Conifer hedge reduction

[oldwoodcutter]

Never ever work at an hourly rate, or tell them how long it will take.
Once you start that malarkey the customer will be constantly looking at his watch, and standing on top of you every time you take a break.
and then they’ll be trying to knock you down saying I’m not paying for 15 hours as you were only actually working for 14.
Always price for the job, and quote a professional price for your professional work.
They can then take it or leave it, and more often than not, they’ll take it.

[lux]

Ok so you under priced yourself this time. Lesson learned , don’t dwell on it, move on and always use this experience as a reference when pricing in the future. You can make day rates or half day rates work. You just need to be confident in holding out on the price. Everyone has different overheads so workout your costs and then what the wages are then what profit should be left after that. Don’t ever supply equipment working for money that’s just wages. Chin up and carry on lad. [emoji106].

[Cheesy pete]

for me you can do hourly rates but you must keep them in your head and they should only be  an about figure not a deffinate 

[Steven P]

I'm not gong to say whether this was a good rate or not - you know your business, overheads, mortage and love for the job, and and much you want in your pocket at the end of the day =. It might be that this days work then leads to 6 months full time jobs, only you know.

 

However it might be worth working it out for yourself a minimum rate, For example (and plucking numbes from theiar for the example):

Chainsaw £1 each hour use for replacement / servicing

Chain £1 an hour for chain sharening

Vehice £2 an hour (to sit on the road not movng)

Wages £10 an hour (up to you, I want tomake the sums easy)

Admin £1 per hour worked

Fuel 50p an hour

other hardware £1 an hour of work.

Write it down, list it and you could even have it to shw a client if they question the costs

So these are your fixed costs.. add more and change the values to suit your business - th eminimum you would charge if the jobs was ver the road at a neighbours

Then add in jbs specific - such as travel costs (petrol, vehicle time, your wages) - you could do it as a flat rate i forget what HMRC say a vehicle costs, 50p a mile? plus your wages)

Then add in a bit of spare to negotiate with (no one will admit to this beer money but evey business does this £1000 job, bit steep? OK, so if I don't do this (20 minue job), I could do it for £900....)

 

 

Then you could wrk it out for your business and this job whether the rate was good. £15 might not cover all your costs and give you minimum wage.

 

Hourly rate can work out OK if you get the rate right and you can add in for travelling and so on. As a custmer though I would be tempted to prefer a day rate of pece rate

[daveatdave]

I know of a similar size coni hedge 8 years ago cost £400 but that was taking the cuttings away 

[SpringhallTreeCare]

for me you can do hourly rates but you must keep them in your head and they should only be  an about figure not a deffinate 

Ukie6

[Cheesy pete]

1 hour ago, SpringhallTreeCare said:

Ukie6

what?

[Steve Bullman]

21 minutes ago, Cheesy pete said:

what?

Come on, you seriously don’t know what that acronym means?

[Ian C]

and this is why the industry is slowly going tits up! that really is working for nothing!

[Cheesy pete]

39 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

Come on, you seriously don’t know what that acronym means?

I looked it up but couldn't find what it ment ......so your either messing with my head or this is what the youth of today use and your down with the kids and i'm not 

Edited July 7, 2019 by Cheesy pete