"I highly recommend you don't entertain this idea of using customers tools for too long."
Why?
Because nobody will want to pay decent rates for someone using their tools. It's unprofessional. Fine for the OP getting started, but he/she needs a decent plan that involves making a career from it.
Every gardener we have ever had charges by the hour. Friends who use gardeners have the same experience. Typically they have the gardener for two to four hours a week throughout the year. Sometimes it is just a single hour but that is usually tied in with a near neighbour who uses the gardener for longer.
Charging £15 an hour means you’ll be earning £25000 a year if you do a 40 hour week and work for 42 weeks a year; that means when the weather is completely unsuitable for gardening and you don’t want to do internal decorating (or ironing!) you can take the time off. You’ll have minimal overheads and though £25000 pa won’t make you rich, you’ll get by.
Glasgowdan clearly speaks from experience when he says don’t charge by the hour but charge for the job. I guess that works for one off tasks such as clearing overgrown land but I think there is a huge market for people who want help with the heavier or more mundane tasks that regularly need doing. We do. If you’re reliable, work at a good pace and use your initiative to do things without being asked word will quickly get around and people will be contacting you.
One question I have for Glasgowdan is how does he cope with people who say, ‘while you’re here, could you just do such and such?’ I’m afraid we do this all the time, especially with decorators/handymen. We did that once and were asked for an extra £40 for little more than an hour’s work. We paid, but it somewhat soured the relationship and we have never used or recommended that firm again. Stuart, our current decorator/handyman, tells us up front he charges £20 an hour/£150 a day and will say he thinks a task will take 3 to 4 days. If he arrives late, finishes early or disappears for half a day to do other stuff he lets us know and we’re fine with that. With give and take, he’ll do lots of extra little tasks and I am convinced not all of them get incorporated into the final bill.
When i was made redundant a few years back i spent the entire Summer doing gardens. Used my own kit (electric mower, battery hedge trimmer etc) which people didn't mind. Started off with an offer to clear and prepare a garden for a work colleague of my wife, just to stay busy. Pretty soon i was maintaining her nan's garden weekly, did some jobs for her dad (conifer trimming, shrub clearance) and also picked up 10-12 regular maintenance jobs for her friends, friends mothers nieces aunty etc, all by word of mouth. Best Summer of my life. The money was enough to keep the wolf from the door for a while. However to make it your living you have to work seriously hard and do a good job. Mistakes will be pounced upon by anyone with any knowledge and your word of mouth work will dry up. Don't let that put you off though. My 'clients' were grateful for the help and liked that i didn't charge the earth and that i was flexible. I had to stop as i recieved a good job offer and couldn't turn it down. Felt guilty but i recommended a friend of my mothers who gardened with his grandson as my replacement. They still work for several of my clients today. In many ways i wish i had carried on but the job offer (and the money) was too good to turn down.
Hi Stewy, thanks. I plan to do maintenance for the first part of my degree. In the second year its at college three days a week, and that's when I get to learn hard landscaping, fencing, paving and patios. That's where I think I'll be able to boost my yearly income. My maintenance work, will be the more joyful part of this career, no doubt. And those clients would be my bread and butter work.
I used to do house cleaning, and some personal care for the elderly who didn't want to go in to a care home and had enough family support with me along. I miss those clients so much, it as like having several different families, I was often the only person they saw in a whole week. So even if this boost in money doesn't work out, having that feeling of helping people is payment enough. I loved my life back then even though it was a bit of a financial struggle at times. -- I'm thinking out loud here, sharing random stuff with you.. lol sorry
About 4/5 years ago I was desperate for some held, that was before OH took over all the grass maintenance, I tried to get some to help. The only person I could find wanted £50.00 per hour, I wasn’t prepared to pay £150.00 per week to have the grass cut. so If feel you have a chance of making it, then go for it. You can read up on any shrubs or trees the client may need pruning. Just say you’ll be back to do that job. Then study.
Yes I been a bit worried about this, as there's obviously so many plants and shrubs I haven't grown yet. That's a nice clean way of getting around it without looking bad. Thanks I will use that.
I'm interested that you say you love gardening. It may just be that I live on a small island, but round here gardener means person with mower or hedge trimmer. Landscape gardener means person who can put in slabs or decking. This work is valuable, of course, especially for older or very busy people, but if you actually want someone who knows a daisy from a dahlia, don't engage these people. I think there will be loads of work for someone who actually gardens.
Never really thought of it as a selling point, but you're right a lot of gardeners are really laborers. Thanks Posy
I think it’s a great idea as I’ve been
looking for someone like you to keep my mother’s garden tidy. She has a shed
full of tools she can no longer use.
One thing to be aware of when
dealing with older people if that they be somewhat cautious about letting a
stranger have access to all the tools and items in the garage. At least, that was
a concern my mother had when I searching for a gardener.
Personally, I like getting flyers about
services available in my area but we don’t get too many so maybe that’s why I don’t
mind.
Yes you're absolutely right. Thanks for reminding me. Years ago I did domestic care, housework, hair-dying shopping and bits. And even though I'm well aware of how to clean a home, I quickly realized each person has their own way. It pays to ask how they would like things done before jumping in. I'd forgotten that! But its very true.
Gardening can be a seriously profitable business once you've built up to it.
I highly recommend you don't entertain this idea of using customers tools for too long. You can get a useable mower for £300, a strimmer for £150 and hedge trimmer for the same. Just beg and borrow to get you started.
It's no use doing work charitably. You need to make enough to keep your interest. Whether or not you have plant knowledge shouldn't stop you making a living doing the labour intensive jobs of grass, hedges, weeds and border maintenance.
And don't listen to anyone saying "the going rate round 'ere"... I've heard people saying that whilst quietly knowing I'm making 2-3x what they're saying.
So, maybe go with a 6month plan to learn running the business, then focus on making decent cash from it.
The key thing, most important of all, is DON'T CHARGE BY THE HOUR... AT ALL. EVER. Agree what work you'll do, quote a set price, crack on with it.
Maybe at the start an hourly rate will let you relax and learn, but it is a ball and chain on any garden business.
Hiya, and thanks.
I been getting my mind in such a muddle when it comes to pricing a job. To be perfectly honest, I know how long it takes to mow my lawn, weed my beds, and so on... but I look at someone elses space and my mind goes blank. I'm so worried of over or under pricing. Did you find that starting out? Does it take a bit of experience to be able to access the timing of things? I know mowing has a different value to shaping a hedge, I have a vague idea of various thing, still in the process of learning. But as for looking at a space and knowing how long it will take, and what it should cost, I don't have that skill naturally!
"I highly recommend you don't entertain this idea of using customers tools for too long."
Why?
Because nobody will want to pay decent rates for someone using their tools. It's unprofessional. Fine for the OP getting started, but he/she needs a decent plan that involves making a career from it.
Also, the size, power and quality of domestic tools compared to the more industrial, it might not seem much but having sharper, larger tools saves so much time.
The pleasure of helping people can be more rewarding than the money. One time i was asked by one of my regulars if i would do some planting for her next visit. I turned up and she had bought 50-odd different Marigolds to put in. She went out shopping with a friend and left me to it. On her return she walked outside and burst into tears. I thought i had done something wrong but she explained that her late husband loved Marigolds and used to grow hundreds from seed every year and this was the first time she had seen them in the garden since he died. I had planted them just like he used to apparently and it moved her to tears! That sort of thing is worth more than £15 an hour!
Gardening. The cause of, and solution to, all of my problems.
Why do people expect not to pay extra for 'while you're there' jobs. You don't ask the greengocer to throw in a kilo of free apples when you're buying your spuds . That being said, I've often had tradesmen who have done a little extra without being asked. They have got a bigger tip and a more enthusiastic recommendation,though.
Posts
Charging £15 an hour means you’ll be earning £25000 a year if you do a 40 hour week and work for 42 weeks a year; that means when the weather is completely unsuitable for gardening and you don’t want to do internal decorating (or ironing!) you can take the time off. You’ll have minimal overheads and though £25000 pa won’t make you rich, you’ll get by.
Glasgowdan clearly speaks from experience when he says don’t charge by the hour but charge for the job. I guess that works for one off tasks such as clearing overgrown land but I think there is a huge market for people who want help with the heavier or more mundane tasks that regularly need doing. We do. If you’re reliable, work at a good pace and use your initiative to do things without being asked word will quickly get around and people will be contacting you.
One question I have for Glasgowdan is how does he cope with people who say, ‘while you’re here, could you just do such and such?’ I’m afraid we do this all the time, especially with decorators/handymen. We did that once and were asked for an extra £40 for little more than an hour’s work. We paid, but it somewhat soured the relationship and we have never used or recommended that firm again. Stuart, our current decorator/handyman, tells us up front he charges £20 an hour/£150 a day and will say he thinks a task will take 3 to 4 days. If he arrives late, finishes early or disappears for half a day to do other stuff he lets us know and we’re fine with that. With give and take, he’ll do lots of extra little tasks and I am convinced not all of them get incorporated into the final bill.
I used to do house cleaning, and some personal care for the elderly who didn't want to go in to a care home and had enough family support with me along. I miss those clients so much, it as like having several different families, I was often the only person they saw in a whole week. So even if this boost in money doesn't work out, having that feeling of helping people is payment enough. I loved my life back then even though it was a bit of a financial struggle at times. -- I'm thinking out loud here, sharing random stuff with you.. lol sorry
I been getting my mind in such a muddle when it comes to pricing a job. To be perfectly honest, I know how long it takes to mow my lawn, weed my beds, and so on... but I look at someone elses space and my mind goes blank. I'm so worried of over or under pricing.
Did you find that starting out? Does it take a bit of experience to be able to access the timing of things? I know mowing has a different value to shaping a hedge, I have a vague idea of various thing, still in the process of learning. But as for looking at a space and knowing how long it will take, and what it should cost, I don't have that skill naturally!
That being said, I've often had tradesmen who have done a little extra without being asked. They have got a bigger tip and a more enthusiastic recommendation,though.