Starting a gardening business?

sprucegs

Hi all
I'm looking to start my own gardening business. Very small to start with, I plan to purchase a lawn mower, strummer and that's about it. I will get some business cards made up and deliver to properties. I already have been doing it for family and neighbours as a bit of pocket money, and using their equipment. I have now been made redundant and want to try and expand it.
I have never done anything like this before, in terms going self employed, and generally how to go about going it alone. any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thankyou very much.

WHA

Congratulations on grasping the nettle and going for it.

Main thing at this stage is to get the business. Word of mouth and personal recommendations is the cheapest and most effective way of marketing. However you "advertise", you'll be competing against others, so best to cut out the competition by direct recommendation. Re leaflets, etc., whenever you're at a job, spend 10 minutes doing a leaflet drop of the neighbours - the leaflet through the door, as well as seeing you at a neighbour, as well as a sign on your van (hopefully) will give you a real foot in the door for when they want work doing.

Hopefully it goes without saying that you have to "behave" properly, i.e. answer your phone or messages without delay, turn up on time, be honest, if you say you'll send a quote, do it, if the work offered isn't your kind of thing, just be honest and say so rather than stringing the customer along. When at the property, keep things tidy, don't wee behind their shed, don't bring your pet Alsation dog, don't play loud music, etc, offer to remove your shoes if you need to go into their house for the loo or a brew. The little things really matter! People love to be able to recommend a good tradesmen to their friends and family!

As to formalities, you need to register as self employed with HMRC (easy to do online). You need to keep decent records of your income and expenses (good organisation of your paperwork goes a long way!). You need insurance for your own equipment, business use of your vehicle and public liability in case you harm someone or damage someone's property - a decent local insurance broker should easily find a suitable affordable policy.

fishybusiness

Good for you!!

I've started a gardening business this year. Spent a lot of time planning it last year - was poorly for about 18 months so had plenty of thinking and 'not doing' time.

I was out on my first job last week - just a grass cut, only there was lots of growth and my mower was complaining - plus there was more waste than I expected so I had to take some away with me. Live and learn :-)

I've found leaflets are working, out of 100 or so delivered in a local village I have 4 jobs. Perhaps make a Facebook page, add some pics of your first few jobs and post eery week or so, something like..Lawn cuts, all sizes, with stripes, without, rough areas, contact me for a quote...type thing. My leaflets are A5 colour, and quite cheap to print.

Local Parish magazines are worth a go if you have them in your area.

Worth suggesting getting a decent hedge trimmer too - another 2 or 3 months and people will be wanting hedge trims. Add to that some cheap builders bags to take the trimmings away if customers ask.

Don't forget of you are taking any waste away, to register with the Environment Agency as a waste carrier - its the law, and free for green waste.

DKLS

Don't forget to include in your prices a small amount for upkeep of tools and new tools.

c-m

Don't forget to register as a business with HMRC within the first three months. There's a potential fine if you don't.

This guide covers the basics of tax for side business. If it's your main income you'll need to look a bit further.

If you're only earning pocket money to start with then you may be able to use your personal account (depending on your bank), at least in the beginning. Once you've got more steady work you'll then want to open a business bank account. By then you'll have some financials to back it up.

sprucegs

fishybusiness wrote: »

Good for youe

Thanks, I'm looking at mowers now, petrol obviously. Would you recommend a. Certain mower? What do you use? I'd rather spend a little more on one that's going to be reliable and doesn't refuse to start when I get to a job. Or fall apart for that matter!

fishybusiness

I'm looking at mowers now, petrol obviously. Would you recommend

Blimey, which mower, the eternal question....

It really depends on what kind of work you are starting with. A Hayter 48 will cut well, make great stripes and will be reliable. It will struggle on wet grass, if you want to cut the wet stuff, Honda is probably the way to go.

Moving on, if you have long or rough grass perhaps you would need a 5 or 6hp 4 wheeled mower - it really depends on the type of work in your area.

Do you have lots of small lawns, or are you rural with larger lawns?

kingfisherblue

The things I like about my gardener:

Regular - every other Thursday at around the same time.

Reasonable price - my front garden is small. I pay £10 and it takes about 15 minutes for two men. They don't do the back (at my request).

Discount for pensioners - my mum has the same gardeners. She has decent sized front and back and pays £20. They're there around 40 minutes.

Neat and tidy - they take everything away, don't leave bits on the path, etc.

Quiet - radio is on, but low. It doesn't disturb me or my neighbours.

Polite.

Accommodating - if I buy new bulbs, the gardeners will put them in for me if I ask. I do offer to pay extra, but they don't take it.

As a customer, I pay promptly. If I'm out, I leave the money with my mum (she lives in the next street and the gardeners do both gardens on the same morning). Both my mum and I offer drinks. They usually have a cuppa at my mum's as they are there longer. They are also offered use of the toilet if required. I don't expect them to do extra work without me paying.

My gardeners don't come in winter, but always give a return date for spring. My previous gardener, now retired, did odd jobs in winter, such as clearing gutters. Each job was individually priced.

Good luck with your new venture.

fishybusiness

Reasonable price - my front garden is small. I pay £10 and it takes about 15 minutes for two men. They don't do the back (at my request).

That's not enough to make a living. Gardeners are up against low prices of odd jobbers, and those that dispose of waste in less than legal ways.

One man should be taking £20 or £25 for a lawn. Sure, if you add the numbers up the £10 for 15 minutes and 2 men equates to £20 an hour, but it isn't really when you take in to account cost of the travelling between jobs.

sprucegs, thats another thing, price your time well, you'll regret it when your £10 an hour jobs mean you don't even bring in minimum wage after expenses.

hunnie

I live in a semi
My joined on neighbour and I have a joint front lawn across the front of the properties.
Our gardener charges £15 to cut the lawn and tidy the borders around the edge so that's £7.50 each
I think this is really cheap and would have paid a little more to be honest.

fewgroats

You don't even need to purchase a lawn mower, you can use theirs. I advertised on a local site in my area (I did make it clear I was only mowing lawns) and got two offers-obviously you are going to need more than that to live on. I used Streetlife, but there must be many similar sites.