per session£5.63

1.8kW motor, 30 minutes.

Six uses a year against a purchase price is the shape of every hire or buy question in the shed.

The same sum, applied in furniture and sleep, kitchen and laundry. Or open the calculator and put your own numbers through it.

Prices used on this page

Electricity, 26.11p per kWh. Ofgem price cap, direct debit, average of England, Scotland and Wales, including 5% VAT.. Ofgem energy price cap unit rates and standing charges. Checked 22 August 2026.
Water and sewerage, £4.60 per cubic metre. Combined volumetric water and wastewater charge, metered. Mean of three large suppliers for 2026/27: Thames Water £4.02, United Utilities £4.75, Anglian Water £5.03 per cubic metre.. Published 2026/27 household charges, Thames Water, United Utilities and Anglian Water. Checked 22 August 2026.