Cost of a gardener

elsien

The cost may also be affected by just how much greenery there is to get rid of. The person I occasionally use has to pay to get rid of green waste, so it works out a bit cheaper (if slightly more trouble) if he cuts it down and I get shut of it at the local tip.

mysterymurdoch

How many other trades charge by the hour and stay on site for x hours? Decorators...plumbers...joiners...they all work to completion of a task, not an arbitrary time. If any customers start asking me how long I'll be there and cost per hour I double check my diary and tell them I am too busy to fit them in.

I'd suggest you get quotes based on a set price. You get a better job done, the tradespwrson makes a proper living and you've no need to twitch your curtains to see if the gardener is on the phone or blethering to the neighbour.

springdreams

mysterymurdoch wrote: »

How many other trades charge by the hour and stay on site for x hours? Decorators...plumbers...joiners...they all work to completion of a task, not an arbitrary time. If any customers start asking me how long I'll be there and cost per hour I double check my diary and tell them I am too busy to fit them in.

I'd suggest you get quotes based on a set price. You get a better job done, the tradespwrson makes a proper living and you've no need to twitch your curtains to see if the gardener is on the phone or blethering to the neighbour.

Glad I'm not looking to employ you then ...

My painter, cleaner, handyman and gardener all charge by the hour (as do a number of other trades and professional people), and I certainly don't need to curtain twitch to check that they are doing the work I am paying them to do! They all have a good work ethic, and I gladly refer them to friends, family and on my local FB page when anyone is looking for a painter, cleaner, handyman or gardener.

mysterymurdoch

I'm equally as glad I've not picked you as a customer. Everyone benefits!

springdreams

mysterymurdoch wrote: »

I'm equally as glad I've not picked you as a customer. Everyone benefits!

As the supplier of the services you don't get to pick me

Anyone who wants to hide their hourly rates just rings alarm bells to me, especially since the business I'm in does charge for services by the hour, and the type of services you supply are frequently charged for by the hour.

mysterymurdoch

I turn down around 5-6 customers a week. I'll pick the odd one that I can tell will be low hassle and reliable and will replace any that are difficult. My services are in demand and I have had a number of customers for 8 years since I started. New enquiries come in 50% from word of mouth ad 50% onlookers or website hits.

You evidently just don't realise what it's like to run a top end of the market business.

YORKSHIRELASS

My hubby does this for a living and charges £12.50 an hour for regular jobs, £15 for one off jobs and occasionally £17 if its a big/difficult garden clearance job. He makes a good living, has a waiting list and has many clients who he has worked for for over 10 years.

He rarely charges a set price but will give you a fairly accurate estimate of how much time the job will take. If he charges a set price he has to be very specific about what he will and wont do which can be tricky.

He has regular clients who might use him for 16 hours a month so there is limit on what he can charge, they couldnt afford to pay 16 x £25 a month for example, and regular jobs have a lot of benefits. Also his overheads are fairly low, other than running his van and paying for insurance the equipment he uses is fairly low cost and easy to maintain.

I agree with the point about disposing of the green waste, makes a huge difference to the time taken and actually makes DH more likely to accept a one off job.

As with all trades be a bit wary about someone who says they can start tomorrow, most good gardeners are in high demand around here, especially at this time of year.

ThemeOne

The gardener I used to have at my father's place charged £13 / hr and normally did 4 hours per week from spring to autumn to keep a big back garden and average front looking great. As far as I know that rate included anything garden related.

mysterymurdoch

Many people do gardening as a hobby or a lifestyle. If you're doing it as a business you need to make money, and if you've got a waiting list you need to start raising prices until you lose a customer or two! Basics of business.

Yorkshire...no matter what you think, he's absolutely not making a good living on those prices. He's paying the bills and maybe able to afford the odd treat, but after paying to run the business he's going to be well under £10/hr. How much tax did he pay this year? That's an indication.

Vectis

mysterymurdoch wrote: »

Many people do gardening as a hobby or a lifestyle. If you're doing it as a business you need to make money, and if you've got a waiting list you need to start raising prices until you lose a customer or two! Basics of business.

Yorkshire...no matter what you think, he's absolutely not making a good living on those prices. He's paying the bills and maybe able to afford the odd treat, but after paying to run the business he's going to be well under £10/hr. How much tax did he pay this year? That's an indication.

Although you do come across as arrogant, sorry but I couldn't think of another way of putting it, with your comment that you are a 'top end of the market business' (come on, we're talking about domestic gardening here, not Capability Brown landscaping!), I do agree that there's a big, big difference between doing something as a part time job to get some extra cash and running it as a proper business which has to support a family and make mortgage payments etc from.

I know a number of people who do gardening and charge between £12 and £15 an hour - but, not one of those pays tax, it's all cash in hand, undeclared. And, for most of those, it's just an extra income.

For our own business, not gardening, we usually charge between £25 and £35 per hour. But, again, this is our main source of income and not done as a hobby to get some extra cash. So, I agree, if you run it as a proper business you have to make a decent wage from it.

I'd also be very wary about putting up your charges 'until you start to lose customers'. Personally, I think that's just bad business practice and will eventually backfire on you - but, going back to my first comment, I don't expect you to accept that view at all. The notion that 'I'm busy so I can charge what I like' will rarely work longer term. But, each to our own. If it suits you, then fine.