Free photo check · Mon–Fri 8am–6pm, Sat mornings · St Helens, Rainhill, Haydock and Newton-le-Willows
[phone] Free photo ID check
Surveyor at the edge of a St Helens estate checking rough ground for knotweed
Japanese Knotweed Removal · Clock Face (WA9)

Spotted something odd growing near your St Helens home? Send us a photo and we will say what it is, free.

A photo check carries no charge. If the plant proves to be knotweed we survey it, plan the spraying or digging, and give you a written report that a mortgage lender or conveyancer will accept. Surveys from £275.

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Free photo ID check Survey from £275 Plans accepted by mortgage lenders
Cleared properly
Cleared properlyStands removed before building work, sales and groundworks.
Early warning
Early warningRed-purple spears beside a garage, a shed or a fence post in April.
Whole borough
Whole boroughEccleston and Windle through to Haydock, Rainhill and Newton-le-Willows.
Look first, pay later

Plenty of the plants we are sent turn out to be harmless.

Take a picture of one leaf and a section of stem, then send it across. You hear back without being billed. A visit is only suggested when the plant really is knotweed, and the price is put in writing before you agree to anything.

Why not to wait

Knotweed does not go away when you ignore it

By late autumn the stems turn brown and the garden looks clear. Underground the rhizome is still spreading, and the stand comes back bigger once the weather warms.

Act this seasonSmall, young stands are the cheapest to treat.
£275
Leave itIt pushes toward the patio, the shed and the boundary wall.
Bigger job
The buyer's valuer noticesA mortgage offer can be paused until a plan is on file.
Weeks lost
Cutting it down yourselfEvery offcut of root can start a new plant.
£££££
The survey price is the figure on this page. Treatment is quoted in writing after we have seen the stand. Nothing is priced on the doorstep.
£275 · One visit, one price Written quote before any work

✓ What that buys

What the survey covers:

  • The plant identified on site, not just from a photo
  • The stand's edges measured, mapped and photographed
  • Distances to the house, drains, outbuildings and neighbours
  • A report written so a lender or conveyancer can rely on it
  • Priced choices between spraying and excavation

— What you never get

What you will not be charged for:

  • A photo check, even when it is a harmless weed
  • Travel anywhere in the St Helens borough
  • Extras added after the price is agreed
  • Digging where a spray programme would do
  • Your own copy of the finished report

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

Japanese knotweed on a bank in Clock Face
Knotweed in Clock Face

Old pits, glassworks and canal banks.

Clock Face is a south-of-centre district shaped by mining and brick-making, with mostly postwar housing and open ground that has been reclaimed. Old clay and colliery land offers plenty of loose, disturbed soil.

A survey shows whether the stand began in your garden or arrived from the land next door.

Also covering the rest of St Helens — same price, same service.

Learn to spot it

How knotweed looks around St Helens

A stand on reclaimed ground behind a Clock Face garden.
A stand on reclaimed ground behind a Clock Face garden.
Red-purple shoots lifting the surface beside a garage door.
Red-purple shoots lifting the surface beside a garage door.
A summer stand on a canal bank, with a brick bridge behind.
A summer stand on a canal bank, with a brick bridge behind.

Not sure it is knotweed?

Send a photo through the contact page or ring us. Whether or not it is knotweed, you get an answer and no bill.

Send a photo
St Helens borough, from Eccleston and Windle out to Rainhill, Haydock and Newton-le-Willows

St Helens areas we cover

L35

Rainhill

WA9

Thatto Heath· Parr· Sutton· Clock Face

WA10

Eccleston· Windle

WA11

Haydock· Blackbrook

WA12

Newton-le-Willows

Addresses across WA9, WA10 and WA11, plus Rainhill (L35) and Newton-le-Willows (WA12), from the town centre out to the borough edges. Based in St Helens itself, so most visits across the borough can be fitted in within a few days.

Before you ring

Questions we get asked

We are buying in Clock Face. What should we ask about knotweed?
Ask whether it has ever been found on the property or the land beside it, and request any treatment records and a transferable guarantee.
How do I know if it is Japanese knotweed?
Look at the stem first. It is hollow like bamboo, spotted with purple, and kinks in a zig-zag at each node. Leaves are shaped like shields with a flat base, and creamy flower clusters appear in late summer. Dead brown canes can remain upright all winter. A photo sent to us is faster than matching pictures online.
Is it illegal to have knotweed in my garden?
Having it on your land is not a crime. The offence is letting it spread into the wild, and any soil or cuttings are treated as controlled waste. If it crosses into a neighbour's property they may have grounds for a claim against you.
Will knotweed stop me getting a mortgage?
Not by itself. Many lenders will proceed when there is a professional survey, a treatment plan and an insurance-backed guarantee that can transfer to the buyer.
How long does treatment take?
A spraying programme normally lasts three to five growing seasons, followed by monitoring. Excavation takes a few days but costs noticeably more.
Can I just dig it out myself?
We advise against it. Tiny pieces of rhizome regrow, and the soil cannot go in the household bin or to the council tip.
Does knotweed damage houses?
It exploits weak points such as cracks, old drains, paving and light outbuildings. Sound foundations are seldom at risk, but a stand close to the house can still reduce a valuation or delay a sale.
What if it is coming from my neighbour?
Arrange a survey so the position and the direction of spread are on record. That report is what you show the neighbour, or the landlord or owner of the plot next door.

Put the strimmer back in the shed.

The photo check costs nothing. The report is yours to keep. The price is agreed before any work starts.

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Local notes

Reclaimed clay and colliery land in the south of the borough

Root-barrier membrane unrolled in a trench along a boundary.

Clock Face was shaped by mining and brick-making, and the open ground around it has largely been reclaimed. Reclaimed land often contains loose, disturbed soil, which is where knotweed finds an easy start. Gardens at the edge of that ground deserve a look each spring, particularly along fences and behind outbuildings.

For anyone buying here, the questions to put to the seller are whether knotweed has ever been found on the property or beside it, and whether treatment records and a transferable guarantee exist. A survey before exchange costs far less than a stalled mortgage. Existing owners can start with a photo.

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