Thinking about starting Odd Job Man business

fishybusiness

no disagreeing but not physically possible unless you have them all in the same street

Blimey, I do it every other week, I know others that do too, and more than me.

1/3 acre Thursday morning, 2 1/2 hours, lunch, then off 20 minutes away, another hour, then back another 40 minutes and hour and a half. That's the easy day and I'm working on adding more in between to make it a more lucrative day.

Friday have 6 cuts, and could easily add two more, furthest apart are about 15 miles, start at one end at 9am, finished for about 4pm, half hour for lunch. It's a good day.

All but the 1/3 acre are average sized gardens.

3 a day v 6 or more is perhaps the difference between a homeowner cutting their grass and a commercial well kitted out gardener.

Vectis

fishybusiness wrote: »

Blimey, I do it every other week, I know others that do too, and more than me.

1/3 acre Thursday morning, 2 1/2 hours, lunch, then off 20 minutes away, another hour, then back another 40 minutes and hour and a half. That's the easy day and I'm working on adding more in between to make it a more lucrative day.

Friday have 6 cuts, and could easily add two more, furthest apart are about 15 miles, start at one end at 9am, finished for about 4pm, half hour for lunch. It's a good day.

All but the 1/3 acre are average sized gardens.

3 a day v 6 or more is perhaps the difference between a homeowner cutting their grass and a commercial well kitted out gardener.

I'm not disputing your figures (maybe your 'average' lawns are smaller than those in other areas?) but that seems to be pushing it a bit.

An hour to drive to a customer's house, unload from your van, mow the lawn, tidy the edges etc, dispose of the clippings and then reload everything back into the van and be on your way...as I said, perhaps these are much smaller lawns than average. Perhaps all your lawns are squares with no trees inset, no tricky shapes etc? But I wouldn't advise someone new to make the assumption that every lawn will be like that.

But, if you're managing to do it, then well done. Perhaps it's more cost effective to be mowing larger lawns though - less loading and unloading and travelling time?

missbiggles1

topaztiger1983 wrote: »

I am thinking of starting an Odd Job Man business

Offering gardening services, lawn mowing, DIY, Painting & Decorating, clearing guttering, assembling flat pack furniture, and any other services I can do, possibly including computer services in there too, and maybe some general minor car repairs or valeting

I am wondering if anyone has experience with this business model

Also would I need public liability insurance for this venture

Do you have your own transport?

fishybusiness

Perhaps it's more cost effective to be mowing larger lawns though

The opposite actually.

An hour to drive to a customer's house

That part is where your theory v mine is different.

5 mins from home to first one, 5 minutes to next one, 5 mins home. Lunch, 20 minutes to next, 20 minutes back to next one and 10 minutes home.

Next day...15 mins to first one, 10 minutes to next, 5 minutes to next. 5 minutes home. Lunch then 10 minutes to next, 15 minutes to next, 10 minutes to next, 22 minutes home.

Both days, different directions, only take on work within those areas. Sometimes try a new area and hope more will follow to make it worth while, and stand the first one as a one off until more follow. That's how to make the money, 3 a day is just not going to make a living.

Two of us cut approx 1/3 acre in 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 hours depending on client bringing tea or not. Last gardener did it in 6 hours - like I said, you need the right gear and skill to get the speed and quality cut.

Waste is dumped on the go btw, not at the end of the job.

5 minutes either end for load/ unload except the 1/3 acre, that is 10 minutes load/ unload.

Any issues with equipment messes up the whole day, so we take spare mowers and strimmer in the van.

Not sure about garden size in general but I'm talking anywhere from 80 sq m to about 300 sq m for everyday mowing. Larger than that I find need slightly different approach.

You have to run it like clockwork to get the best out of it.

Mistral001

The guy that does a bit of handyman work such as hedge cutting and painting for me from time-to-time might be able to repair a computer or repair his own car, but would I let him do that for me? That is something that a jack of all trades cannot really sell without specialising in it. It might be difficult or expensive to get insurance for all those trades at once anyway.

By the way, I paid my handyman nothing like what others are suggesting on this site and it was more than what others were paying him I found out later. It depends on the going rate for the area.

fishybusiness

Agree entirely.

Perhaps getting going as a handyman is a start, then finding ones feet and test the market.

It may certain skills pay better than others, I guess the trick is working out the demand v skills and focusing on the higher value work.