Free photo check · Mon–Fri 8am–6pm, Sat mornings · Stockport, Cheadle, Marple and Hazel Grove
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Surveyor below the Stockport viaduct checking rough ground for knotweed
Japanese Knotweed Removal · Heaton Norris (SK4)

Is that tall red-speckled plant by your Stockport fence knotweed? Message us a photo. We will tell you for free.

Checking a photo costs you nothing. When it turns out to be knotweed, we come and survey it, set out the options for spraying or digging it out, and write the report your lender or solicitor needs to see. Surveys from £275.

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Free photo ID check Survey from £275 Plans accepted by mortgage lenders
Dealt with fully
Dealt with fullyCleared ahead of extensions, sales and groundworks, not just cut back.
Spot it in spring
Spot it in springRed-purple tips pushing up beside a wall, a gatepost or a garage from April.
Every district
Every districtFrom Heaton Norris and Edgeley to Cheadle, Marple and Hazel Grove.
No charge until we know

Most of the plants people photograph for us are not knotweed at all.

Snap one leaf, a bit of stem and the whole plant if you can. We answer without sending a bill. We only suggest a visit when it really is knotweed, and you see the price in writing before anything is booked.

Why waiting costs more

A bare patch in winter does not mean it has gone

The canes die back and turn brown from October, and the border looks tidy. Below ground the rhizome carries on. Come the spring it returns wider than before.

Deal with it earlyA young, small stand is the cheapest kind to treat.
£275
Let it beIt creeps toward the wall, the shed and the next garden.
Bigger job
A valuer spots itThe lender may hold the mortgage until a written plan arrives.
Weeks lost
Strimming it yourselfEach scrap of root that lands in soil can grow into a new plant.
£££££
The survey price is the one printed on this page. Treatment is priced in writing once we have looked at the stand, and never on the doorstep.
£275 · One visit, one price Written quote before any work

✓ What that buys

Inside every survey:

  • The plant confirmed in person, not guessed from a picture
  • The edge of the stand paced out, plotted and photographed
  • How far it sits from the house, drains, sheds and boundaries
  • A written report a lender or conveyancer can act on
  • Prices side by side for spraying and for digging out

— What you never get

Things we do not charge for:

  • Looking at a photo, even if the plant is harmless
  • Mileage to any address in the Stockport borough
  • Surprise extras after you have agreed the price
  • Excavation where spraying would be enough
  • A copy of your own report

Reports follow RICS guidance on Japanese knotweed and residential property. Take it to any contractor you like.

Japanese knotweed on a bank in Heaton Norris
Knotweed in Heaton Norris

Old mill land, river banks and railway cuttings.

Heaton Norris is the part of Stockport that sits right under the great brick railway viaduct, with Victorian terraces, former hat and cotton works, the River Mersey just beyond the end of the streets and the main line running overhead. Rough railway-side ground and cleared works plots are never far from a back wall.

A survey shows whether it started in your garden or has crossed from the plot beyond the fence.

Also covering the rest of Stockport — same price, same service.

Learn what to look for

What knotweed looks like around Stockport

Canes on a railway bank behind a Heaton Norris terrace.
Canes on a railway bank behind a Heaton Norris terrace.
Red-purple spears breaking through block paving by a garage.
Red-purple spears breaking through block paving by a garage.
A summer stand on a canal embankment, with a brick bridge beyond.
A summer stand on a canal embankment, with a brick bridge beyond.

Not sure it is knotweed?

Send a photo through the contact page or give us a ring. Knotweed or not, you get a straight answer and no invoice.

Send a photo
Stockport borough, from Heaton Norris and Edgeley out to Cheadle, Marple and Hazel Grove

Stockport areas we cover

SK3

Edgeley

SK4

Heaton Norris· Heaton Moor· Heaton Mersey

SK5

Reddish

SK6

Marple

SK7

Hazel Grove

SK8

Cheadle

Addresses across SK1 to SK8, covering the town centre and every district out to the Peak District edge and the Cheshire borders. We work out of Stockport, so a visit anywhere in the borough can normally be booked inside the same week.

Before you ring

Questions we get asked

Our Heaton Norris yard backs onto railway land. Could knotweed come from there?
It could. Railway edges are cut back only now and then, and root fragments travel along them. Look over the back wall in spring and again in July, and send a photo of anything red-tipped or tall and hollow.
How do I know if it is Japanese knotweed?
Start with the stem: hollow like bamboo, flecked purple and bending in a zig-zag at every joint. The leaves are shield-shaped with a flat edge where the stalk joins, and in late summer it throws up sprays of cream flowers. Old brown canes can stand through the whole winter. Sending us a photo is quicker than comparing pictures on your phone.
Is it illegal to have knotweed in my garden?
No, owning land with knotweed on it is not an offence. The law is broken if you let it spread into the wild, and soil or cuttings count as controlled waste. If it moves into a neighbour's garden, they may be entitled to bring a claim against you.
Will knotweed stop me getting a mortgage?
It does not rule one out. Plenty of lenders will go ahead if there is a professional survey, a treatment plan and an insurance-backed guarantee that can pass to the buyer.
How long does treatment take?
Most spraying programmes run for three to five growing seasons, with monitoring afterwards. Digging it out takes days rather than years, but the bill is a good deal higher.
Can I just dig it out myself?
We would not. Small fragments of rhizome regrow, and the soil cannot go in your wheelie bin or be taken to the household waste site.
Does knotweed damage houses?
It pushes into weak spots such as cracks, old drains, paving and lightweight outbuildings. Good foundations are rarely harmed, but a stand close to the building can still knock value off or hold up a sale.
What if it is coming from my neighbour?
Book a survey so the position and direction of travel are recorded. That report is what you show the neighbour, the landlord or whoever owns the plot next door.

Leave the strimmer where it is.

Sending a photo is free. The report belongs to you. We agree the price before we lift a spade or a sprayer.

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Local notes

The viaduct, the railway edge and the old works plots

A summer stand on a canal embankment, with a brick bridge beyond.

Heaton Norris is packed in under the viaduct, with terraces, small yards and the odd cleared works plot between the streets. Railway land beside the houses is managed only now and then, and a stand can build up behind a wall without anyone seeing it. Look over the back fence in spring for red-purple shoots and again in July for tall hollow canes.

The Mersey is a short walk away, and fragments can move along banks and drains. Because the yards are small, a stand only a few metres off can reach a wall or drain quickly. A survey records exactly where it lies, and for sellers that report answers the question a buyer's solicitor will ask.

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