Answer
How Much Does Archaeological Work Cost Per Hectare?
There is no honest single figure, because the same hectare can differ by more than an order of magnitude depending on what is in it and how deep it sits.
The honest answer
The variables that actually set the cost are the density of archaeological features, the depth of overburden that has to be removed, the complexity and number of periods represented, the amount of environmental and specialist analysis the material demands, and the standard of archive and publication required. Area is only one input among those, and often not the largest.
This is why a rate per hectare quoted without site information is either a guess or a commercial risk being priced in. A sequence of desk-based assessment, survey where useful, and evaluation exists precisely to replace that guess with a scope that can be priced.
The most useful thing a developer can do is treat evaluation as the cost-control measure rather than an additional cost. An evaluated site can be priced and programmed; an unevaluated one can only be provisioned for.
Turn an allowance into a comparable scope
Send the site area together with the development impact plan, evaluation results, authority brief and reporting obligations. Separate plant, reinstatement, specialist analysis and archive assumptions. A preliminary appraisal allowance is not a quotation for an approved package.
Continue
Before appointing
Turn the requirement into a defined programme decision
Confirm the planning trigger, the area and depth of disturbance, any existing archaeological evidence, and the date that matters to the wider programme. That is the minimum information needed to decide whether the next step is appraisal, evaluation, mitigation or a regulator discussion.
Sources and further reading
We use current public policy and guidance to keep this practical explanation grounded. Sources checked 19 September 2026.
- National Planning Policy Framework ↗
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
- Historic environment: planning practice guidance ↗
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Questions
Common questions on this
Can you give a range at all?
Only against site information. Send the planning position, site area, depth of disturbance and any existing survey or evaluation data, and we will give an indicative band with the assumptions stated.
Project review
Ask it about your own site
Send the planning position, site area and depth of disturbance, and we will answer against your scheme rather than in general terms.