How much would a Gardener cost?

lolly5648

In North London the going rate is £25-£30ph. I have just had a spring tidy up and it cost £100. He said if I needed a one-off it would be £30ph or on a regular basis £25. He did say that is per session but it would be hard to spend even one hour doing my garden on a regular basis.

BugFriendlyGardener_2

I too am a pro gardener (not qualified but very experienced BEFORE I started.....now 10th year. In North Surrey, charging £17.50/hr.
Many of previous comments apply..HARD work when you are doing 7-8 days all the time. Tools need maintenance;travel time etc etc. I am a knowledgeable plantsman; grows lots of plants for my customer's gardens (22 at present). I work 7-8hr days in the summer (I'll be 50 next month...it's getting tougher !!) and 4-7 hours/ days in the winter. (Composting; burning/tidying;fence/greenhouse repairs;gutter clearing; fruit tree pruning for example...

Rules for rubbish. If you are a gardener, it is THIER rubbish. If you are a contractor (ie pricing for the job) then it is your responsibility. I advertise as a 'green' gardener so nearly all my gardens have compost heaps ( that is some of my winter work) In a big garden, I will store all prunings and have ONE winter burning session. Wood ash is good for feeding to fruit bushes and flowering shrubs. Many customer now have green waste bins as well so that makes it is easier to operate in smaller gardens. I charge £1 for every sack I have to remove.

cyclonebri1

Sorry to any pro gardeners here but, yes I accept the going rate for a proper gardener may by £10/hr, £12 would be armed robbery where I live.

And again, it ain't rocket science, they don't weant species cloning just the grass cut and the weeds pulled.

Minimum wage is the max you should pay, say £6;50/hr, and thats if they declare it, they probably won't.

Get an old guy that will potter around, come around when he feels well, and will charge for what he does, he only want's to get away from gradmma after all:o:o

Pro gardeners are for pro gardens,, and check he has insurance, many won't have


Edited for the benefit of glasgodan who seem to be a better gardener than reader

glasgowdan

I find a lot of the comments on here ludicrous. For a start, a gardener shouldn't charge per hour, but by the job. I have just spent £1450 on a mower that cuts grass through all weathers quickly and efficiently, I had to spend a similar amount on a pro pressure washer this year; my strimmers cost around £600 each and have to be maintained. A full machine service is usually £100 or so, repairs are rushed through and take time out of my day, waste can be taken away but I pay a LOT to dispose of it.

Key element - I charge per JOB. On quoting for a new job I will look at the garden and know within a few seconds how long it will take me to do what the client wants done, be it just a fortnightly grass cut, or a full maintenance job including weed killer, trimming etc. My vehicle is highly organised and I will be in and out in under half the time of almost all of these £10/hr retired handymen you're talking about. So, to say someone charges £5 or £50 an hour is irrelevant, it all comes down to what they do during that time.

I look after sites of up to 10 acres at present. The amount of pesticide and fungicide I can use in a year is very high; the fuel for mowers, travel to and from site, waste disposal and fertilisers is also huge.

I offer total reliability and if you want someone who gets the job done like clockwork and to the standards you hope for you need to forget paying per hour and just find a decent contractor who will give you a fixed price.

The comment above saying NMW is all you should pay in an insult. What do you for a living?

Does the wee cheap handyman still turn up if the weather is poor, can he use the chainsaw to lop off that branch that's annoying you (and show you his certificate for doing so), apply lawn treatments if asked, spray hard areas for weeds in seconds, cut hedges neatly and safely, pay for the broken window/damaged car if a stone flies out from the strimmer, can he use his professional blower to completely clear all the muck from the stone chip paths or does he just spend hours raking and still miss most of it?

I'll repeat - you need to get a price per JOB. If that job is "keep the garden tidy each visit" then so be it, everything that needs done will get done in the visit.

For what it's worth, I wouldn't pay ANYBODY minimum wage. It is not enough to live on and it is unfair. My staff get much more than NMW.

The_Pro

Your answer is so arrogant and condescending to all those professional gardeners and landscapers who have been trained and therefore qualified and experienced.

It is isnt rocket science and that applies 95% of trades, but is skilled and requires an investment in training, certification and equipment.

You are clearly a cheapskate ....and perhaps the only reason you are here.

Perhaps your gardener does not pay tax, uses his car (illegally for business) and works using a £89 B&Q 'special' and your electricity.

I hope your approach does not extend to key safety areas like gas engineers and leccies.

You absolutely get what you pay for and it is not possible to be self employed, provide a service and do it all legally (ie tax, insurance etc) for the money you quote.

I suspect you quietly endorse the grey or even black market approach due to your tight fisted nature..

Finally don't comment on what you don't know - you look stupid giving such advice as below.

p.s you obviously love the sound of your own advice given all the 'useful contributions' you have made...ah I get it.... you're a arm chair expert...the worst kind of specialist.....

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Sorry to any pro gardeners here but, yes I accept the going rate for a proper gardener may by £10/hr, £12 would be armed robbery where I live.

And again, it ain't rocket science, they don't weant species cloning just the grass cut and the weeds pulled.

Minimum wage is the max you should pay, say £6;50/hr, and thats if they declare it, they probably won't.

Get an old guy that will potter around, come around when he feels well, and will charge for what he does, he only want's to get away from gradmma after all:o:o

Pro gardeners are for pro gardens,, and check he has insurance, many won't have

Leif

I suspect most work cash in hand and do not pay tax or have insurance. My mother lived in South Devon, and had several gardeners over the years. Most did not know much. One put bindweed on the compost heap, where it grew. She paid one company £100 to tidy the garden and trim a hedge. When I visited, I saw the hedge had had a cursory trim, weeds were all present, but the Eryngium, strawberries and other plants were missing. Clearly a bunch of thieving !!!!!!. I tried to do some work, but there is a limit to what I could do.

I wonder how many provide their own tools e.g. lawnmower?

A neighbour asked me if I was a gardener, I'm not. She said she could not find one. My mother also had trouble finding one, possibly because here area was full of old people, many infirm, many needing a gardener.

cyclonebri1

glasgowdan wrote: »

I find a lot of the comments on here ludicrous. For a start, a gardener shouldn't charge per hour, but by the job. I have just spent £1450 on a mower that cuts grass through all weathers quickly and efficiently, I had to spend a similar amount on a pro pressure washer this year; my strimmers cost around £600 each and have to be maintained. A full machine service is usually £100 or so, repairs are rushed through and take time out of my day, waste can be taken away but I pay a LOT to dispose of it.

Key element - I charge per JOB. On quoting for a new job I will look at the garden and know within a few seconds how long it will take me to do what the client wants done, be it just a fortnightly grass cut, or a full maintenance job including weed killer, trimming etc. My vehicle is highly organised and I will be in and out in under half the time of almost all of these £10/hr retired handymen you're talking about. So, to say someone charges £5 or £50 an hour is irrelevant, it all comes down to what they do during that time.

I look after sites of up to 10 acres at present. The amount of pesticide and fungicide I can use in a year is very high; the fuel for mowers, travel to and from site, waste disposal and fertilisers is also huge.

I offer total reliability and if you want someone who gets the job done like clockwork and to the standards you hope for you need to forget paying per hour and just find a decent contractor who will give you a fixed price.

The comment above saying NMW is all you should pay in an insult. What do you for a living?

Does the wee cheap handyman still turn up if the weather is poor, can he use the chainsaw to lop off that branch that's annoying you (and show you his certificate for doing so), apply lawn treatments if asked, spray hard areas for weeds in seconds, cut hedges neatly and safely, pay for the broken window/damaged car if a stone flies out from the strimmer, can he use his professional blower to completely clear all the muck from the stone chip paths or does he just spend hours raking and still miss most of it?

I'll repeat - you need to get a price per JOB. If that job is "keep the garden tidy each visit" then so be it, everything that needs done will get done in the visit.

For what it's worth, I wouldn't pay ANYBODY minimum wage. It is not enough to live on and it is unfair. My staff get much more than NMW.

Maybe is you actually read what I said you would find yourself agreeing with me, I'll highlight in in my original post as you seemed to miss it.
My whole point is that a retired person would probably love a little job like this and I personally have no problem with that whatsoever.

Minimum is a huge top up to a state pension.

And with all due respect the OP probably doesn't have a 10 acre country estate, so Old Sid from round the corner can easily cope with a few yards of grass and a few dandelions.

I knew my post would attract a trade like you, these types of posts do, but you can't post on a Money Saving site like this without expecting people, and I'm in that category, to suggest the cheaper options.

If the OP can afford your rates then fine, if she can't then she has the options.

And look, the idea should be to provide the options, not to outrightly decry someone else's views


Oh, and since you ask, I'm retired, I worked dam hard and earned my wedge and finished very early. Not paying expensive pro gardeners rates helped.

cyclonebri1

The_Pro wrote: »

Your answer is so arrogant and condescending to all those professional gardeners and landscapers who have been trained and therefore qualified and experienced.

It is isnt rocket science and that applies 95% of trades, but is skilled and requires an investment in training, certification and equipment.

You are clearly a cheapskate ....and perhaps the only reason you are here.

Perhaps your gardener does not pay tax, uses his car (illegally for business) and works using a £89 B&Q 'special' and your electricity.

I hope your approach does not extend to key safety areas like gas engineers and leccies.

You absolutely get what you pay for and it is not possible to be self employed, provide a service and do it all legally (ie tax, insurance etc) for the money you quote.

I suspect you quietly endorse the grey or even black market approach due to your tight fisted nature..

Finally don't comment on what you don't know - you look stupid giving such advice as below.

p.s you obviously love the sound of your own advice given all the 'useful contributions' you have made...ah I get it.... you're a arm chair expert...the worst kind of specialist.....

Knew that would drag one out of the woodwork.
All I said in the last post applies equally to you, more so seeing that that was your first post.

I also suggest you read the bit at the front of the forum about Forum etiquette, you seem to have missed that bit.

I offer my views you offer yours.

You clearly have a real problem with people nicking your business,
and if you speak to them like you've just addressed me, and insert suppositions that have no substance, then I'm not surprised.

The fact that in this case it actually isn't rocket science, it's cutting grass etc, means the door is wide open to money saving alternatives, so tough up.

And by the way, if a B&Q £89 special does the job, what's your issue, , that's sad.

antw23uk

We use a gardening service a couple of times a year. They offer a lot more than I will ever ask for (I love gardening so dont need them) so they do a tree/ hedge trim for us which is done far more superior to anything we could ever do and they remove allt he clippings and dispose of it the correct way.

They charge £15 an hour and I think that is reasonable. They are professional, reliable and at the moment I cant imagine using anyone else.

sheep-ali

[QUOTE=cyclonebri1;55623003
My whole point is that a retired person would probably love a little job like this and I personally have no problem with that whatsoever.

Minimum is a huge top up to a state pension.

[/QUOTE]

My OH is retired & would no way be prepared to do someone else's garden for the minimum wage.
Considering he has to travel an average 4 miles each way, provides his own equipment ( including fuel for mowers, strimmers, etc. ), he would be out of pocket if he did it for the NMW.
Even the bonus of getting out of " grandma's hair " would not incentivise him.