THE PRICE IS RIGHT or NOT

My partner and I are about to start up a gardening business, the problem we have, is what to charge, do we charge by the hour or do we charge by the size of the garden. Thanks in advance :eek:

 

mushroom, phoned a pal and he began his business by charging by the hour,full day now �£10 per hour,odd hour or three �£15 per hour. During the growing season he works from 6.30am til 9.00pm,six days a week...and no holidays! This,he says,makes up for the lack of Winter work.He also has to go sprout picking when it's snowing etc: !!!
He warns that when you have priced for a regular contract don't allow other "little" jobs to be added by the client over time,and charge for waste removal.
By the way,he said he loves the life :D and good luck!

 

Once you build up your client base and a good job well done will get you recommended. I agree with Paladin completly. Also a lot of people need gutters clearing, fence repairs, resetting or relaying patios etc... Be reliable and will always be needed. good luck.

 

Hi Mushroom,

I always give an overall job price instead of an hourly rate, unless it is a small job. You still base your price on the amount of hours or days you think it will take, but it has a few advantages:

1) The customer knows up front what it is going to cost them. They may be happy with your hourly rate, but they don't know how fast / hard you work, so what seems like a good deal initially could end up costing them more money.

2) If you work harder / faster, you'll make more money.

3) It gives you more flexibility over when you do the job. If you get into a situation where client A wants 3 hours every tuesday morning, and client B wants 2.5 hours every tuesday afternoon, you'll find it very hard to fit other work in around them. If you set an overall price and agree a reasonable time scale, you can maximise your chargeable hours by doing the job when it suits you. Remember as well that working outdoors, you'll be working against the elements, so that flexibility can be very handy.

4) I think a lot of people are living in the past with what they consider to be a reasonable hourly rate - I think you'd find a few who thought �£6 per hour was more than enough to pay a "common gardener". (Not being sarcastic here but I've met some people who really seem to think that way).

5) If you get into larger projects like Paladin suggests, people expect a job price rather than an hourly rate. I always quote rather than estimate, and take pains to point out to the customer the difference - ie that the figure you give them is the figure they pay, unless they add to or change the original description. Anyone who's ever had a nasty shock with a builders estimate will appreciate the guaranteed cost Obviously you need to price the job accurately, but you can build in a reserve amount, and more often than not, you'll come out on top.

One tip I would give is to make your quotations as extensive and comprehensive as possible, and ensure it is in black and white. That way there is no room for argument when it comes to the bill - especially handy if people do add little jobs during the project.

As for the right hourly rate (which you need to have in your mind even if you do price by the job), it comes down to where you are geographically and what you think people will be prepared / able to pay. Bear in mind that by the time you've taken travel costs, insurance costs, general admin and accounting costs out of that figure, your �£10 per hour is going to be significantly less than it was to start with.

Oh, and another tip - don't fall into the trap of thinking that you'll get 9 paid hours into every working day - if you base your daily expectations on an average of 6, anything else is a bonus.

And yes, good luck!

 

More important than what you ask for is how regularly you get paid. For regular customers paying cash you can be a bit more flexible especially with pensioners or disabled. Always book your cash payments though or the Tax folk will be on you like a tonne of steaming compost!

For anyone that doesn't pay by the agreed date NEVER go back and do more work. They will only get worse.

Reputation is everything, do a good job and you won't even need to advertise. During winter I fill in with other odd jobs, painting fences etc. and some internal decorating which generates enough cashflow to keep me going.