when we use any trader, I always offer a tip, it works both ways too, traders can become complacent maybe I should do an opposite video. one for traders.
I'm surprised if many can afford to pay £70 plus per hour for a pair of gardeners. In West Lancs the going rate appears to be £20 - £25 per hour per person.
its a case of finding those who can, we don't have many, just a few, most of our work is priced work not hourly. if they want hourly that's what it would cost, we do however have a couple on half hour rate, it sounds daft, just doing half hours work, but I earn just as much if not more than a mow blow and go. explaining to potential customers they are getting the equivalent of an hour is hard though
So glad you said that, I thought it was just me getting something massively wrong! Totally agree, working in the Wyre area of Lancs if I said I wanted £30-£40ph I'd have very very few customers. Thanks for another interesting video.
Well said Reas! I totally agree with you and it was all straight to the point! Payment should be prompt and it doesn't all go into the pocket. Repairs, replacement etc having the right equipment and knowledge to be efficient. If a gardener is not up to expectations, customers will look for another. It works both ways, if the customer is too demanding and doesn't pay on time, it is time to move on to find another.
@@TKG I could tell! I hope some of those that need to see it will, and become more aware! Having pride in your work is so important too and, you certainly have that and an eye for detail!
Totally agree with you Reece I've got a customer like that that doesn't understand about hourly rates and also agree about what you say the .ow blow and go.guys I do alot of border work which is very hard work and I charge an hourly rate but everything else is priced per job keep up the good work 👏
There are plenty of jobs that are just lawns (mow blow and go) especially on new builds, which are crying out for guys to cut their lawns. so there is defiantly a place for them, weather its lack of gardeners, or a customer just desperate, the should leave the ones alone that want all the garden tending.
Sone Customers do tend to think of gardeners as ten a penny. Anyone can cut grass, which is true but not every 2 weeks. Which makes the lawn and boarders look great. Some do appreciate us
Litter picking, grass cutting, weedkiller spraying is just maintenance. There's garden maintenance and there's gardening, maintenance can be charged at an hourly rate because you can work it out easily, a specialist job is different as you say. It's comparable to throwing a ready meal in the microwave vs custom making a fresh one from scratch.
I am too soft, I hate upsetting anyone, and some people can see that and take the P, but your right extras are just that Extras and should be added to cost
Well said I totally agree with what you’re saying, I’ve only been going 5 months now but after watching you the tattoo gardener and rob maxwell I’ve got my customers trained. I’ve even got rid of the ones that keep ringing and saying why you not here today lol 😂 and we do get over looked at lot of the time.
been a gardener for 33 years now and i am terrible with the money side of it,i have customers saying to me how many cuts do i owe you for and my usual answer is i havent a clue as i dont keep a record.my mrs does end of month billing of commercial stuff but household gardens are down to me but just a asual remark to my mrs about a garden i did got the mrs checking our bank ,turns out i hasd done this ladies garden for a fell year and never got paid,like i said i am terrible with the money side and cant see me changing only another 5 years before retirement
All you need to do is open notes app on your phone when you leave a job and add a date and how much they owe. And close the app, that’s what I do when I leave every job.
if you use an android phone, google can be your friend, there are plenty of apps within google, that can help, a diary to org anise work, sheets to create a spreadsheet to keep track of work, even create invoices. I did a series of videos showing how to create a spread sheet, all our accounts are done each morning and we send invoices the morning after the work,
Every single time I’ve agreed to an hourly rate the customer has taken the mickey. Examples include asking me to build a pagoda, jet wash bins, go work at a friend’s garden during those agreed hours. So no more hourly rate end of.
Hi good video. The way i price is this, set price for min charge, and one off jobs and just lawn only jobs, I do hourly rates for all round maintenance but this is only if its weekly.
I believe we all have to price everything the way we feel is right, its easy to say we all price our work at set prices and don't do hourly rates, but truth be told if we did that, there would be too many times we under quote jobs, I have done that in the past, its all about a balance that works for you.
Can’t imagine I would get anywhere near that when quoting jobs , is a common issue that customer don’t appreciate gardeners as much as other professions.
there are two of us, and I do stick to my guns now, we can't afford not to, it really does vary from area to area, and is something you have to figure out for yourself, I still think in some areas I am too cheap, running any business is a work in progress, and always will be.
Well put. Yeah absolutely.. I actually don’t mind weeding a border but it’s one of those jobs how long’s a piece of string.. Weeding can feasibly never end 😂 it’s fine for me to do it but it’s a time vacuum… whereas like u said, mowing a lawn u can look at it and go.. it’ll take me 45 minutes.. but a border is never “finished” as such. People are a nightmare mate 😂
we always try and get this point across, its never ending, a really good garden tidy at the beginning of the year, and we can keep on top, but some years the borders grow like mad, and defiantly need more time
I've never understood why a customer would choose to go to the trouble of finding a professional gardener, to come and only do the easy bits. It boggles the mind.
this wasn't a dig at any one gardener, but I stick to what I said, a gardener is someone who tends the whole garden, a tree surgeon is someone who tends trees, the would not call themselves a gardener, likewise I would not call myself a tree surgeon
@@jimmyspartacus6 never said anything about shame, or being derogatory, I was stating a point, there are not enough gardeners, grass cutting is the easy job, that's not me being disrespectful, this is a fact, many people on social media have said this, and that's why its all they do, but for someone like me who like to see the whole garden looking nice, i find it frustrating.
@@maintainyourgarden exactly, I am sure pretty much all traders would say the same, when I was decorating. I loved seeing everything come together, especially when its generally the final tough to a room.
You sound like a Brummie.....how on earth do you get 90p/h for 2 people??? Me and my missus do weekly visits most are a min of half a day and we charge £45 p/h for everything.turn up and donthw same hours every week on the same day/time slot...I have a HND in hort and 25 years experience....I've even had customers let us go when we went from 18.50 to 22.50 each. That's mad are you in Solihull? We invoice every 4 weeks and again our rate covers everything...tree work, pruning wisteria the lot
@TKG Tamworth???? I'm.N.Warks....that is mental I honestly can't believe your are telling me you are charging £320+ a day each fairplay to you ....if you're full up send some my way lol Honestly I've never met anybody in this game with the half the qualifications, experience and ability I have when it comes to pruning shrubs, plant ident, planting scheme design you name it we do it. Don't know where you find them mate. I was thinking of going £50ph next year that is £200 a day each £1200 a week £4800 a month ( 4 weekly month so there are 13 of em) each as we are a partnership to avoid me paying my partner as a sub contractor and risking tax implications of her being employed that brings us just under VAT....you must be exceeding VAT limits at that price so have to charge VAT on top aswell? If I said £45p/h each to my customers I wouldn't have any and I work at big places ...people giving me 1.5k per month etc ...I've got no room on my round haven't had for 8 years I've dropped a few customers and replaced them straightaway but I still go and quote places incase they look like nice work and I can swap out I'm.going to try and ask for or base price work on £90 p/h at some.for the crqck and see what they say
@TKG And that is just weeding rates.....Tamworth aswell ....I want to go and jump on the train tracks I tell ya.....if you had said four oaks, little Aston I might of though yeah I can see that but Tamworth??? Demographics?? I wish I could post pics on here to show you some of the properties I look after.....I honestly can't get my breath. You fully qualified? ND or HND in Hort? PA1 PA6, Chainsaw ticket? Name and give cultivation notes on 99.9% of garden plants or trees you come across? I need to drive 10 minutes up the road to Tamworth lol bloomin heck £650 a day for the pair of you weeding wow
@@dannyzuccho4414 I know guys in Tamworth who charge a lot more, most of my work is flat rate, some would die laughing if I told them how much I charge for tree work, on paper it sounds a lot of money, but its not, we are barley over the 12k a year tax thresh-hold, running costs are high as you know, we don't use cheap or second hand gear, we are also one of the greenest teams, as 95% of our waste is recycled, we don't use tips if we can help it, this keeps costs down, but adds more unpaid hours to our day, honestly looking at our accounts we really don't actually earn that much, not in our pocket. what I find is that a lot of guys lie about what they earn, or big themselves up. we really don't, pricing is hard, but honestly a gardener should be looking at between 25-35 ph, remember this is not what goes in your pocket, you have expensive gear to buy and maintain, Its one of the most expensive trades to run, 5 year tickets can cost thousands if you specialize, you have to pay for this some how, one thing a lot of youtubers say which is true, NEVER sell yourself short.
@@dannyzuccho4414 not sure where your getting 650 a day from, on average its between 300-400 (on a good day) that's for both of us, we only have a couple of hourly rate jobs the rest are priced, its the priced jobs that earn us the money, as said on paper hourly looks good, but its not, hence the high price, we had a couple in four oaks, 1 in the private area, and they were originally one of our best customers, then became one of our worst, posh areas doesn't always bring in the money, our best earner is a council house in a rough area, not much money, but always pay on time, and really appreciate our work.
This is why people need to appreciate when they are on to a good thing, and treat the people that work for them well.
when we use any trader, I always offer a tip, it works both ways too, traders can become complacent maybe I should do an opposite video. one for traders.
I'm surprised if many can afford to pay £70 plus per hour for a pair of gardeners. In West Lancs the going rate appears to be £20 - £25 per hour per person.
its a case of finding those who can, we don't have many, just a few, most of our work is priced work not hourly. if they want hourly that's what it would cost, we do however have a couple on half hour rate, it sounds daft, just doing half hours work, but I earn just as much if not more than a mow blow and go. explaining to potential customers they are getting the equivalent of an hour is hard though
So glad you said that, I thought it was just me getting something massively wrong!
Totally agree, working in the Wyre area of Lancs if I said I wanted £30-£40ph I'd have very very few customers.
Thanks for another interesting video.
Well said Reas! I totally agree with you and it was all straight to the point! Payment should be prompt and it doesn't all go into the pocket. Repairs, replacement etc having the right equipment and knowledge to be efficient. If a gardener is not up to expectations, customers will look for another. It works both ways, if the customer is too demanding and doesn't pay on time, it is time to move on to find another.
it was all from the heart, shame the people who need to see this wont
@@TKG I could tell! I hope some of those that need to see it will, and become more aware! Having pride in your work is so important too and, you certainly have that and an eye for detail!
Totally agree and superbly explained 👍🏻
thanx it was all from the heart
@@TKG
Aye ...... it shows thru the video
Stay safe and God Bless from Texas
@@PapaByrd07 thanx
Great vid 👌
Glad you enjoyed it
Totally agree with you Reece I've got a customer like that that doesn't understand about hourly rates and also agree about what you say the .ow blow and go.guys I do alot of border work which is very hard work and I charge an hourly rate but everything else is priced per job keep up the good work 👏
There are plenty of jobs that are just lawns (mow blow and go) especially on new builds, which are crying out for guys to cut their lawns. so there is defiantly a place for them, weather its lack of gardeners, or a customer just desperate, the should leave the ones alone that want all the garden tending.
Sone Customers do tend to think of gardeners as ten a penny. Anyone can cut grass, which is true but not every 2 weeks. Which makes the lawn and boarders look great. Some do appreciate us
Litter picking, grass cutting, weedkiller spraying is just maintenance. There's garden maintenance and there's gardening, maintenance can be charged at an hourly rate because you can work it out easily, a specialist job is different as you say. It's comparable to throwing a ready meal in the microwave vs custom making a fresh one from scratch.
probably the best way of putting it. thanx
I would charge for extra or done as new qoute
I am too soft, I hate upsetting anyone, and some people can see that and take the P, but your right extras are just that Extras and should be added to cost
Well said I totally agree with what you’re saying, I’ve only been going 5 months now but after watching you the tattoo gardener and rob maxwell I’ve got my customers trained. I’ve even got rid of the ones that keep ringing and saying why you not here today lol 😂 and we do get over looked at lot of the time.
I cant remember who, but someone else did a video about being undervalued
been a gardener for 33 years now and i am terrible with the money side of it,i have customers saying to me how many cuts do i owe you for and my usual answer is i havent a clue as i dont keep a record.my mrs does end of month billing of commercial stuff but household gardens are down to me but just a asual remark to my mrs about a garden i did got the mrs checking our bank ,turns out i hasd done this ladies garden for a fell year and never got paid,like i said i am terrible with the money side and cant see me changing only another 5 years before retirement
All you need to do is open notes app on your phone when you leave a job and add a date and how much they owe. And close the app, that’s what I do when I leave every job.
if you use an android phone, google can be your friend, there are plenty of apps within google, that can help, a diary to org anise work, sheets to create a spreadsheet to keep track of work, even create invoices. I did a series of videos showing how to create a spread sheet, all our accounts are done each morning and we send invoices the morning after the work,
Maintenance. 20 quid an hour in notts..all in . !
Every single time I’ve agreed to an hourly rate the customer has taken the mickey. Examples include asking me to build a pagoda, jet wash bins, go work at a friend’s garden during those agreed hours. So no more hourly rate end of.
there are good point with hourly rates and bad points. you have to go with what you think is best for you. good luck
if they don't like the price the customer has other options. never justify your prices .
Its a long running thing with many traders, its not justifying its trying to educate
Hi good video. The way i price is this, set price for min charge, and one off jobs and just lawn only jobs, I do hourly rates for all round maintenance but this is only if its weekly.
I believe we all have to price everything the way we feel is right, its easy to say we all price our work at set prices and don't do hourly rates, but truth be told if we did that, there would be too many times we under quote jobs, I have done that in the past, its all about a balance that works for you.
Good video.
thanx
Can’t imagine I would get anywhere near that when quoting jobs , is a common issue that customer don’t appreciate gardeners as much as other professions.
there are two of us, and I do stick to my guns now, we can't afford not to, it really does vary from area to area, and is something you have to figure out for yourself, I still think in some areas I am too cheap, running any business is a work in progress, and always will be.
Well put. Yeah absolutely.. I actually don’t mind weeding a border but it’s one of those jobs how long’s a piece of string.. Weeding can feasibly never end 😂 it’s fine for me to do it but it’s a time vacuum… whereas like u said, mowing a lawn u can look at it and go.. it’ll take me 45 minutes.. but a border is never “finished” as such. People are a nightmare mate 😂
we always try and get this point across, its never ending, a really good garden tidy at the beginning of the year, and we can keep on top, but some years the borders grow like mad, and defiantly need more time
I've never understood why a customer would choose to go to the trouble of finding a professional gardener, to come and only do the easy bits. It boggles the mind.
I don't think they chose to have someone just do the easy work, but could not find someone to do all the work
Watch maxwells videos he will put you right mr mow blow and go got the job cracked
this wasn't a dig at any one gardener, but I stick to what I said, a gardener is someone who tends the whole garden, a tree surgeon is someone who tends trees, the would not call themselves a gardener, likewise I would not call myself a tree surgeon
@@jimmyspartacus6 never said anything about shame, or being derogatory, I was stating a point, there are not enough gardeners, grass cutting is the easy job, that's not me being disrespectful, this is a fact, many people on social media have said this, and that's why its all they do, but for someone like me who like to see the whole garden looking nice, i find it frustrating.
@@TKGagree, love having the garden looking nice. Something good to put your name too 👌🏽
@@maintainyourgarden exactly, I am sure pretty much all traders would say the same, when I was decorating. I loved seeing everything come together, especially when its generally the final tough to a room.
You sound like a Brummie.....how on earth do you get 90p/h for 2 people??? Me and my missus do weekly visits most are a min of half a day and we charge £45 p/h for everything.turn up and donthw same hours every week on the same day/time slot...I have a HND in hort and 25 years experience....I've even had customers let us go when we went from 18.50 to 22.50 each. That's mad are you in Solihull? We invoice every 4 weeks and again our rate covers everything...tree work, pruning wisteria the lot
It depends on where you live, I know some guys charge a lot more, and charge a lot less, demographics play a big role, ere in Tamworth
@TKG Tamworth???? I'm.N.Warks....that is mental I honestly can't believe your are telling me you are charging £320+ a day each fairplay to you ....if you're full up send some my way lol Honestly I've never met anybody in this game with the half the qualifications, experience and ability I have when it comes to pruning shrubs, plant ident, planting scheme design you name it we do it. Don't know where you find them mate. I was thinking of going £50ph next year that is £200 a day each £1200 a week £4800 a month ( 4 weekly month so there are 13 of em) each as we are a partnership to avoid me paying my partner as a sub contractor and risking tax implications of her being employed that brings us just under VAT....you must be exceeding VAT limits at that price so have to charge VAT on top aswell? If I said £45p/h each to my customers I wouldn't have any and I work at big places ...people giving me 1.5k per month etc ...I've got no room on my round haven't had for 8 years I've dropped a few customers and replaced them straightaway but I still go and quote places incase they look like nice work and I can swap out I'm.going to try and ask for or base price work on £90 p/h at some.for the crqck and see what they say
@TKG And that is just weeding rates.....Tamworth aswell ....I want to go and jump on the train tracks I tell ya.....if you had said four oaks, little Aston I might of though yeah I can see that but Tamworth??? Demographics?? I wish I could post pics on here to show you some of the properties I look after.....I honestly can't get my breath. You fully qualified? ND or HND in Hort? PA1 PA6, Chainsaw ticket? Name and give cultivation notes on 99.9% of garden plants or trees you come across? I need to drive 10 minutes up the road to Tamworth lol bloomin heck £650 a day for the pair of you weeding wow
@@dannyzuccho4414 I know guys in Tamworth who charge a lot more, most of my work is flat rate, some would die laughing if I told them how much I charge for tree work, on paper it sounds a lot of money, but its not, we are barley over the 12k a year tax thresh-hold, running costs are high as you know, we don't use cheap or second hand gear, we are also one of the greenest teams, as 95% of our waste is recycled, we don't use tips if we can help it, this keeps costs down, but adds more unpaid hours to our day, honestly looking at our accounts we really don't actually earn that much, not in our pocket. what I find is that a lot of guys lie about what they earn, or big themselves up. we really don't, pricing is hard, but honestly a gardener should be looking at between 25-35 ph, remember this is not what goes in your pocket, you have expensive gear to buy and maintain, Its one of the most expensive trades to run, 5 year tickets can cost thousands if you specialize, you have to pay for this some how, one thing a lot of youtubers say which is true, NEVER sell yourself short.
@@dannyzuccho4414 not sure where your getting 650 a day from, on average its between 300-400 (on a good day) that's for both of us, we only have a couple of hourly rate jobs the rest are priced, its the priced jobs that earn us the money, as said on paper hourly looks good, but its not, hence the high price, we had a couple in four oaks, 1 in the private area, and they were originally one of our best customers, then became one of our worst, posh areas doesn't always bring in the money, our best earner is a council house in a rough area, not much money, but always pay on time, and really appreciate our work.