Gardening work

PasturesNew

You'll need some new-fangled license if you take any rubbish/garden waste away from their premises. So either get that and charge for having it - or don't get it and let them know from the outset that you don't remove waste and they'll have to take it to the tip.

glasgowdan

Waste carriers licence not required in England but you do need to register which is free. Licence required in Scotland, cost roughly £1/week.

£10/hr is a joke.

My advice is start on some wee £10-12/hr jobs to get you busier, then gradually ditch those customers as you learn to start to charge per job.

I've been running my business for 5 years and often finish by lunchtime having made £200 just cutting grass on my own. Charging per job is the only way to make a decent living and nobody can have a moan about how long you spend on the work.

hollydays

glasgowdan wrote: »

Waste carriers licence not required in England but you do need to register which is free. Licence required in Scotland, cost roughly £1/week.

£10/hr is a joke.

My advice is start on some wee £10-12/hr jobs to get you busier, then gradually ditch those customers as you learn to start to charge per job.

I've been running my business for 5 years and often finish by lunchtime having made £200 just cutting grass on my own. Charging per job is the only way to make a decent living and nobody can have a moan about how long you spend on the work.

What about regular customers who want you to do light gardening every couple of weeks?

ohreally

hollydays wrote: »

What about regular customers who want you to do light gardening every couple of weeks?

They're discarded as better payers have came along. Nice.

Davesnave

hollydays wrote: »

What about regular customers who want you to do light gardening every couple of weeks?

ohreally wrote: »

They're discarded as better payers have came along. Nice.

Strange as it seems to some here, switching gradually to better-paying customers is the way to grow a proper business.

When I started selling plants, it was at car boot sales, and similar, so I charged car-boot prices.

Much later, when I'd gained expertise and invested heavily in equipment, I ditched the boot sales and went up-market. So did my prices.

Everyone must start somewhere, but they don't have to stay there.

hollydays

I was referring to repeat , regular business.
Since when was ditching loyal customers and a regular income rather than unplanned odd jobs a great business model

Davesnave

Fine. Perhaps the regular but occasional customers are like the market I used to attend: not brilliant but always there.

Similarly, there might be customers who aren't very profitable, but whose work is a pleasure. You might choose to stick with them because it's enjoyable.

But if you do what you always did, you'll get what you always got.

Ken68

Whenever I happened to get an awkward garden (or customer) I would always see the season out but not renew the following year.
And new customers would be charged more, and richer clients would help to subsidise the poorer.
And an advert in the local will bring in new customers to replace those that have , cough, died, or moved.