Experience will help you to estimate the time and effort involved. Good tools make a difference, too, so start saving up! My experience tells me that goodwill and kindness will build a business like yours more quickly than a shrewd pricing strategy. Don't be a mug, but avoid meaness and exploitation, too.
I certainly don’t expect to have extra work done for nothing. All I am saying is that it complicates pricing per job quotations. It might take 15 minutes to prune a branch that gets in the way of mowing, or 10 minutes to move compost bags from one place to another. Does the contractor then ask for another fiver? That seems a bit petty. Pay by the hour and there is no ambiguity.
"Why do people expect not to pay extra for 'while you're there' jobs. "
I pay by the hour and would not expect anyone to work for free. The 'while you're here' jobs are paid for. Usually I have 100 small bits and pieces I need help with, from moving a heavy pot to bringing in a load of firewood to wood preserving.
Imel, I don't know what the situ is like in Taunton but where I am, taking garden stuff to the dump is a big deal. That in itself might be a huge help to many of your clients.
I don't think there is merit in knowingly charging regulars three times the going rate, especially older people who are worried about people exploiting them. Be open and transparent and build your relationships in good faith.
The bulk of my work is regular fortnightly garden maintenance or grass cuts. I also do lawn care plans for around 30 customers too in addition to the 50 maintenance gardens.
The maintenance visits include lawn cut and edge, trimming shrubs and regular sized hedges, weed control, border care, plant trimming/care, leaf clearance. On the odd occasion I'll get an email asking if I can do a particular job on my next visit. It's rarely a problem to manage gardens in this way as some tasks can always wait until the next visit to allow time for something else to be done.
Your van needs to be organised to work efficiently. Tasks are done in a specific order to minimise duplicate work. The blower is the most time-saving tool out there!
I still have customers on the books from when I started 9 years ago. I have customers I have never met. Almost everyone pays by standing order or bank transfer. Next year I may be trialling 'gocardless for direct debit payments.
You learn how to price a garden by looking at it. Before I visit a property I scan google maps/street view and usually already know what I'll charge before visiting.
In my experience, people are more than happy with a fixed price. If I feel they are trying to work out rates or ask how long I'll be I generally move on, but I appreciate a new business won't be in the same position of turning down jobs every day.
Compare gardens you visit to your own garden. And please, don't think customers are doing you a favour by hiring you! They won't generally think that way.
If you start a business charging too little it'll be very hard to raise prices in future.
Try for a minimum internal rate of £20/hr to begin with. You'll be surprised.
There is definitely a demand for people to keep gardens tidy. Not long before my neighbour died I discovered that she had been paying another neighbour to cut her lawn for her. He used her mower and charged her £10 a time to do it. After she died I continued to keep the grass cut to make the house still look lived in, and it took me no more than 20 minutes. She was therefore being charged the equivalent of £30 per hour for his labour. It really made me mad as I would happily have done it for nothing.
Whatever you choose, make sure you keep every single receipt , however small amount, all your fuel bills, and you take your motor wear and tear into consideration. later on you may want to get an accountant he/she will tell you what you can claim for. work clothes/boots, goggles, gloves, ear muffs masks, get receipts for it all. If you get paid in cash, draw money out of the bank as well, don’t spend the cash instead.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Personally I think flyers are a none starter. I believe the response rate is less than 0.5% and I too throw them straight into the bin. I found my gardener because he was working next door for his old friend. As we chatted I realised that he "did know a daisy from a dahlia", he understood drainage and ponds and trees and paths. I can cut grass but I think twice nowadays about shinnying up trees and I can't strim due to (threatening) carpal tunnel syndrome. He loves clearing undergrowth and digging ditches. It's been great and he works all Winter too when the leaves are down and the place is flooded because he can see what needs done then. Don't forget to factor in the seasonal nature of the job and make contingency plans. As GD says, your own tools would be better. Watch local auctions for forks, spades and chopping things, maybe even a lawnmower to get you started. Transport then becomes an issue so think about that too. It'll be great. My SIL took on two hours a week cleaning a local church and word of mouth sees her now running her own wee business!
I wholly agree, word of mouth is more valuable than flyers or facebook ads. However, a website is right up there, with excellent SEO from google searches. This can be built up yourself over time, with plugins such as Yoest being very useful to help you improve the words used on your site.
You'll become THE family gardener for many families, kids pass you on to their parents, in laws etc.
Very specific flyers work better... so not "general gardening" with a big list of tasks, but flyers that ONLY highlight one service, for example grass cutting, hedge trimming or spray weed control. Take photos photos photos of everything. You'l start to capture some good quality shots that can be used in marketing. I ONLY use pictures of my own work that I take myself and always have done. I'm not a fan of paying £3 for a shutterstock photo when it may show something you're not capable of producing.
Glasgowdan will know more about this but our gardener is not allowed to use garden chemicals because she has not done the training course at a cost of about £500. That’s no issue in our garden - I just dab glysophate on the bindweed that pops up in the vegetable garden. No training needed for me in squeezing the trigger.
No-one has mentioned insurance! If you're using a client's tools, and damage them, how will you pay for repair or replacement? I presume you'll have a bag full of your own hand tools, trowels, secateurs etc, and it will be the costlier items like mowers where you'll be using the client's?
I once hired an experienced tree surgeon to cut down a row of conifers, and he arrived with a young trainee in tow. I'd told the man I wanted the trees cut 6 feet from the ground, as I planned to grow climbers up the trunks. The lad wasn't by when I said this. By luck, I caught him just putting the chain saw to the base of the trunk. I mention this to say, be very sure you understand the client's requirements, especially before doing something irreversible!
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The bulk of my work is regular fortnightly garden maintenance or grass cuts. I also do lawn care plans for around 30 customers too in addition to the 50 maintenance gardens.
The maintenance visits include lawn cut and edge, trimming shrubs and regular sized hedges, weed control, border care, plant trimming/care, leaf clearance. On the odd occasion I'll get an email asking if I can do a particular job on my next visit. It's rarely a problem to manage gardens in this way as some tasks can always wait until the next visit to allow time for something else to be done.
Your van needs to be organised to work efficiently. Tasks are done in a specific order to minimise duplicate work. The blower is the most time-saving tool out there!
I still have customers on the books from when I started 9 years ago. I have customers I have never met. Almost everyone pays by standing order or bank transfer. Next year I may be trialling 'gocardless for direct debit payments.
You learn how to price a garden by looking at it. Before I visit a property I scan google maps/street view and usually already know what I'll charge before visiting.
In my experience, people are more than happy with a fixed price. If I feel they are trying to work out rates or ask how long I'll be I generally move on, but I appreciate a new business won't be in the same position of turning down jobs every day.
Compare gardens you visit to your own garden. And please, don't think customers are doing you a favour by hiring you! They won't generally think that way.
If you start a business charging too little it'll be very hard to raise prices in future.
Try for a minimum internal rate of £20/hr to begin with. You'll be surprised.
Pm if I can be of any help at all. Best of luck!
later on you may want to get an accountant he/she will tell you what you can claim for.
work clothes/boots, goggles, gloves, ear muffs masks, get receipts for it all.
If you get paid in cash, draw money out of the bank as well, don’t spend the cash instead.
I found my gardener because he was working next door for his old friend. As we chatted I realised that he "did know a daisy from a dahlia", he understood drainage and ponds and trees and paths.
I can cut grass but I think twice nowadays about shinnying up trees and I can't strim due to (threatening) carpal tunnel syndrome.
He loves clearing undergrowth and digging ditches. It's been great and he works all Winter too when the leaves are down and the place is flooded because he can see what needs done then. Don't forget to factor in the seasonal nature of the job and make contingency plans.
As GD says, your own tools would be better. Watch local auctions for forks, spades and chopping things, maybe even a lawnmower to get you started. Transport then becomes an issue so think about that too.
It'll be great.
My SIL took on two hours a week cleaning a local church and word of mouth sees her now running her own wee business!
You'll become THE family gardener for many families, kids pass you on to their parents, in laws etc.
Very specific flyers work better... so not "general gardening" with a big list of tasks, but flyers that ONLY highlight one service, for example grass cutting, hedge trimming or spray weed control. Take photos photos photos of everything. You'l start to capture some good quality shots that can be used in marketing. I ONLY use pictures of my own work that I take myself and always have done. I'm not a fan of paying £3 for a shutterstock photo when it may show something you're not capable of producing.
I once hired an experienced tree surgeon to cut down a row of conifers, and he arrived with a young trainee in tow. I'd told the man I wanted the trees cut 6 feet from the ground, as I planned to grow climbers up the trunks. The lad wasn't by when I said this. By luck, I caught him just putting the chain saw to the base of the trunk. I mention this to say, be very sure you understand the client's requirements, especially before doing something irreversible!