From Ikea to easyJet, the combination of convenience and affordability has proved to be a potent and lasting formula for successful businesses.

Even architecture firms have started breaking their services down into bite-size chunks in an effort to open themselves up to the mass market.

Now the idea has spread to landscape gardening. Oliver Dearing, pictured right, is a Brighton-based entrepreneur who already runs his own business importing and selling African art.

The 23-year-old is a graduate of City College Brighton and Hove, where he studied landscaping and has been working for a gardening firm for two years.

Now he has decided to branch out on his own. His unique selling point is price.

He reckons he is the first "budget landscape gardener in Brighton".

By making use of existing materials, buying in bulk and "working all the hours God sends" Oliver says he can undercut his competitors by thousands of pounds.

He says: "I am trying to break down the idea that landscaping a garden is something very complicated and exclusive, something only wealthy people can afford.

"I can take a garden that is a complete mess and, by using stuff that's lying around and bringing in raw materials, create something lasting.

"I am focusing on medium-sized gardens or courtyards, jobs that should take between two and three weeks. That seems to be the gap in the market."

Robert, a skilled draftsman, has just completed his first big job tidying up and reshaping a back garden for an elderly customer in Hove.

Joan MacKenzie, 85, whose garden he renovated, said: "I have been in ill health for the last three years and had become ashamed of my garden.

"I saw Oliver's advert in The Argus and asked him to come and have a look at it. He has proved to be a very skilled and diligent worker. I'm very pleased."

Oliver can be contacted on 07729 636514.

Tuesday, May 9, 2006