Another great video. I charge my helper out at £25-30 an hour (internally), a lot more for myself. We work off fixed prices unless it's for a regular client. There are a lot of times a regular will ask us to do a job and not request a quote. Apart from that, all my work is fixed pricing, I can and do makeup to £100 an hour (internally), but that takes specialist tools doing certain jobs built into a job. Something to consider is if you were working for someone, the minimum wage is £8.9, lets double it and round it up to £20 To cover yourself and your expenses, running a van, pricing jobs, marketing costs and all that other fun stuff, you will at worst need to be charging double that to cover your expenses and that is just to make min wage. That doesn't include the times you can't work due to the weather or season, covering your pension and your holidays (That's something paid people get included in their wage) Low prices hurt everyone, work off fixed pricing and you can earn a LOT more
Thanks, hopefully my youtube channel can grow a bit quicker - just steadily increasing at the moment but im impatient 😆 Completely agree about the pricing. Obviously depends on the job as you say. I charged a lot more when I was doing ladder work quite high up to cut an awkward bush and any heavy digging I charge a lot more too. As you say, as a self employed worker, I think people can sometimes forget you're actually running a business not just working for your wage so a little bit of profit on top after covering all expenses is a good thing to remember as well. I don't need to tell you though! Thanks for commenting, hopefully I'll reach your level on youtube and my business! 👍
@@TheGreyGardener1990 it just takes time. I have been self employed 9 or 10 years now. I have always invested as much as I could into the business. My UA-cam channel grew over covid, I was just lucky there. In the right place at the right time. I would never have gotten to the size I'm at without the covid effect. People locked in their houses wanting to learn about their lawns. it's now a separate business to the gardening.
@@Premier_lawns_official ah right that's good then. I started the channel during covid as I was wasn't working (previous job) so it's still relatively new. I love it though and I'll keep plugging away!
@@TheGreyGardener1990 I think UA-cam holds you back until 1k. If it was easy everyone would do it haha. The watch hours can be tricky to hit at first for a small channel. You need a couple of popular videos to get the monitization One of my early videos did well and is similar to this topic, I'm going to refresh it this winter ua-cam.com/video/G3gaU9YK4kM/v-deo.html
@@Premier_lawns_official cheers, I'll give it a watch. I'm due to be monetised if the trajectory stays the same around Christmas time so I'm quite pleased given I started in March. It's tough to sustain it though, as you know, so much time goes into it. Yeah I've seen a lot of people say once they've hit 1k, the numbers increase by a fair amount so that will be interesting
Good video mate. My line is fencing and I charge by the job based on day rates mainly. One thing I think you are missing if you are trying to build a business is GROSS profit. I know gardeners mostly charge by the hour / job but you need to factor in GROSS profit to every job. In other words you need to factor in gross profit over and above what you are charging per hour / day or job, otherwise you are just working for a wage. For instance if you are doing a job that you think will take 2 hours, you will charge £60.00 going by what you have said, BUT you should be adding gross profit to that total. The percentage of profit is up to you but a lot of businesses will typically add 30-50% gross profit to their actual cost. GROSS profit is key to building a business. Pay yourself a wage and reinvest the gross profits in tools, equipment etc. Maybe you are happy working for a wage and fair enough, but if you do want to grow the business, you really need to factor profit into things. I enjoy your videos, good to follow guys like you giving it a go and starting out - best wishes mate
Hi there mate, thanks for commenting. I've mentioned that in other videos - I can't remember exactly what I said in this video now but thats what I try to do. I must admit it's not too technical at the moment, I just add a little extra on that I think is reasonable and won't be too excessive so I don't get the job then that goes towards acquiring tools/repairs etc. But yeah, completely agree with you. As I go, I'm sure I'll get more refined and be on point a bit more with my pricing and costing so just trying to learn from everyone like yourself who comments who has way more experience than me haha. Thanks mate, all the best too 👍
Great video, thanks for sharing and sparking these conversations. I am in Inverness, Scotland and aim to be coming away with 40 ish per hour and always charge by the job not per hour. I'm only in my second season but it's hard work and needs to be compensated accordingly.. For anyone upset about losing on travel time, simply factor it in to a quote by google mapping all new locations ahead of quoting that way there is never a bitter feeling. As gardeners/lawn care people we have to value our worth and our selves. Based on societal beliefs it's too easy to undercharge and undervalue what we are worth. Yet, most people don't bat an eyelid when you go in higher, they know themselves that they would not want to do it for less. The ones who don't like it will stop calling or cease a regular agreement and that is fine, let them go there are those who will pay what if fair to stay financially alive. Many people really put a proper value on garden work(and rightly so) and it's those we want to work for. Thanks again for making this channel to share thoughts and create these comment feed discussions.
There's pro's & con's for both. If you charge by the hour there's a good chance you'll provide a higher standard to the client. If you quote for a job and get it wrong, it will impact on all your other profits. You need a lot of experience to quote accurately. Agree hourly rate needs to be the right rate. I get from £25 to £30 ph. I'm happy with that. The pressure is off and I know how much I'm earning every day.
I must disagree, since fixed rate sets clear expectations for both, it is agreed from the start, keeping the pressure off both parties since both agreed. But to each their own I suppose
This exactly how I price jobs, I keep an hourly rate in my head but never disclose that to the customer... My main rule is that on won't get the mower out the van for less than £20 even if it's only a 20min job... You always have to factor in runtime for servicing and maintenance which a lot of gardeners forget about Keep up the good work and content 👍🏾
Yeah, my minimum is probably £15 as it stands but the least I've done any job for is £20 so we are about the same I think. You're right though, lots of expense and upkeep!
Definitely food for thought on the pricing strategy! Most of my customers are regulars and have huge gardens so they are ongoing projects. I'd say though that the more knowledge you have about plants particularly how to care for them doctor them when they're diseased or affected by pests and how and when to prune them correctly can pay dividends and customers are willing to pay for knowledge. 👍
@@TheGreyGardener1990 Geoff Hamilton, coupled with the RHS are great resources and looking round garden centres to familiarise yourself with plants and their names can really help too. All the best.
@@thomasreed49 I have studied with RBGE RHS Level 2 Principles of Horticulture and am definitely more of a plants woman. Pruning roses is my speciality along with many other shrubs and fruit trees, my husband's specialty is fruit tree pruning, both formative and restorative. I cannot stress enough the importance of correct pruning, malpruning of shrubs and trees is detrimental to their health as well as fruit and flower production. My practices are right plant, right place, correct soil type; correct conditions. Many customers can be in a hurry. They often want a garden and the beauty and charm that goes with it, yet their garden has been unkempt and uncared for for years. It's important to be honest and give them a realistic estimate of how much time is involved in restoring their garden back to its former beauty. If you have a team and it's a large garden, in a 3 acre garden that could take at least 3-5 weeks of solid work but if you're a one or two man band it could take 6 months of solid work, depending on your skills and whether you contract out any of the work. If you're a landscaper this may be more in your line of expertise but as a jobbing gardener or horticulturist that only works say once a week it could be something that could take a number of months or years depending on how poor a state the garden is in, what needs doing, how many contractors you bring in. Gauge everything realistically!
@@thomasreed49 Cutting grass and hedge trimming is more grounds maintenance really than gardening unless say you specialise in particular areas for example ponds, arboriculture or in lawns and offer the full package of weed, feed, moss killing, scarification, aeration etc then you could consider yourself a pond specialist, an arborist, lawnsman/Smith/lawn specialist etc. Don't misunderstand me though, say you do hedge trimming for a living and that's all you do - it is jolly hard work, even for a man to do that all day and again if you trim high hedges, collect up the trimmings and take away the green waste for them that deserves good pay, because you know how to do something they don't and knowledge and workmanship is worthy of a fair wage, you've got to consider your hours, your petrol, the maintenance of expensive tools, the time you spend travelling on the road, the price everyone else is charging and the local going rate for the work you do. Be fair to your customer as well as yourself. Sometimes it's also worth considering charging a slightly less-a-rate for an OAP. It's something your competitors may not offer and so they may come to you rather than them. 😁
Yes, hourly rates are tricky..I find it hard to give fixed prices for weeding etc though, sometimes you just don't know how long it'll take. If you're going to do it, the thing to avoid is setting an hourly rate too low when you start out..got to remember that as you invest in machinery that helps you work more quickly (a long reach hedgecutter for example), the customer will benefit from a low hourly rate, and you'll be kicking yourself.. Very difficult to increase an hourly rate with regular customers too.
The best thing to do with weeding jobs is already have a full schedule and charge double what you think it is going to be. Nobody likes weeding especially customers.
You’re right on pricing. I had an irrigation & landscape company in Florida. I always used to give the customer a price for the job, including labour & materials etc. I would also price in a bit of extra time, for the unknowns. I would almost always get finished ahead of schedule, which then put extra pure profit in the pocket. I’ve just started watching your videos & gave you a sub. Now that I’ve moved back home, I’m going to start a gardening business, & see if I can offer basic irrigation for plant pots & hanging baskets. I’m guessing not too many people offer irrigation, so it will be difficult for anybody to compare prices. Thanks for all the great info.
That's such a good point never tell the victim, sorry customer, how long your going to be. Otherwise you end up doing more to fill in the time if you're under the said time. Let's not get into "you've copied my video" . I'm sure somewhere on UA-cam there's a video saying "don't charge by the HR, charge per job". Anyway another great informative video. Thanks.
Thanks mate, yeah as I say these were all done way back. Pointless copying stuff. I've made the mistake a few times early on when it comes to timings, twiddling my thumbs filling in the last 15 mins to make it to an hour haha. It's all a learning curve I guess!
Great Video :-) When i started out, I use to charge by the hour and as time went on, I found out it ended up being the biggest mistake ever. Always charge by the visit or per whole job.
@@TheGreyGardener1990 I approached my existing clients and said I wasn't working well with the hourly rate and said that the clients may see a benefit of going over to a price per visit. Most of them were fine with it. Some left and didn't argee.
Great video and very helpful. Just started out and making all the rookie mistakes when it comes to pricing for jobs. Pricing jobs by the hour and thinking how long it will take. 👍💪
Yeep .. I heard and learnt the answer to how a job will take ... it will take as long as it takes .. And yes I think your right about them not being happy with £30hr ..
Just started to do this after your previous advice to play around with pricing. I charge £15 an hour for general handyman work. First time grass cutting for a lady I have done other work for, I charged £20, quite a large fiddly lawn, but well kept. Took just under an hour and lady very happy. Just quoted another for next week, again large but very overgrown weeds. Quoted £30 for first cut then £25 thereafter, again very happy customer. This one is going to be an ongoing weekly maintenance job at £50 for half day (approx 3-3.5 hrs). What I now need to find out from customer, on grass cut day do I make up the hrs to £50, or still do the £50 worth on top of the grass to make £75? That's where it gets difficult doing split rates, ie fixed rate for grass and hourly for other work, as you never know what the "other work" is going to be each week. Another good vid by the way!
Ah right ok, I see. I guess it's just all about communication with that job then (split rates) Glad you've played around with it though and as long as you're work is good which it sounds like it is, you should be able to earn more on the gardening side 👍
@@TheGreyGardener1990 I think I may suddenly be finding better customers, three flat pack builds yesterday, took 2 hours. Told customer £30, he looked a little shocked and asked if I was sure, said here take £40, I will be recommending you!
It's a reputational thing which gardeners need to get out of their heads and start charging proper rates. If a plumber came to your house and fixed somerthing in 20 mins would you expect to pay him 20-30 quid? Not a chance - you'd be lucky if the charge was less than 100. Most ppl will happily pay plumbers 100+ for simple jobs under an hour but want to bung gardeners a tenner for doing three times as much work using more expensive equiment.
Yeah I know its true. I think it's the fact people wouldn't even be able to attempt to undertake a plumbing job but everyone (who is able bodied) can do some sort of gardening to some standard even if it's crap. Different ball game, as you say it's so labour intensive and physical.
@@TheGreyGardener1990 Yes agree about the mentality of can do it yourself. However you can flip that argument also. Everyone can make a tea or coffee but would you expect to get it for 20p in Starbucks? Of course not.
I do a combination of per hour and price. £20 per hour for a days work if it is a days work, £60 minimum visit! You are right, everyone can do gardening, but is it to the standard you can do it too? 🤔 In my experience, no! That's why they employ you! You're as good at your job as a plumber is at his? Probably better in some cases.
That's it mate exactly. If you're pricing by the hour and you know what you're doing then that's all good, you'll not be out of pocket so to speak. It's tough sometimes to get right, I'm just new to it all really
@@TheGreyGardener1990. You appear to have a great attitude and do a good job so you should do just fine! I did the job for 20 years before I went self employed so had a bit of insight into what customers expected. Still learning every day though from old and new to the job. There is always someone who can teach you something!! Best wishes TGS.
You have to charge £30 plus an hr . When your running petrol machines and possibly ( strimmer cable ) and travelling there and back its got be plenty .
@@TheGreyGardener1990 i try work on £1 a min . Does not always go to plan . I done £2 a min at times . Your right they go right off at £30 hr if you tell them .
Cracking vid this fella 👌, Price per job is the only way I'd ever do it , hourly would just cause murder i think and like you say you could never get the right rate you deserve with most tight holes lol
That is the hardest bit is to find the right price for you and the customer. Give them a big quote and they don't go ahead work to cheap and it's not worth it for you . I generally have regular customers that need a mix doing,weeding ,hedging and mowing . I charge £30 for the first hour and £20 for the second hour . I tell the customer I usually work 2 hours per job and I do a section at a time leaving time to tidy the place up . Unless they are really close to home it's not really worth it to travel 30 minutes for a £30 job. A one off job it's different and you can discuss that with the customer and you know how fast you working just add +1 hour .
I think charging a fixed rate per job is a better solution then hourly rate . However there are some jobs that hourly rate maybe more beneficial then fixed rate especially when you may get some customers who have a very large property and they want various jobs doing in different scheduled times you come to do their garden if that makes sense .
What proportion of the jobs that you quote for do you get? Door to door how long on average does it take you to go out and price a job ? And what is the approximate average earnings on a job ? How much do you spend on advertising? How far approximately do you travel in a week? And if your quote is accepted do you ever find it is just because it was the lowest one? You come across as being very sincere so I’m sure I will get a sensible answer I have been a gardener for the last twenty years , so am certainly not holding myself up to be any better than you or anyone else on here . Just after some meaningful answers
Hi mate, thanks for commenting. Those questions would make a good FAQ video so might add that to the list. I'm getting around 90% of jobs I quote for. Half hour all in to price a job if local (10 mins drive max). Approximate earnings is a bit harder. Most I've charged is £200 on a big clearance job, my average fortnightly maintenance jobs are £30. I spent £80 on leaflets/cards in the beginning but barely used them. Facebook and the Next door Neighbour app did everything. Not currently spending anything atm but I suspect I will do at some point. Hope that helps mate
@@barkershill sounds like you're doing really well. We seem similar in our approach I think, definately good to get jobs close to home and early on when I started, around 50% of my jobs were from the next door app
Love your videos and advice, and really appreciate you being open and honest to help others! I worked for a well known lawn treatment company for 18 years, starting as a crewman and working my way up to operations manager. Due to the economic climate and some other factors i was offered voluntary redundancy which I decided to accept. I've done some mowing and hedge cutting over the years for myself but not for a long time. I think I'd like to start my own business but I'm a bit hesitant as I have a mortgage to pay and kids to support. But watching your videos is encouraging me to give it a go!
@The Grey Gardener that's great, I really appreciate it! All the best to you, I hope your business continues to be a success! I'm off to work soon , for a bloke who can be really quite difficult hence the idea of working for myself.
Green bins where possible, nearly always on regular visits and I advise the customer it's cheaper to pay for a bin (council). Larger jobs I give the option as a separate price. Then it's a case of finding somewhere local who deals with the disposing of green commercial waste.
My recently widowed, elderly neighbor is paying £45 for a grass cut. She only has a lawn to the rear. I reckon its 30 mins tops to complete. She isn't happy but says it's supply and demand. Can't get a gardener up here for love nor money (south Lanarkshire). A few weeks ago another neighbour wanted to know who was helping me in my garden... (It was my brother helping me with some tidying up) Same story.. he said there is a massive shortage of gardeners. I've got most of the tools...I'm seriously tempted to test this at the weekends at least for extra income. . I'm taking home £1k a week in my IT contract job... But seems like that's no where near achievable in garden work. A few days ago I got a quote to take around five feet off a forty foot (around five ft deep) beech and Holly hedge. It is quite woody near the top. Got quote for £1100. This was a professional crew.... Three guys with all the right gear and certifications. Price included waste removal... But seemed steep to me.
Hi, thanks for commenting. Those are high prices especially for the grass cuts. I'd say 1k per week is achievable but it would be very hard work and to earn that sort of money net, you're probably looking at 1.5k per week. No harm in giving it a go at weekends as you say buy it sounds like your IT job is far less hassle
i did a quote for a woman in blackburn aberdeen. back lawn. on a hill. no back gate. I charged her 15phr. took me 2.5 hrs as it was very long. had railway sleeper steps on a slope. had to do 2 cuts. emptied all clippings into a tonne bag. took it through the house (luckliy all laminate floored.) she decided to tell me once she paid me that she had been quoted £200. two furkin hundred!!!! i would love to know who quotes 200 for a 20foot by 20f lawn. at that point i should have said, well. ive done that exact job. plus really neaten up the edge definition on the steps, PLUS ive taken you waste away fore free, so call it £100. She asked for me back in March this year (did the job november last year). on the same street, one person told me they have a gardener who cuts their grass every two weeks but they dont strim. I go balls deep in getting every detail best i can. yet here i am charging 15 per hour and doing more than some charging more. i think i need to change my attitude.
200 seems a lot! With the amount of gardeners there is, there's always going to be a huge spectrum. I dare say the person who charges 200 was their "don't want the job" price. Sounds like you did a good job in difficult circumstances
I had this problem the other day, I made the mistake in the quote a rough time it would take and it was a really hot day and I wanted to get it done and she was like but it didn’t take this long.
You can never win do price work then you get , “oh that was quick , “ if you do hourly they all think you drag it out best advice stop caring you’ll still get work of you do a good job
My experience has been that charging by the hour eventually means either being penalised for being good and fast at your job or being required to carry out more work, using more resources for the same money, only because my experience means I'm quicker than a 19yr old. I'll never charge hourly / daily again. Labour based quoting only.
Definitely mate, each to their own. 90% of my work are fortnightly regulars so they just have a set price as opposed to the hourly rate. Thanks for watching, all the best for the winter 👍
Do you do fixed price quotes for regular customers aswell? I find alot of people want maybe 2 hours doing every 2 weeks and you can't do the whole garden in that time so what do you do for regular clients? I see your point but surely people will start to think to them selfs if you are doing a garden every 2 weeks he takes 1 hour to do our garden and we pay him £30 that is £30/per hour? Have you found that to be an issue? I'm intrested because I have a lot of people on an hourly rate but I charge them extra for waste removal becauee they don't always have alot of waste and I'm considering doing a set charge per hour for use of machinery. Great videos
Hi there, yeah 99% of my quotes re fixed price. I have one garden where we have come to an agreement where I do 1 and half hours for a fixed price. We are kind of chipping away at at until its sorted. I've had no issues so far. Sometimes the same garden will take different lengths of time. For instance bushes/hedges won't necessarily need cutting every visit, so some visits I may only cut the lawn - maybe 20-30 mins. Whereas occasionally it could take me 1 hour + to do the whole garden - in the initial quote I tell them it will be x amount and some visits might be quick, some will be longer and if you put it like that, I've found eveyone to be ok and know up front what I'll be doing kind of thing. My point here was you might have finished the garden 45 mins or whatever but because you're charging by the hour, the customer will expect that full hour and you'd just be twiddling your thumbs, whereas you could be finished and on to your next job. Hope that all makes sense, I feel like I've waffled on! 😆
Definitely mate. Plus most of regulars aren't there so they don't necessarily know how long I take. Maybe that's another reason, not sure? All the best anyway and thanks for commenting, always love reading how other people do things 👍
I've been self-employed for about 7 years now, I've always just stuck to hourly rate but now I'm starting to realise that it's not serving me... I do quotes for the one of the jobs I get and if it's a decent customer they always give me a good tip especially if they think I've quoted cheap. It's always hard knowing what to quote I find!
Just play around with it with new customers mate. It just seems quite limiting charging by the hour unless you're on like £40 + like some people have commented. Even then, ive quoted higher than that for one off stuff and its only taken me an hour. I find if you told a customer that though they'd be put off
A subscriber of mine has just messaged me. He said that a you tuber, ie you , is doing videos exactly the same as I do . Just a few day later, It’s almost scary. I said it must be a pure coincidence. Good luck.
Done in advance mate, just messaged on your video. Certainly not copying as a lot of mine are filmed and edited in advance and set to schedule posting. This particular video was completed a few weeks ago. Genuinely like your channel but like all of us I follow lots of people on youtube. Keep up the good work anyway mate 👍
Sir i am very intersted in gardening I learned to cut by using sessior I maintained tell me how i get i gardening carrier i am coming to uk for study if you guide i am veru thankfull for you
For a start if you are self employed, you are not an employee, unless you pay yourself a wage or salary. Many customers may have the false idea to pay you as if they are the employer and you are their employee, yet don't have any other business related costs, other employee related costs or responsibilities. Doing all the admin and taxes etc etc. Customers are paying a business for a service, they're not hiring an employee. That's what a lot of customers need to get out of their minds
If anyone is ever in a struggle with a client who wants an hourly rate put it like this to them.. I charge for the outcome, so if you want your lawn mowed, hedge cut and boarders sharpened up its £X, if I have a magic wand in my van that means it takes 45 seconds then the price is the same. Price per outcome, not per hour
what if one gardener REALLY KNOWS HIS STUFF. horticulturally and is fit and healthy and charges £30 because he values the happiness his work causes and has a metaphorical outlook on life. AND one Gardener is charging £30 who knows far less but has a youtube channel with 1 million subscribers but works less time on the garden (due to videoing his work).? which one will you choose to look after your Garden when suddenly the lawn starts dying and plants start wilting?
To play devils advocate, the customer won't really know who is better until they start? The grass dying wouldn't really be on the gardener if all he's doing is cutting it. So it's a tricky one I guess but I get your point
Hi mate, Great video. In terms of the nextdoor app I setup my page on there but I don't have the correct docs to submit for verification. What did you use for verification?
I will weed & cut a lawn better than an untrained person, I know the difference between a young plant & a young weed, I know what height to cut to & when etc etc, so whilst anyone is doing these jobs some of us are better at it. I had a garden clearance job, the customer asked how much to clear everything but 4 plants, I said I just wanted to be paid for the work I do, so hourly, & thank goodness because I couldn't see what the job entailed at the start & I would of under quoted by many miles on a fixed price.
I have always charged by the hour, which kind of suits me especially as I'm getting a bit older now. I been around £20 per hour mark for a few years now. But am finally trying to push that figure up nearer to £25 , my biggest problem is how much time I lose travelling in-between jobs. Especially annoying if they are only One hour jobs, meaning that I have to be out all day long to achieve say 5 or 6 hours pay! 😪
@stevewood7371 Hi Steve, It might be worth setting yourself a minimum amount of hours you do at any one address. Many landscapers and gardens won't accept jobs/contracts for any less than 3-8 hours.
I’m charging £20 per hour for my regular slots. I have a £40 minimum call out so that helps a bit. Considering charging more for the first hour if I’m going to be doing just 2 hour tidy ups for people and just charge £50. So if I do 3 of those in a day that’s 6 hours of work and still the £150 per day that I’m aiming for including travelling time in between. It’s a big learning curve but this channel is very helpful.
100 pounds seems very cheap for all that? Mowing the grass alome that height 30-50 and all them hedges and removal followed by travel time and fuel for machines youre cutting it tight there
What you believe people can charge as an hourly rate is waaay out. Spreading incorrect information is not helpful. People will pay high hourly rates for the right person. Also a lot more to factor in that you have mentioned such as location.
@@TheGreyGardener1990 yeah fair enough mate. Just be careful though as a lot of members of the public will be watching these videos and will start to think they are being over charged it even ripped off.
I don't understand why people would be happy to pay someone lazy more money to do the same job. That's how I phrase it when customers ask me for an hourly rate
The problem with what this guy is saying is this. When you look at it critically and start to think and factor in other things. Well there’s no Problem. Syke! Gotcha!
I enjoy your stuff,but.I can’t put much on here too public. You are too cheap,if your thinking your not worth what other trades, your wrong, they definitely overcharge, if they don’t want to pay what you want let them do it themselves, all mine are referrals from existing jobs, jh
The more I go and the more you feel tired and your body aches, my mindset has definitely changed. Yes, anyone can attempt to cut a lawn, trim and hedge and not every could just attempt to fix a boiler for example....BUT...that shouldn't mean you shouldn't be on a similar rate. It's a tough old profession physically. So I'm trying with my prices, some I'm spot on and on the high side, others I still make mistakes on. But yes, I do agree with you John 100%
I think the point I was making here (if I remember rightly) was from a customers view point. I don't think a lot of people see gardeners on a par with plumbers/electricians and automatically think they should be paying less. But as you say, let them do it themselves!
Yeah that job mate, I charged £100. Some have agreed, some have said I could have got more. Can't quite remember now as it was a while back but I think it took around the 2 and half - 3 hrs mark and it was a tiny garden. Maybe could have gotten more though, you're right. Thanks for commenting pal 👍
Another great video. I charge my helper out at £25-30 an hour (internally), a lot more for myself.
We work off fixed prices unless it's for a regular client. There are a lot of times a regular will ask us to do a job and not request a quote.
Apart from that, all my work is fixed pricing, I can and do makeup to £100 an hour (internally), but that takes specialist tools doing certain jobs built into a job.
Something to consider is if you were working for someone, the minimum wage is £8.9, lets double it and round it up to £20
To cover yourself and your expenses, running a van, pricing jobs, marketing costs and all that other fun stuff, you will at worst need to be charging double that to cover your expenses and that is just to make min wage. That doesn't include the times you can't work due to the weather or season, covering your pension and your holidays (That's something paid people get included in their wage)
Low prices hurt everyone, work off fixed pricing and you can earn a LOT more
Thanks, hopefully my youtube channel can grow a bit quicker - just steadily increasing at the moment but im impatient 😆
Completely agree about the pricing. Obviously depends on the job as you say. I charged a lot more when I was doing ladder work quite high up to cut an awkward bush and any heavy digging I charge a lot more too. As you say, as a self employed worker, I think people can sometimes forget you're actually running a business not just working for your wage so a little bit of profit on top after covering all expenses is a good thing to remember as well. I don't need to tell you though! Thanks for commenting, hopefully I'll reach your level on youtube and my business! 👍
@@TheGreyGardener1990 it just takes time. I have been self employed 9 or 10 years now.
I have always invested as much as I could into the business.
My UA-cam channel grew over covid, I was just lucky there.
In the right place at the right time. I would never have gotten to the size I'm at without the covid effect.
People locked in their houses wanting to learn about their lawns.
it's now a separate business to the gardening.
@@Premier_lawns_official ah right that's good then. I started the channel during covid as I was wasn't working (previous job) so it's still relatively new. I love it though and I'll keep plugging away!
@@TheGreyGardener1990 I think UA-cam holds you back until 1k. If it was easy everyone would do it haha.
The watch hours can be tricky to hit at first for a small channel. You need a couple of popular videos to get the monitization
One of my early videos did well and is similar to this topic, I'm going to refresh it this winter ua-cam.com/video/G3gaU9YK4kM/v-deo.html
@@Premier_lawns_official cheers, I'll give it a watch. I'm due to be monetised if the trajectory stays the same around Christmas time so I'm quite pleased given I started in March. It's tough to sustain it though, as you know, so much time goes into it.
Yeah I've seen a lot of people say once they've hit 1k, the numbers increase by a fair amount so that will be interesting
Good video mate. My line is fencing and I charge by the job based on day rates mainly. One thing I think you are missing if you are trying to build a business is GROSS profit. I know gardeners mostly charge by the hour / job but you need to factor in GROSS profit to every job. In other words you need to factor in gross profit over and above what you are charging per hour / day or job, otherwise you are just working for a wage. For instance if you are doing a job that you think will take 2 hours, you will charge £60.00 going by what you have said, BUT you should be adding gross profit to that total. The percentage of profit is up to you but a lot of businesses will typically add 30-50% gross profit to their actual cost. GROSS profit is key to building a business. Pay yourself a wage and reinvest the gross profits in tools, equipment etc.
Maybe you are happy working for a wage and fair enough, but if you do want to grow the business, you really need to factor profit into things. I enjoy your videos, good to follow guys like you giving it a go and starting out - best wishes mate
Hi there mate, thanks for commenting. I've mentioned that in other videos - I can't remember exactly what I said in this video now but thats what I try to do. I must admit it's not too technical at the moment, I just add a little extra on that I think is reasonable and won't be too excessive so I don't get the job then that goes towards acquiring tools/repairs etc. But yeah, completely agree with you. As I go, I'm sure I'll get more refined and be on point a bit more with my pricing and costing so just trying to learn from everyone like yourself who comments who has way more experience than me haha.
Thanks mate, all the best too 👍
Great video, thanks for sharing and sparking these conversations. I am in Inverness, Scotland and aim to be coming away with 40 ish per hour and always charge by the job not per hour. I'm only in my second season but it's hard work and needs to be compensated accordingly.. For anyone upset about losing on travel time, simply factor it in to a quote by google mapping all new locations ahead of quoting that way there is never a bitter feeling. As gardeners/lawn care people we have to value our worth and our selves. Based on societal beliefs it's too easy to undercharge and undervalue what we are worth. Yet, most people don't bat an eyelid when you go in higher, they know themselves that they would not want to do it for less. The ones who don't like it will stop calling or cease a regular agreement and that is fine, let them go there are those who will pay what if fair to stay financially alive. Many people really put a proper value on garden work(and rightly so) and it's those we want to work for. Thanks again for making this channel to share thoughts and create these comment feed discussions.
There's pro's & con's for both. If you charge by the hour there's a good chance you'll provide a higher standard to the client. If you quote for a job and get it wrong, it will impact on all your other profits. You need a lot of experience to quote accurately.
Agree hourly rate needs to be the right rate. I get from £25 to £30 ph. I'm happy with that. The pressure is off and I know how much I'm earning every day.
I must disagree, since fixed rate sets clear expectations for both, it is agreed from the start, keeping the pressure off both parties since both agreed. But to each their own I suppose
This exactly how I price jobs, I keep an hourly rate in my head but never disclose that to the customer... My main rule is that on won't get the mower out the van for less than £20 even if it's only a 20min job... You always have to factor in runtime for servicing and maintenance which a lot of gardeners forget about
Keep up the good work and content 👍🏾
Yeah, my minimum is probably £15 as it stands but the least I've done any job for is £20 so we are about the same I think. You're right though, lots of expense and upkeep!
Definitely food for thought on the pricing strategy! Most of my customers are regulars and have huge gardens so they are ongoing projects. I'd say though that the more knowledge you have about plants particularly how to care for them doctor them when they're diseased or affected by pests and how and when to prune them correctly can pay dividends and customers are willing to pay for knowledge. 👍
Definitely. Something I need to improve on for sure
@@TheGreyGardener1990 Geoff Hamilton, coupled with the RHS are great resources and looking round garden centres to familiarise yourself with plants and their names can really help too. All the best.
I try to always have a quick browse whenever I'm at a garden centre 😆. Will check out Geoff Hamilton, cheers
@@thomasreed49 I have studied with RBGE RHS Level 2 Principles of Horticulture and am definitely more of a plants woman. Pruning roses is my speciality along with many other shrubs and fruit trees, my husband's specialty is fruit tree pruning, both formative and restorative.
I cannot stress enough the importance of correct pruning, malpruning of shrubs and trees is detrimental to their health as well as fruit and flower production. My practices are right plant, right place, correct soil type; correct conditions. Many customers can be in a hurry. They often want a garden and the beauty and charm that goes with it, yet their garden has been unkempt and uncared for for years. It's important to be honest and give them a realistic estimate of how much time is involved in restoring their garden back to its former beauty. If you have a team and it's a large garden, in a 3 acre garden that could take at least 3-5 weeks of solid work but if you're a one or two man band it could take 6 months of solid work, depending on your skills and whether you contract out any of the work. If you're a landscaper this may be more in your line of expertise but as a jobbing gardener or horticulturist that only works say once a week it could be something that could take a number of months or years depending on how poor a state the garden is in, what needs doing, how many contractors you bring in. Gauge everything realistically!
@@thomasreed49 Cutting grass and hedge trimming is more grounds maintenance really than gardening unless say you specialise in particular areas for example ponds, arboriculture or in lawns and offer the full package of weed, feed, moss killing, scarification, aeration etc then you could consider yourself a pond specialist, an arborist, lawnsman/Smith/lawn specialist etc. Don't misunderstand me though, say you do hedge trimming for a living and that's all you do - it is jolly hard work, even for a man to do that all day and again if you trim high hedges, collect up the trimmings and take away the green waste for them that deserves good pay, because you know how to do something they don't and knowledge and workmanship is worthy of a fair wage, you've got to consider your hours, your petrol, the maintenance of expensive tools, the time you spend travelling on the road, the price everyone else is charging and the local going rate for the work you do. Be fair to your customer as well as yourself. Sometimes it's also worth considering charging a slightly less-a-rate for an OAP. It's something your competitors may not offer and so they may come to you rather than them. 😁
Yes, hourly rates are tricky..I find it hard to give fixed prices for weeding etc though, sometimes you just don't know how long it'll take. If you're going to do it, the thing to avoid is setting an hourly rate too low when you start out..got to remember that as you invest in machinery that helps you work more quickly (a long reach hedgecutter for example), the customer will benefit from a low hourly rate, and you'll be kicking yourself.. Very difficult to increase an hourly rate with regular customers too.
Some good tips there. I've seen a few people pricing per hour for weeding, maybe something to consider there
The best thing to do with weeding jobs is already have a full schedule and charge double what you think it is going to be. Nobody likes weeding especially customers.
You’re right on pricing. I had an irrigation & landscape company in Florida. I always used to give the customer a price for the job, including labour & materials etc. I would also price in a bit of extra time, for the unknowns. I would almost always get finished ahead of schedule, which then put extra pure profit in the pocket. I’ve just started watching your videos & gave you a sub. Now that I’ve moved back home, I’m going to start a gardening business, & see if I can offer basic irrigation for plant pots & hanging baskets. I’m guessing not too many people offer irrigation, so it will be difficult for anybody to compare prices.
Thanks for all the great info.
Thanks for watching mate. Yes, irrigation is something different I'd be interested how you get on
That's such a good point never tell the victim, sorry customer, how long your going to be. Otherwise you end up doing more to fill in the time if you're under the said time. Let's not get into "you've copied my video" . I'm sure somewhere on UA-cam there's a video saying "don't charge by the HR, charge per job". Anyway another great informative video. Thanks.
Thanks mate, yeah as I say these were all done way back. Pointless copying stuff.
I've made the mistake a few times early on when it comes to timings, twiddling my thumbs filling in the last 15 mins to make it to an hour haha. It's all a learning curve I guess!
Great Video :-)
When i started out, I use to charge by the hour and as time went on, I found out it ended up being the biggest mistake ever. Always charge by the visit or per whole job.
Cheers David. Did you find it difficult switching with existing customers?
@@TheGreyGardener1990 I approached my existing clients and said I wasn't working well with the hourly rate and said that the clients may see a benefit of going over to a price per visit. Most of them were fine with it. Some left and didn't argee.
@@davidcarley6278 sounds like it wasn't too bad then. Difficult situation so fair play to you mate
I'm looking to start to but I was wondering how you decide how much you going to charge someone per job? what do you consider?
Great video and very helpful. Just started out and making all the rookie mistakes when it comes to pricing for jobs. Pricing jobs by the hour and thinking how long it will take. 👍💪
At least you're early enough into it to change it up if you want to. Best of luck with it mate
Yeep .. I heard and learnt the answer to how a job will take ... it will take as long as it takes ..
And yes I think your right about them not being happy with £30hr ..
Just started to do this after your previous advice to play around with pricing. I charge £15 an hour for general handyman work. First time grass cutting for a lady I have done other work for, I charged £20, quite a large fiddly lawn, but well kept. Took just under an hour and lady very happy. Just quoted another for next week, again large but very overgrown weeds. Quoted £30 for first cut then £25 thereafter, again very happy customer. This one is going to be an ongoing weekly maintenance job at £50 for half day (approx 3-3.5 hrs). What I now need to find out from customer, on grass cut day do I make up the hrs to £50, or still do the £50 worth on top of the grass to make £75? That's where it gets difficult doing split rates, ie fixed rate for grass and hourly for other work, as you never know what the "other work" is going to be each week. Another good vid by the way!
Ah right ok, I see. I guess it's just all about communication with that job then (split rates)
Glad you've played around with it though and as long as you're work is good which it sounds like it is, you should be able to earn more on the gardening side 👍
@@TheGreyGardener1990 I think I may suddenly be finding better customers, three flat pack builds yesterday, took 2 hours. Told customer £30, he looked a little shocked and asked if I was sure, said here take £40, I will be recommending you!
@@nickhumphrey1313 haha great! Hope it keeps on that way for you mate
It's a reputational thing which gardeners need to get out of their heads and start charging proper rates. If a plumber came to your house and fixed somerthing in 20 mins would you expect to pay him 20-30 quid? Not a chance - you'd be lucky if the charge was less than 100. Most ppl will happily pay plumbers 100+ for simple jobs under an hour but want to bung gardeners a tenner for doing three times as much work using more expensive equiment.
Yeah I know its true. I think it's the fact people wouldn't even be able to attempt to undertake a plumbing job but everyone (who is able bodied) can do some sort of gardening to some standard even if it's crap. Different ball game, as you say it's so labour intensive and physical.
@@TheGreyGardener1990 Yes agree about the mentality of can do it yourself. However you can flip that argument also. Everyone can make a tea or coffee but would you expect to get it for 20p in Starbucks? Of course not.
@@wirralgardenwork8920 haha yes, I like that analogy!
I do a combination of per hour and price. £20 per hour for a days work if it is a days work, £60 minimum visit! You are right, everyone can do gardening, but is it to the standard you can do it too? 🤔 In my experience, no! That's why they employ you! You're as good at your job as a plumber is at his? Probably better in some cases.
That's it mate exactly. If you're pricing by the hour and you know what you're doing then that's all good, you'll not be out of pocket so to speak. It's tough sometimes to get right, I'm just new to it all really
@@TheGreyGardener1990. You appear to have a great attitude and do a good job so you should do just fine! I did the job for 20 years before I went self employed so had a bit of insight into what customers expected. Still learning every day though from old and new to the job. There is always someone who can teach you something!! Best wishes TGS.
You have to charge £30 plus an hr . When your running petrol machines and possibly ( strimmer cable ) and travelling there and back its got be plenty .
Yeah thats where I try to be at now at least depending on the job
@@TheGreyGardener1990 i try work on £1 a min . Does not always go to plan . I done £2 a min at times . Your right they go right off at £30 hr if you tell them .
@@dogmangreengrass736 I'm similar in that I'm sometimes over a pound a minute, sometimes not. I'm still learning though 🙂
I charge £22.50 ph but i think I will start to do priced jobs in some instances now, good video.👍🤠
Cracking vid this fella 👌, Price per job is the only way I'd ever do it , hourly would just cause murder i think and like you say you could never get the right rate you deserve with most tight holes lol
Cheers mate. Yeah, it's best all round I think
That is the hardest bit is to find the right price for you and the customer. Give them a big quote and they don't go ahead work to cheap and it's not worth it for you .
I generally have regular customers that need a mix doing,weeding ,hedging and mowing . I charge £30 for the first hour and £20 for the second hour . I tell the customer I usually work 2 hours per job and I do a section at a time leaving time to tidy the place up . Unless they are really close to home it's not really worth it to travel 30 minutes for a £30 job.
A one off job it's different and you can discuss that with the customer and you know how fast you working just add +1 hour .
I think charging a fixed rate per job is a better solution then hourly rate . However there are some jobs that hourly rate maybe more beneficial then fixed rate especially when you may get some customers who have a very large property and they want various jobs doing in different scheduled times you come to do their garden if that makes sense .
Yeah agreed mate
What proportion of the jobs that you quote for do you get? Door to door how long on average does it take you to go out and price a job ? And what is the approximate average earnings on a job ?
How much do you spend on advertising? How far approximately do you travel in a week?
And if your quote is accepted do you ever find it is just because it was the lowest one?
You come across as being very sincere so I’m sure I will get a sensible answer
I have been a gardener for the last twenty years , so am certainly not holding myself up to be any better than you or anyone else on here . Just after some meaningful answers
Hi mate, thanks for commenting. Those questions would make a good FAQ video so might add that to the list. I'm getting around 90% of jobs I quote for. Half hour all in to price a job if local (10 mins drive max). Approximate earnings is a bit harder. Most I've charged is £200 on a big clearance job, my average fortnightly maintenance jobs are £30. I spent £80 on leaflets/cards in the beginning but barely used them. Facebook and the Next door Neighbour app did everything. Not currently spending anything atm but I suspect I will do at some point. Hope that helps mate
@@barkershill sounds like you're doing really well. We seem similar in our approach I think, definately good to get jobs close to home and early on when I started, around 50% of my jobs were from the next door app
Love your videos and advice, and really appreciate you being open and honest to help others! I worked for a well known lawn treatment company for 18 years, starting as a crewman and working my way up to operations manager. Due to the economic climate and some other factors i was offered voluntary redundancy which I decided to accept. I've done some mowing and hedge cutting over the years for myself but not for a long time. I think I'd like to start my own business but I'm a bit hesitant as I have a mortgage to pay and kids to support. But watching your videos is encouraging me to give it a go!
Hi there, glad my videos have been useful. Best of luck with it all, it's the best thing I've done. If you need to ask anything just give me a shout 👍
@The Grey Gardener that's great, I really appreciate it! All the best to you, I hope your business continues to be a success! I'm off to work soon , for a bloke who can be really quite difficult hence the idea of working for myself.
Great videos very informative.
Can you tell me if you take the waste away, or do you use the green bins?
Green bins where possible, nearly always on regular visits and I advise the customer it's cheaper to pay for a bin (council). Larger jobs I give the option as a separate price. Then it's a case of finding somewhere local who deals with the disposing of green commercial waste.
I price by the job. No need to be pretending do be doing something when I can be done and on to the next job or home.
so well said
My recently widowed, elderly neighbor is paying £45 for a grass cut. She only has a lawn to the rear. I reckon its 30 mins tops to complete.
She isn't happy but says it's supply and demand. Can't get a gardener up here for love nor money (south Lanarkshire).
A few weeks ago another neighbour wanted to know who was helping me in my garden... (It was my brother helping me with some tidying up) Same story.. he said there is a massive shortage of gardeners.
I've got most of the tools...I'm seriously tempted to test this at the weekends at least for extra income. . I'm taking home £1k a week in my IT contract job... But seems like that's no where near achievable in garden work.
A few days ago I got a quote to take around five feet off a forty foot (around five ft deep) beech and Holly hedge. It is quite woody near the top. Got quote for £1100. This was a professional crew.... Three guys with all the right gear and certifications. Price included waste removal... But seemed steep to me.
Hi, thanks for commenting. Those are high prices especially for the grass cuts. I'd say 1k per week is achievable but it would be very hard work and to earn that sort of money net, you're probably looking at 1.5k per week. No harm in giving it a go at weekends as you say buy it sounds like your IT job is far less hassle
i did a quote for a woman in blackburn aberdeen. back lawn. on a hill. no back gate. I charged her 15phr. took me 2.5 hrs as it was very long. had railway sleeper steps on a slope. had to do 2 cuts. emptied all clippings into a tonne bag. took it through the house (luckliy all laminate floored.) she decided to tell me once she paid me that she had been quoted £200. two furkin hundred!!!! i would love to know who quotes 200 for a 20foot by 20f lawn. at that point i should have said, well. ive done that exact job. plus really neaten up the edge definition on the steps, PLUS ive taken you waste away fore free, so call it £100. She asked for me back in March this year (did the job november last year). on the same street, one person told me they have a gardener who cuts their grass every two weeks but they dont strim. I go balls deep in getting every detail best i can. yet here i am charging 15 per hour and doing more than some charging more. i think i need to change my attitude.
200 seems a lot! With the amount of gardeners there is, there's always going to be a huge spectrum. I dare say the person who charges 200 was their "don't want the job" price. Sounds like you did a good job in difficult circumstances
I had this problem the other day, I made the mistake in the quote a rough time it would take and it was a really hot day and I wanted to get it done and she was like but it didn’t take this long.
Its unfortunate. As long as the job is done to a good standard that should be all that matters.
@@TheGreyGardener1990 The difference is hrly the customer is buying your time but by the job the customer is buying the finished product.
@@ThomasKBanks good point mate
I’m almost away from hourly now, but if I do hourly it’s about £30ph plus VAT
You can never win do price work then you get , “oh that was quick , “ if you do hourly they all think you drag it out best advice stop caring you’ll still get work of you do a good job
Yeah that can be true. Suppose if you agree a price beforehand you cant really change it, but some do try!
@@TheGreyGardener1990 defiantly customers can be good and bad after a time you’ll find the good and weed out the bad
My experience has been that charging by the hour eventually means either being penalised for being good and fast at your job or being required to carry out more work, using more resources for the same money, only because my experience means I'm quicker than a 19yr old.
I'll never charge hourly / daily again. Labour based quoting only.
100%
On an hourly rate with local weekly jobs I spend most of my time earning, not looking for more work & I know what my income will be all year round.
Definitely mate, each to their own. 90% of my work are fortnightly regulars so they just have a set price as opposed to the hourly rate. Thanks for watching, all the best for the winter 👍
Do you do fixed price quotes for regular customers aswell? I find alot of people want maybe 2 hours doing every 2 weeks and you can't do the whole garden in that time so what do you do for regular clients? I see your point but surely people will start to think to them selfs if you are doing a garden every 2 weeks he takes 1 hour to do our garden and we pay him £30 that is £30/per hour? Have you found that to be an issue? I'm intrested because I have a lot of people on an hourly rate but I charge them extra for waste removal becauee they don't always have alot of waste and I'm considering doing a set charge per hour for use of machinery. Great videos
Hi there, yeah 99% of my quotes re fixed price. I have one garden where we have come to an agreement where I do 1 and half hours for a fixed price. We are kind of chipping away at at until its sorted.
I've had no issues so far. Sometimes the same garden will take different lengths of time. For instance bushes/hedges won't necessarily need cutting every visit, so some visits I may only cut the lawn - maybe 20-30 mins. Whereas occasionally it could take me 1 hour + to do the whole garden - in the initial quote I tell them it will be x amount and some visits might be quick, some will be longer and if you put it like that, I've found eveyone to be ok and know up front what I'll be doing kind of thing.
My point here was you might have finished the garden 45 mins or whatever but because you're charging by the hour, the customer will expect that full hour and you'd just be twiddling your thumbs, whereas you could be finished and on to your next job.
Hope that all makes sense, I feel like I've waffled on! 😆
Yer it makes sense its intresting there is no right or wrong way I guess it just has to work for you.
Definitely mate. Plus most of regulars aren't there so they don't necessarily know how long I take. Maybe that's another reason, not sure?
All the best anyway and thanks for commenting, always love reading how other people do things 👍
I've been self-employed for about 7 years now, I've always just stuck to hourly rate but now I'm starting to realise that it's not serving me... I do quotes for the one of the jobs I get and if it's a decent customer they always give me a good tip especially if they think I've quoted cheap. It's always hard knowing what to quote I find!
Just play around with it with new customers mate. It just seems quite limiting charging by the hour unless you're on like £40 + like some people have commented. Even then, ive quoted higher than that for one off stuff and its only taken me an hour. I find if you told a customer that though they'd be put off
A subscriber of mine has just messaged me. He said that a you tuber, ie you , is doing videos exactly the same as I do . Just a few day later, It’s almost scary.
I said it must be a pure coincidence.
Good luck.
Done in advance mate, just messaged on your video. Certainly not copying as a lot of mine are filmed and edited in advance and set to schedule posting. This particular video was completed a few weeks ago. Genuinely like your channel but like all of us I follow lots of people on youtube.
Keep up the good work anyway mate 👍
Thank you for your kind words, good luck with your business and channel. All the best.👍🏻
@@maxwellsgrasscuttingservices It's a popular topic that will help drive views, I think this has been a helpful vid
Sir i am very intersted in gardening I learned to cut by using sessior I maintained tell me how i get i gardening carrier i am coming to uk for study if you guide i am veru thankfull for you
Great channel.
Thanks!
For a start if you are self employed, you are not an employee, unless you pay yourself a wage or salary. Many customers may have the false idea to pay you as if they are the employer and you are their employee, yet don't have any other business related costs, other employee related costs or responsibilities. Doing all the admin and taxes etc etc. Customers are paying a business for a service, they're not hiring an employee. That's what a lot of customers need to get out of their minds
If anyone is ever in a struggle with a client who wants an hourly rate put it like this to them.. I charge for the outcome, so if you want your lawn mowed, hedge cut and boarders sharpened up its £X, if I have a magic wand in my van that means it takes 45 seconds then the price is the same. Price per outcome, not per hour
what if one gardener REALLY KNOWS HIS STUFF. horticulturally and is fit and healthy and charges £30 because he values the happiness his work causes and has a metaphorical outlook on life. AND one Gardener is charging £30 who knows far less but has a youtube channel with 1 million subscribers but works less time on the garden (due to videoing his work).? which one will you choose to look after your Garden when suddenly the lawn starts dying and plants start wilting?
To play devils advocate, the customer won't really know who is better until they start? The grass dying wouldn't really be on the gardener if all he's doing is cutting it. So it's a tricky one I guess but I get your point
Hi mate, Great video. In terms of the nextdoor app I setup my page on there but I don't have the correct docs to submit for verification. What did you use for verification?
I don't remember being asked in all honesty mate. What's it asking specifically?
You don't need to. Your ad will still be viewable by everyone and you'll get work.
i got a 2 hour job and charged 50 and then same for there back garden
Hi
I need to grass cutting
Where are you from
I will weed & cut a lawn better than an untrained person, I know the difference between a young plant & a young weed, I know what height to cut to & when etc etc, so whilst anyone is doing these jobs some of us are better at it. I had a garden clearance job, the customer asked how much to clear everything but 4 plants, I said I just wanted to be paid for the work I do, so hourly, & thank goodness because I couldn't see what the job entailed at the start & I would of under quoted by many miles on a fixed price.
I have always charged by the hour, which kind of suits me especially as I'm getting a bit older now. I been around £20 per hour mark for a few years now. But am finally trying to push that figure up nearer to £25 , my biggest problem is how much time I lose travelling in-between jobs. Especially annoying if they are only One hour jobs, meaning that I have to be out all day long to achieve say 5 or 6 hours pay! 😪
If it works for you thats great. But yeah, a few issues you've mentioned that's what put me off I suppose
@stevewood7371 Hi Steve, It might be worth setting yourself a minimum amount of hours you do at any one address. Many landscapers and gardens won't accept jobs/contracts for any less than 3-8 hours.
I’m charging £20 per hour for my regular slots. I have a £40 minimum call out so that helps a bit. Considering charging more for the first hour if I’m going to be doing just 2 hour tidy ups for people and just charge £50. So if I do 3 of those in a day that’s 6 hours of work and still the £150 per day that I’m aiming for including travelling time in between. It’s a big learning curve but this channel is very helpful.
100 pounds seems very cheap for all that? Mowing the grass alome that height 30-50 and all them hedges and removal followed by travel time and fuel for machines youre cutting it tight there
It was tiny though. Grass probably took me about 15 mins and only the edges needed a strim as per
@@TheGreyGardener1990 thats fair lad. Love the content
@@kevinogrady9446 cheers Kevin 👍
Nice1
What you believe people can charge as an hourly rate is waaay out. Spreading incorrect information is not helpful. People will pay high hourly rates for the right person. Also a lot more to factor in that you have mentioned such as location.
Just my opinion on it mate. Fair point, location is a factor too 👍obviously it's upto the individual how they wish to go about their pricing
@@TheGreyGardener1990 yeah fair enough mate. Just be careful though as a lot of members of the public will be watching these videos and will start to think they are being over charged it even ripped off.
@@jamesb8854 will do mate. Thanks for commenting
I don't understand why people would be happy to pay someone lazy more money to do the same job. That's how I phrase it when customers ask me for an hourly rate
Exactly. On the rare occasion a new or potential customer mentions it, I say I shouldn't be penalised for being quick.
30 pounds per hour is standard where I live,
Sure some charge 20 or 25 pounds per hour, but some also charge 40 pounds per hour at the top end.
The problem with what this guy is saying is this. When you look at it critically and start to think and factor in other things.
Well there’s no Problem.
Syke! Gotcha!
Do you do free work? Yes, when I go to sleep at night I dream of doing free landscapes for people.
PS Theres weeding then there is actual weeding.
I enjoy your stuff,but.I can’t put much on here too public. You are too cheap,if your thinking your not worth what other trades, your wrong, they definitely overcharge, if they don’t want to pay what you want let them do it themselves, all mine are referrals from existing jobs, jh
The more I go and the more you feel tired and your body aches, my mindset has definitely changed. Yes, anyone can attempt to cut a lawn, trim and hedge and not every could just attempt to fix a boiler for example....BUT...that shouldn't mean you shouldn't be on a similar rate. It's a tough old profession physically. So I'm trying with my prices, some I'm spot on and on the high side, others I still make mistakes on. But yes, I do agree with you John 100%
I think the point I was making here (if I remember rightly) was from a customers view point. I don't think a lot of people see gardeners on a par with plumbers/electricians and automatically think they should be paying less. But as you say, let them do it themselves!
I take it you mean £100 an hour?
That job is worth WAY MORE than 100 pounds! WAY MORE!
Yeah that job mate, I charged £100. Some have agreed, some have said I could have got more. Can't quite remember now as it was a while back but I think it took around the 2 and half - 3 hrs mark and it was a tiny garden. Maybe could have gotten more though, you're right. Thanks for commenting pal 👍