Can anyone help me out?

I have been wanting to start a mobile gardening service for ages i am horticltrual trained and know what i am doing but i am working on a price list for me business plan i dont no wheather to go by the hour or fixed rate...

S=SMALL M=MEDIUM L=LARGE

Set prices for patio, decking and driveway cleaning.
Set prices for rubbish removal


Grass cutting includes rake over to remove stones 1st
S lawn 13.00
M lawn 18.00
L lawn 35.00 (depending on size)
Depending on the grass condition weather its long a 5.00-10.00 fee will be added on to the size of your lawn, small lawns are excluded from this.

Weeding
S amount 8.50
M amount 13.50
L amount 18.50

Tree Pruning
S tree 15.00
M tree 25.00
L tree 50.00-70.00

Hedge Trim
S hedge 10.00
M hedge 15.00
L hedge 20.00-25.00

Patio/decking/driveway cleaning
40.00-50.00

General garden tidy ups: include sweeping, moving rubbish and a hose down. Included in hourly rate or
S amount 10.00
M/L amount 15.00

Rubbish removal, if the rubbish is of very small amount then I will take it for free or put it in the garden waste bin at the customers home.
1 runs 20.00
2 runs 30.00
3 runs 45.00
If runs exceed maximum amount prices go from 45 to 60 and after that a 20 fee is added every time


so this is my rough price guide is this too much or to little? my question from this as well is do the customer prefer to know what they are paying or do they just want an hourly charge?

thanks in advance for any help!

 

Hi Heaven & welcome to Gardeners Corner.

Seems a bit of a minefield of complexity and leaves you open to client abuse of what constitutes small amount.

I'd stick with an hourly rate, which depends on your location.

I take it you know you can't transport waste without a waste carriers licence and you can't take the waste to a public tip, its clasified as trade waste & you would have to pay to put it in land fill unless there is a trade recycling scheme set up where you are.

 

I agree with Ziggy. What you are thinking of doing is maintenance gardening, charge by the hour. Better for you and the client. You are never going to get rich from it though.

 

You would surely have to go with a reasonable by the hour rate
First hour higher than additional hours

Size depends on the person you are dealing with
I have a Large garden 22yds long 12yds wide compared to my neighbours that is 12x12
I have a friend and his large garden is 2 hundred yards long and 30yds wide

By the hour they can see the work you have done and HOW LONG it has taken, so limiting any disputes

Just be fair, HONEST, and up front, you will get work and take off

I posted an account in ziggy's leaflet delevery thread
How one honest worker, got lucky
He managed to hit an area of aged people (mostly widows, with big houses and big gardens) honest and fair he started with one (my aunt) and now does about 20 also doing odd jobs at a reasonable price, big house big ceiling light bulb blown, electrician £40 call out and labour Gary the gardener used the ladders the house owns changed the bulb for a tenner same with simple dripping taps, jammed door handle
He even has a nice collection of donated garden equipment, the best of ride on mowers "hubby bought it when retired but he's dead now after one " you may aswell have it as you can make use of it, leaf blowers all sorts

He certainly does not EXPLOIT them, just they all like their nice gardens maintained

Aunts house has five stepped terraces, the veg one is just lawn now, the rest one roses one flower thingies, one shrubs one pond and water things one sun terrace
Gary keeps it all tidy, and aunt does the odd pruning etc

The work is out there go get it

Jack McH

 

Never heard back from the leaflet website anyway Jack.

Things have suddenly picked up.

Yesterday, I went round to service a lawnmower & do some weeding, ended up taking a virus off Mrs's computer and restoring her internet conection.

Didn't know how to charge for computer stuff, so she got that for the same price as the weeding

Today i've put in a price for maintenance to a 1898 timber framed village hall, a rendering job in Hampshire and been asked to price for repairing a collapsed ceiling in a local church.

Bit like buses, don't see one for hours and then 3 come along at once:DOH:

Sorry Heaven, didn't mean to hijack your thread, we'll try to advise on your setting up where we can

 

I would go on an hourly rate at first especialy on smaller jobs and then if you get a larger job give a fixed price . As others have said you will not get rich on hourly rates but it will get you started .Don't get involved with rubbish removal other than your own maintainace work,and do make sure you get you trade waste licences via your local authority.On larger jobs try and get a skip priced in as it saves on time ..
Dave

 

.

Around here the rate is about £10 per hour both from a retired man and a much younger woman!

Being friendly with both, they tell me they are flexible over times, if under the hour pro rata, and if slightly over they don't charge!

That's proper gardening and grass cutting, but they both get other offers as well, from tidying up to clearing out sheds and garages.

Ziggy can vouch for other jobs!

One they get used to you, they will use you as it is usually difficult to find some one to do small jobs!

Good luck!

 

See Heaven it works

You go to do one job, and are asked to do another, just be reasonable on job anyway rates, word gets around and the whole area use you

Ziggy doing garden maintenance, chat, lovely job, my ruddy comperters not working, Oh I will have a look for you cant promise anything
(Computer Doctor sharp intake of breath oooohh £30 call out and £30 an hour plus parts) Ziggy scores,
Woman next door, I could do with help cutting the grass, Oh I have this guys number he was very good even fixed my comp, Oh I will give him a ring

Go for it Heaven

Jack McH

 

cheers guys much appretication, yeah i have looked into the trade waste licence at the local council it seems a pretty easy ish set up from what i have seen, although as you said gotta pay to get rid of it.

I am just in the process now of doing my business plan and getting a website built and making flyers and leaflets, then buying some new gear. then a bit of promoting then hopefully things will pick up

 

For what it's worth, I'd say under normal circumstances go with a fixed hourly rate but ..... sometimes (and I stress the word 'sometimes'), a customer comes along who feels that because they're being charged by the hour you're likely to 'spin the job out' so, if it's a big job I'd say be flexible, make a judgement call on how long you think it might take and charge a fixed fee.

On the subject of waste removal and other 'peripherals' - as others have said - you'd probably need to charge for these separately. The 'man' who does some odd bits for me, usually quotes me a fixed price (for the removal of a small tree for example), but always points out that separate from that will be the cost of a skip - if necessary - plus the cost of a man with a chain-saw and perhaps the hire of other specialist equipment.

 

some of the banks used to give away free business plan software, very easy to use, you just put in your wording and figures and the software number crunchs data for projections etc, try Halifax or Barclays, good luck.

Plant Potty.

 

I have built up a nice little maintenance round over the years. I charge by the hour, but I have set hours at each job. My smallest garden is an average sized suburban garden, The biggest is about 3 acres with an adjoining woodland area. Another job is a 650 sq yd vegetable plot and 45 tree orchard.