Conifer hedge reduction

[Jack.P]

Been doing a fairly large conifer hedge reduction this week 25m long and reducing by 6 -7ft and trimming the front afterwards .agreed to work on hourly rate of £15 with all my own tools provided and all waste to be left on the job raked up into pile .anyway 10 hrs later the jobs was done and seemed like the client had got real bargain to me

what would most typically charge for this sort of job ?

 

[Cheesy pete]

at least twice as much !

maintenence gardeners are on more than that for a 10hour day! and yours is a more dangerious and skilled job  

gardeners charge £25plus an hour in manchester    don't under sell your skills 

[Jack.P]

From my experience seems as though it’s always the wealthy rich which will try to rip you off or get there money’s worth out of you .this job in question was for a new client with a 20 acre garden / smallholding in sussex so worth a fortune.he has now asked about doing a large laurel trimming job but wants it done within 8 hrs .I should really just say goodIuck finding someone else then .....some people around here will charge £20 -£30 p.h easily then charge waste removed and not be as productive and tit around a bit .had similar thing last year they were not prepared to offer more money so told them in the end not viable for me and working elsewhere now .as it happens It wasn’t great money saving scheme for them in the end paying less to someone with less experience and tools etc .funny thing was she had said they couldn’t afford it next day there brand new land rover turns up lol 

[Treeation]

I never charge on an hourly rate (rarely works in your favour with treework imo)....either day rate of minimum of £200 or price the job on a fixed price. Also, be clear with your day rate times of starting and finishing, (I aim for 8.30-4.30pm) on half days I also charge a bit extra on top of half my day rate to make it worth my while.

[Mick Dempsey]

1 minute ago, Jack.P said:

From my experience seems as though it’s always the wealthy rich which will try to rip you off or get there money’s worth out of you .this job in question was for a new client with a 20 acre garden / smallholding in sussex so worth a fortune.he has now asked about doing a large laurel trimming job but wants it done within 8 hrs .I should really just say goodIuck finding someone else then .....some people around here will charge £20 -£30 p.h easily then charge waste removed and not be as productive and tit around a bit .had similar thing last year they were not prepared to offer more money so told them in the end not viable for me and working elsewhere now .as it happens It wasn’t great money saving scheme for them in the end paying less to someone with less experience and tools etc .funny thing was she had said they couldn’t afford it next day there brand new land rover turns up lol 

You ripped yourself off on this job, nobody but yourself to blame, don’t work for an hourly rate, price for the job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Treeation]

3 minutes ago, Jack.P said:

From my experience seems as though it’s always the wealthy rich which will try to rip you off or get there money’s worth out of you .this job in question was for a new client with a 20 acre garden / smallholding in sussex so worth a fortune.he has now asked about doing a large laurel trimming job but wants it done within 8 hrs .I should really just say goodIuck finding someone else then .....some people around here will charge £20 -£30 p.h easily then charge waste removed and not be as productive and tit around a bit .had similar thing last year they were not prepared to offer more money so told them in the end not viable for me and working elsewhere now .as it happens It wasn’t great money saving scheme for them in the end paying less to someone with less experience and tools etc .funny thing was she had said they couldn’t afford it next day there brand new land rover turns up lol 

I would just move on if you feel you there taking the piss, Its not upto the client to tell you how long a job will or should take. Find decent customers who respect you and value you, you soon learn to weed out the ones quickly who dont and when alarm bells start ringing!

[Steve Bullman]

Please don't ever work for £15 per hour again!

[stihlmadasever]

As above cost it out and price the job.

Ive made the same mistake on hourly rates and job lot pricing.

Its a learning curve

But learn quick as it can be a bastard when you under price and end up out of pocket....

[woody paul]

You maybe cheap but are you happy at the rates you charge.

[Gardenscape]

Dude, £15 a hour. You serious! If me and my groundy go out for a days work I will book £400+ worth of work and that is a gravity fed chipper and pick-up setup, so my overheads are a lot lower. Always try and quote for the job and if you think the job will be tedious or don't really fancy doing it then bloody overprice it. Gardeners who do weeding and mow lawns charge more than £15 an hour and you have all of your expensive kit to pay for. If I was to break it down into an hourly rate then £70/80ph is closer. Even at this price I have learned over the years I am still charging less than what I would like to operate my business and have a decent living wage, but if I charge more then I start losing the work because customers don't want to pay. It really pisses me off!

Edited July 6, 2019 by Gardenscape