gardening service

dave-w-

hi there I currently work part time in a supermarket and want to up my income.I trained for 2 years in college doing horticulture and conservation.Im currently thinking about setting up a small business to maintain peoples gardens,and continuing to work in the supermarket aswell.

Thing is ive got no idea where to start?

I currently drive a small van so transport is sorted- obviously I would need to buy tools etc

any help please?

pinetree

Hi For all the boring stuff go to www.hmrc.gov.uk/startingup/ for tax etc. Put notices up in local shops, advertise in parish magazines, leaflets/flyers can be expensive so depends how much you have to spend, word of mouth. For tools try boot sales and especially this weekend being a bank holiday all the DIY stores will have their deals. Good luck hope this is of some help.

glowgirl_2

I use a gardener who also has another full time job (in the gardening industry) , he charges £10 per hour and cuts the grass etc every two weeks, I found him through word of mouth, one of my neighbours is now interested in employing him too so personal recommendation would seem to be the way to go:)

LisaW123

I don't want to put a downer on your plans but I suspect in the current climate there are a glut of people looking to start businesses with low start-up costs such as gardening, pet au pair type things. I looked in our local paper the other night for a tradesman. There were two or three in categories like joiner, electrician, but there were about 12 ads for gardening services. I suspect this is because you don't need an awful lot of money to set up and also don't need any formal qualifications or training. If you are going ahead, I would stress that you are a trained horticulturalist. I think this will be a selling point.

walkers-crisps_are_evil

I have found that Business card attached with personal statement and target a local affluent area with large gardens works at low cost. Low petrol cost and time traveling between jobs/home. Then word of mouth kicks in if you do a good job. There is competition so that personal statement has to be relatively short but seductive. Grab their attention with your training and knowledge. Dave-w- now is the time to go for it. Best of luck

Eliza_2

I also pay £10 an hour for wonderful guy who cuts grass, puts sheds up, cleans out ponds, makes hen runs, fills me in with local gossip etc etc. Found him via word of mouth, he is also a local small farmer. He is turning away work as he has too much and can really be selective, I'm so grateful to have him. He doesn't have any great horticultural skills, just does basic tidying which is all I need.

He also cuts grass and tidies for small businesses, any shops that have grass outside, pubs, hotels/ band b, campsites, small local industrial estate, childrens playgrounds and so on, so worth targeting any of these with marketing too, not just private houses.

Get yourself known around the place as being friendly, clean, reliable - it's not just about services or price, personality goes a long way, people need to be able to trust you. Good luck, I hope it works out for you.

broad-sword_2

Good luck mate, but son-in-laws like me do the job for the in-laws for free, short of giving me the hand of their beautiful daughter (and, not having a pop at you pal, I've got the gear)

heretolearn_2

There's plenty of mugs out there with no time or knowledge, if you are lucky enough to find then. So it can be easy money.

I know because one source of great dispute in our house is my OHs insistence on paying a gardener (one woman band) £50 every two weeks. All she does is cut the lawn (approx 40' by 40') and sometimes fiddle about trimming down the shrubs. Oh, and cutting my one and only flowering plant down to earth level every 2 weeks last summer until she finally managed to kill it and then dig it out. There's no actual lawn care involved, she even cuts it all winter down to scalped mud level every two weeks even if it's just rained so it's killing the grass that is there due to damage and soil compaction, we are infested with ants nests and leatherjackets so again loads of thin and bald patches, 'lawn' is about 25% weeds. She works less than an hour every fortnight for us, is damaging our lawn, and getting £50 a pop for it.

But according to OH (who knows nothing about gardens) she is a qualified gardener so must know more than I do and we should just give her free rein.