What Do Office Plants Actually Cost? A Transparent UK Pricing Guide
The modern way to green a workspace. Premium plants. Transparent pricing. Quick delivery. Buy outright, or take a fully managed care plan — both priced in the open.
Ask most commercial plant companies what office plants cost and you will not get a number. You will get a site visit, a proposal, and a quote built around a 3 or 5 year maintenance contract. Published pricing is rare in this industry.
We think that makes it unnecessarily hard to budget. So here are the actual numbers — for typical UK plant hire, for buying outright from us, and for our own fully managed care plan. You should not need a site visit to get a price.
The two ways to pay for office plants
1. Plant hire (rental) with maintenance included. The supplier provides plants and planters, visits regularly to water and replace failures, and charges a weekly or monthly fee per plant. It suits offices that want zero involvement — the plants are simply always perfect, and someone else's problem.
2. Buying outright. You own the plants and planters from day one. There is no ongoing fee. You water them (or add optional care services), and a failed plant is replaced under guarantee or protection cover rather than a contract.
Both models have their place, and we offer both. The only thing we insist on is that you should be able to see the price of each — in the industry at large, most hire pricing is only revealed after a site visit, on terms that often run 3–5 years with auto-renewal and a 3-month notice period.
What plant hire typically costs in the UK
Published UK trade pricing puts rental for a large office plant (around 180cm) at roughly £3.70–£5.50 per plant per week, with medium plants at £3.15–£4.15 and desk plants around £1–£1.30. Maintenance visits and replacements are included.
That sounds small until you multiply it out:
• One large plant: £192–£286 per year, or £577–£858 over a 3-year term
• Five large plants (a typical small office): £2,900–£4,300 over 3 years
• Ten large plants (a typical medium office): £5,800–£8,600 over 3 years
At the end of the term, the plants and planters are usually collected — under a hire agreement they were never yours to keep.
The fully managed option: the Plant Drop Care Plan
If you want the hands-off model, here is ours, priced in the open. Large statement specimens (the same 180–200cm plants we sell, not hire-grade stock) from £4.50 per plant per week, including decorative planters, regular care visits from our horticultural team, and free replacement of any plant that fails. Schemes from ten plants, within London. Twelve-month minimum, then rolling monthly: no auto-renewal, no 3-month notice period.
• Ten large plants: from £195 per month
Over three years that is around £7,000 — comfortably inside the typical UK hire range, with a noticeably better standard of plant and terms you can actually leave. Tell us about your space and we will confirm a plan price the same week.
What buying outright costs at Plant Drop
Our prices are on every product page, but as a guide for office-scale specimens (180–200cm, the size that suits typical 2.6–3m office ceilings):
• Kentia palm, 180–200cm — £295
• Branched corn tree (Dracaena), 150–170cm — £345
• Mature olive tree, 180–220cm — £395
• Rubber bush, 180–200cm — £495
• Fiddle-leaf fig tree, 170–180cm — £595
Or as ready-curated office collections, plants and planters included:
• 5-piece collection (small office, 10–20 people) — £1,495 one-off
• 10-piece collection (medium office, 20–50 people) — £2,995 one-off
No installation charges either
Hire quotes often present “design and installation included” as part of the value. When you buy from us there is simply nothing to install: plants arrive in their nursery grow pots, which sit directly inside your decorative planters — lift in, and the scheme is done. Keeping plants in grow pots is also better for them: drainage stays perfect and repotting is easy.
If you prefer a permanent soil-planted finish, our Professional Planting Finish (£50–£195 per plant by size) means everything arrives potted and dressed.
The 3-year comparison
Small office, 5 large plants: typical UK hire £2,900–£4,300 over 3 years, collected at the end — or £1,495 once, and it is yours. Typical saving: £1,400–£2,800.
Medium office, 10 plants: typical UK hire £5,800–£8,600 over 3 years. Plant Drop Care Plan around £7,000, fully managed, on terms you can leave. Buying outright £2,995 once.
The pattern is simple: if you want a fully managed scheme, a care plan is worth paying for and ours comes with better plants and rolling terms. If your office can spare ten minutes a week, buying is usually less than half the cost over three years.
What does looking after them yourself involve?
The plants we recommend for offices — kentia palms, dracaena, rubber plants, ZZ plants, snake plants — are chosen because they forgive inconsistent care. A five-plant office needs about ten minutes of watering a week, and every plant comes with plain-English care guidance plus lifetime advice from our horticultural team.
If you want cover beyond our 30-day guarantee, our Plant Protection plan replaces a failed plant for a one-off fee of around 20% of the plant's value per year of cover — for a £295 kentia, that is about £59 a year.
And if you would rather not think about the plants at all, that is exactly what the Care Plan above is for. Need help planning the space first? Our Interior Plant Consultation & Plant Plan starts at £250.
Frequently asked questions
Do office plants require a maintenance contract?
Only if you want one. Plant Drop supplies office plants both ways: buy outright with no contract and no monthly fee, or take a fully managed Care Plan from £4.50 per plant per week. Either way, you do not need a contract to get a price.
Do you offer office plant rental?
Yes. Our Care Plan includes large specimen plants, decorative planters, regular care visits and free replacement of failures, from £4.50 per plant per week in London (schemes from ten plants, 12-month minimum then rolling monthly).
How much do office plants cost for a small office?
Buying outright: around £1,495 for a curated 5-piece collection including planters, or £155–£595 per statement plant. For fully managed schemes (from ten plants), our Care Plan runs from £195 per month. Typical UK hire elsewhere: £2,900–£4,300 over a 3-year contract for five large plants.
Is it cheaper to buy or rent office plants?
Over any contract term, buying is usually significantly cheaper — typically less than half the 3-year cost of renting — and you own the plants at the end. Renting or a care plan includes maintenance visits, which suits offices that want zero involvement; our Care Plan sits inside the typical UK hire range with a better standard of plant.
Do you deliver and install office plants?
Yes. Plants arrive ready-planted; in London we hand-deliver with our own team, elsewhere in mainland UK we use a specialist plant courier. Add the Professional Planting Finish and everything arrives potted in your chosen planters.
What happens if a plant dies?
Every plant carries our 30-day replacement guarantee, and the optional Plant Protection plan extends cover for 1–3 years at roughly 20% of the plant's value per year. On a Care Plan, replacement of any failed plant is included.
The bottom line
There are two honest ways to do office plants, and we price both in the open. If you want a fully managed scheme — always perfect, never your problem — our Care Plan runs from £4.50 per plant per week, inside the typical hire range with better plants and terms you can leave. If your office can water for ten minutes a week, buying well-chosen, easy-care statement plants outright costs less than half as much over three years, and the plants are yours. What you should never need is a site visit and a 3-year term just to find out the price.
Want to see the work first? Recent projects include office planting at The Shard, a zoned open-plan office on the South Bank and five floors at St Paul's House — or browse all office projects and hospitality projects.
Plant Drop for offices — or send us a business enquiry and we will price your space transparently, with or without ongoing care.
