Gardening rates

Help! I have friend who was made redundant a while ago and has done gardening for people near where he lives. I have e-mailed him to ask him to help with my garden. I am lousy at gardening and have, sadly, neglected it during the past couple of years due to other problems.

I now have time to think of house and garden and I asked him to do some gardening for me.

To check whether he is asking for enough money (he is a very modest man and liable, I believe, to undercharge for people he knows) could someone tell me what a reasonable hourly rate would be to clear a small terraced house garden from brambles, a couple of rogue sycamore trees and generally clear it enough for me to be able to do general maintenance on a weekly basis?

 

I charge �£10 an hour, and all my customers are happy with that

 

P.S. - most of them are pensioners - and I go for 2 hours, alternate weeks

 

There may be other things to consider Lynda, Getting rid of all waste around here is a money making thing, skips etc, unless you can take it to the local recycling centre by car, not van, you may have to pay. If you are paying him cash �£10. per hour would be resonable I would have thought. Plus the odd cup of tea.

 

i have upped my rate to �£10 per hour as well, i am forever buying tools, boots, gloves, clothing and I reckon to net out about �£8 clear,its very difficult to work more than six paid hours in a day on average ... weather, scheduling etc.
i always make it clear cutomers have to get rid of rubbish .... and when i tell them the cost of a skip, they all manage it in the back of the car

 

Thanks everyone for your replies! I live near a recycling depot and have a car so disposal shouldn't be too much of a problem.

�£10 per hour seems very reasonable. One man charged me �£100 just to remove a small hedge! I notice he has since gone out of business!

I am good at making tea so my friend will be alright there!

 

Now an update to this. My friend came last year and, as expected, flatly refused to accept more than �£5 per hour - he even insisted on giving me back the �£5 extra I paid him one day! He knows I am on a low income (although I have savings) and says his rates vary according to how affluent his clients are! He did a grand job - loads of work - so he earned the amount I had budgeted for the work anyway!

What's more he took the rubbish away - even the trees (cut up) which he removed as he has a wood burning stove which would take the wood!

Sorry I have been a bit tardy with this reply but I have been involved in other things for the past year!