Small gardening business - worried about the future.

Rtj123

I’m a self employed gardener, I have good regular customers and one off jobs. However, I’ve already started to see a decline in new work and some of my clients who were regularly fortnightly customers and now monthly. I’m worried sick about what next year will bring. Anyone else the same?
Im currently earning enough to pay all my bills and living costs etc. So basically what I earn per week all gets spent. I have around 20k in savings.
is there any government help available for the self employed? 

tacpot12

There's no help for the self-employed, until your business is unable to pay you to the point where you start to qualify for Universal Credit.

What point this is will depend on your circumstances, but it definitely won't pay you anything while you have savings of £20K. Your savings would have to dip below £16,000 before you would become eligible for Universal Credit, and even then they may not pay you anything as you are expected to be earning some interest on your savings. (They call this tarrif income, and will assume you are receiving it even if you are not). 

You could use one of the benefit calculators such as the one at entitledto.co.uk to keep reviewing your situation so that you claim Universal Credit as soon as you are entitled to do so. 

You can spend your savings on reasonable items of expenditure and still expect to be able to claim Universal Credit, but you need to avoid spending money on anything that might be regarded as frivolous or lavish, e.g. a new car costing more than a couple of thouand pounds, due to the rules on deliberate depravation of assets. Although you should do this anyway, its important if you mightbe about to make a benefit claim that you keep receipts for any large purchases you make, and any evidence that supports you need to make the purchase, e.g. a mechanic's report that says your current car is beyond economic repair.

Don't worry, but do take steps to monitor whether your business is viable, and whether you have reached the stage where are entitled to claim Universal Credit. 

sevenhills

I drive a bus for a living, but I do a little gardening on the side.
It is strange to me, how grass does not need cutting and some trees are struggling. It's this weather, I guess there is also the recession.
I would consider any work, just a matter of promoting yourself on Facebook.
Someone asked me to paint their front door, after they bodged it. It's just a matter of people getting to know you are free.
If you are not savvy with Facebook, perhaps family or friends could promote you. 

Brie

NextDoor for my location has a regular number of businesses being promoted - gardeners, handypersons, dog walkers.  And there always seems to be lots of people asking for details and prices.  Failing that or facebook there's the good old fashioned methods of a card at the local shops or a flyer dropped through the door. 

We regularly get someone knocking on our door to say something like "hope you haven't found us working at number 7 hasn't been noisey/inconveniencing!  We're almost finished so are happy to quote if you would like something similar done."  What I like about this is it gives me the chance to go round to number 7 and ask about the work that has been done and whether people are pleased with it.  In fact, in a similar vein, when the gardener was working at our neighbour's (beautiful garden!) I went and asked for his prices and availability.  He's doing a great job and I've confirmed I want to book him on a regular basis for next year.

Grumpy_chap

I would imagine that, at this time of year, demand for gardening drops off naturally and there would certainly not be new customers seeking services until March / April.  Add to that the unusual hot weather meaning less growth so less to manage.

Quite likely that demand will recover in the new spring, as there will be new people in the area and different people seeking services for the first time as personal mobility changes.

Mistral001

You need to be doing a minimum of 30 hours a week to get Working Tax Credits or 16 hours if you are over 60. 

Do not underestimate the value of repeat customers.  Are there any other services you can provide them with, such as gutter cleaning, patio pressure washing or window cleaning.

lincroft1710

Grumpy_chap said:

 Add to that the unusual hot weather meaning less growth so less to manage.

.

Our trees have shot up this year and we're inundated with tomatoes. Everything has grown more this year!


One of things we have found with "gardeners" is their reluctance to get their hands dirty! Lawn mowing and pruning OK but not happy to do weeding. Also some aren't very au fait with what plant is what. 


So if OP does weeding, knows which plants are which and isn't charging too much they should be alright. People always want good reasonably priced gardeners. I'm also on NextDoor and agree the people on there are always wanting gardeners. Tell your current customers you have a few time slots available, they may have friends/neighbours who want a gardener,

[Deleted User]

Your previous threads are all asking very similar things, what advice/actions have you taken from them all ?

Sportacus

Gardening and domestic cleaning are likely the first areas people will cut back on as higher energy costs bite, could you skill up in other jobs that people have no choice but to hire someone to do? I had a plumbing emergency last week and had no choice but to pay the eye watering rates of the weekend plumber.  

lincroft1710

Sportacus said:

Gardening and domestic cleaning are likely the first areas people will cut back on as higher energy costs bite, could you skill up in other jobs that people have no choice but to hire someone to do? I had a plumbing emergency last week and had no choice but to pay the eye watering rates of the weekend plumber.  

If OP obtains the necessary knowledge and training to become a plumber, they would be far better going into plumbing and ditching the gardening business. But there is no way I would ever employ an unqualified plumber especially in an emergency situation 

Sportacus

I’ve done a bit of simple diy plumbing in my time, installing radiators and replacing a toilet - and YouTube is a great resource. If you market yourself as a Gardner and handyman you may find some simple plumbing jobs like dripping taps where people can’t afford certified plumber rates - and build skills and experience from there.