Gardening work

paulfraser69

I am thinking of setting up a gardening business but what do I charge for an hourly rate?

Rummer

It will depend greatly on the area that you are planning on working in. Why not contact local gardeners to find out their costs? Where we are the gardeners charge by job and not time although obviously they factor time into their quotes.


Then think about your work outgoings:

Van
Tools
Petrol
Uniform and safety materials
Disposal of material
Chemicals (if required)

This and your general living costs will help you to work out what you will need to charge to make it worthwhile.

forgotmyname

How much do you need to earn? How much do you want to earn and what are your overheads/costs?

Dont forget tool costs, They wont last forever and will need servicing or replacing at some point.

I_have_spoken

£10/hr outside of the M25 for 'tidying', lawn-mowing etc.

Ash_McCloud

paulfraser69 wrote: »

I am thinking of setting up a gardening business but what do I charge for an hourly rate?

It depends on your standard of work.

Ken68

A few years ago it was £10 hr in this area.
Getting rid of the rubbish is expensive. I finished up doing just lawns and taking the mowing's down to the allotment.
And a few business contracts are useful, tidying yards etc. keeps you going in the winter.
Chain saw work needs two people, (one to call the ambulance lol)

Davesnave

If this is a proper business, you can't afford to work for £10 an hour.

I would say £15/hr minimum, to include the costs Rummer mentioned + insurance, which ought to be top of the list. That's insurance to cover you for c0ck-ups and insurance to cover you when you are too ill to work.

If I employ someone to cut trees or do something I can't manage well myself, like stock fencing or tricky digger work, I expect to pay that much. If you are only skilled enough to do small jobs, you may have to compete with the semi-retired, who charge less.

lardlikesdogs

Davesnave wrote: »

If this is a proper business, you can't afford to work for £10 an hour.

I would say £15/hr minimum, to include the costs Rummer mentioned + insurance, which ought to be top of the list. That's insurance to cover you for c0ck-ups and insurance to cover you when you are too ill to work.

If I employ someone to cut trees or do something I can't manage well myself, like stock fencing or tricky digger work, I expect to pay that much. If you are only skilled enough to do small jobs, you may have to compete with the semi-retired, who charge less.

Spot on you can't work for ten pounds a hour unless you are a Fireman etc who do it on the side and don't pay taxes etc.

I charge £15 per hour but if you can try and price per job this works well on small gardens which only take 30 mins or so as you can charge the full £15 and double your money.

wellused

Wouldn't you be better charging per job and not by the hour? Run the mower over a small lawn and put the clippings in the bin £10 if they agree to let you do it once a week £8 a week, digging a boarder probably take a couple of hours £30, that sort of thing. I once knew a bloke who used to do a few gardening jobs after work and charged by the hour to cut a lawn and tidy up the thing was that if he got a spurt on and done the work in 45 minutes the lady used to quibble that he hadn't been there a full hour. Just a suggestion.

lardlikesdogs

wellused wrote: »

Wouldn't you be better charging per job and not by the hour? Run the mower over a small lawn and put the clippings in the bin £10 if they agree to let you do it once a week £8 a week, digging a boarder probably take a couple of hours £30, that sort of thing. I once knew a bloke who used to do a few gardening jobs after work and charged by the hour to cut a lawn and tidy up the thing was that if he got a spurt on and done the work in 45 minutes the lady used to quibble that he hadn't been there a full hour. Just a suggestion.

You can price per job on the small gardens no problem, But the bigger gardens it better per hour as most will have some sort of hedge that would take up a load of time hence you can work an extra hour or 2 as and when it is needed.
I use both hour rate and job rate they work well together depending on size and what is in the garden.

pickledonionspaceraider

I_have_spoken wrote: »

£10/hr outside of the M25 for 'tidying', lawn-mowing etc.

I think that is about right for basic maintenance - it is what is charged around our area.

Rubbish removal etc, is an altogether different charging structure and can be very expensive around here