Estate agent maintenance job- advice on quote?

[doobin]

Hi chaps

 

Whats the going rate per hour for maintaining gardens for estate agents who offer garden maintenance as part of the rent? I always charge around £15 per man hour. Have been asked to quote for a large garden in a country cottage (just mowing and trimming bushes, the tenant wants to do the borders). Only trouble is they want a quote to maintain it for a year, to be paid in monthly installments. I was thinking it'd take about five hours to do the grass, plus a couple of hours to prune a shrub or whatnot. If I allowed an eight hour day every two weeks (to allow for less visits over the winter) would that be about right? Or is that cutting it too fine (say we have a wet summer and grass grows like mad)? If I go with the above, the yearly cost would be £3120, or £260 a month. Way too cheap surely? But then it is only mowing, edging and occasionally cutting the hedge and bushes.

 

Would I be able to get £150/day for it? That's the minimum I undertake scrub clearance, felling, fencing etc for on day rate. But this is just getting a lad to push a mower (might let him use the ride on tho!)

 

Thanks for any advice.

[tractorboy1]

£150 a day sounds about right must be some lawn to spend 5 hours on it. When I quote for this work i spit it into 12 payments of equal amount. Must be able to trust the client to pay all the money.

[kernowstu]

suck it and see at £150 do the first month if no payment don't go back

[likeitorlumpit]

sounds like you're experienced enough not to be asking really.

It's all about time- If you charge in your head £25 per hour and guestimate 5 hours for lawn then if you can do it in 4 hrs you're quids in - simples

Bear in mind if you get a good young un then you will want to think about keeping him through the winter so he doesn't go elsewhere- That is where the business really starts and you've got to maybe take a loss during your quiet spell to keep him employed-

Welcome to the world of business:thumbup1:

[doobin]

sounds like you're experienced enough not to be asking really.

It's all about time- If you charge in your head £25 per hour and guestimate 5 hours for lawn then if you can do it in 4 hrs you're quids in - simples

Bear in mind if you get a good young un then you will want to think about keeping him through the winter so he doesn't go elsewhere- That is where the business really starts and you've got to maybe take a loss during your quiet spell to keep him employed-

Welcome to the world of business:thumbup1:

 

 

My lad is fantastic. A natural with machinery which is rare. First time he drove a digger I just knew I could leave him to it and he'd be expert in a couple of hours His next job was on top of a big hill ripping trees out, raking the site and burning up with the grab. And he's only 16!

 

Quiet spell? Whats that then?

 

With regard to the estate agent quote what's bugging me is whether allowing a day every two weeks is enough. Summertime if its wet the grass will need cutting more than once a week. I know you can leave it for longish periods over winter but I'm just not sure.

[Highland Forestry]

My lad is fantastic. A natural with machinery which is rare. First time he drove a digger I just knew I could leave him to it and he'd be expert in a couple of hours His next job was on top of a big hill ripping trees out, raking the site and burning up with the grab. And he's only 16!

 

Quiet spell? Whats that then?

 

With regard to the estate agent quote what's bugging me is whether allowing a day every two weeks is enough. Summertime if its wet the grass will need cutting more than once a week. I know you can leave it for longish periods over winter but I'm just not sure.

 

You wont be touching it at all over the winter..

 

I would base your quote on one cut of the grass every other week as a the framework for your pricing and then stipulate that additional visits can be made at the tennants request if they feel the grass is growing too quickly or want it tidied up sooner at an additional fixed cost of £xxx.xx

[doobin]

Thanks mate, that sounds pukka.

[MarkG]

We quote for grass cutting by pricing from 1st week in March to end of October/early November. It works out at about 19 cuts per year. The quote will show price per cut so that if they need more visits, usually May to end of June goes to weekly cuts, they know how much extra they will have to pay. A lot of our customers pay by standing order over 12months. It's worked well for us over the last 7 years.