Hotel Ground Maintenance

[garyp]

I've been running my mowing and garden maintenance for the past 2 year aimed at private clients and currently work by myself.

 

I have now been asked to give a quote to look after a hotel grounds including mowing and maintenance work but I frankly don't know where to start with this.

 

Problems first. I don't have a ride-on which would be required. Secondly, if I did get the contract, I slightly afraid of losing that contract and where it would leave me and the business. I would probably need to invest in a ride-on (which I couldn't probably afford at the moment).

 

I would guessimate the mowing would take 4 hours plus then the upkeep of the grounds. They want mowing when required (7, 10 or 14 days). Looking around, I could easily keep busy 1/2 day at this time of year on maintenance but this would be multiplied once the growing season kicks in.

 

...and how much do I charge, currently I try to get around £25-£30 per hour from customers, what is the norm to charge for a contract like this?

 

I would appreciate any help in pricing, maintanace, ride-on mower and anything else I would have clearly overlooked.

 

Gary

[tractorboy1]

£25 is about right maybe more if your using a ride on mower. How will it work grass cutting as they require it do you just drop every thing and cut their grass. if you need the ride on for other jobs try and do them all on the same day as it saves time loading and un-loading.

[chris23a]

£25 to £30 per hour is quite expensive if your just working on your own, i charge £25 per hour for a 2 man team carrying out regular maintenance work, a bit more if using a ride on though. The commercial market is very competitive and some people are willing to work for next to nothing just so they can say they have 'commercial contracts'. You will probably be competing against 4 or 5 other companies/individuals so it really depends on how much you want this job.

[Gareth Dalzell]

We currently work at several hotels ranging in size. Our work involves their construction and subsequent maintenance. From my experience you need to be well geared to service these types of contracts. If they have wedding gardens which all ours do, they need to be kept top notch for photographs. Hoteliers demand and expect service when they want it and how they want it. They don't like waiting and have small windows to get work done - some of ours have weddings 6 and 7 days a week. They are in the service sector and it's all about delivery. If they have a bride coming in at 2pm that's your deadline.

So remember, top service, on demand potential extras and you'll probably need someone to give you a hand and you'll never be able to take a holiday in the growing season or get the work done quick enough.

They all seem to like colourful gardens and the photographers like shade, evergreen backdrops and features to be photographed against.

Working by yourself, depending on the size of the hotel may restrict you. They are a good sector to work for if you are prepared to do what they want when you want and never fail to deliver.

 

Rates between £250-300 for a tooled up 2 man team isn't far away.

[chaffey]

£25 to £30 per hour is quite expensive if your just working on your own, i charge £25 per hour for a 2 man team carrying out regular maintenance work, a bit more if using a ride on though. The commercial market is very competitive and some people are willing to work for next to nothing just so they can say they have 'commercial contracts'. You will probably be competing against 4 or 5 other companies/individuals so it really depends on how much you want this job.

 

I would say that if you are going to price for a job like the hotel to be realistic about the pricing. If they want you to drop everything to go and work for them then i think that the price should reflect this. I appreciate what Chris is saying in this post but don't worry about everyone else. Work out your own overheads and arrive at your own price otherwise you could get the contract and then spend the year dropping everything for them losing other work and ruining everything you have already for next to nothing!! By the way i do my own work on the grounds for a few private clients and a factory unit and i think that between £25 and £30 per hour is a reasonable price and that's just for me a hand mower and a strimmer. Depends how much you want it and what sort of job they want!! Good luck whatever you decide:thumbup:

[tractorboy1]

I do find commercial work pays less that private work, but private work is more smaller jobs which suits one man bands.

[garyp]

Thanks for all the replies, it's certainly gave me something to think about the past week. At the moment, I be sticking with my domestic customers and not going for the hotel maintenance.

 

I think in the current financial climate I need to grow organically and not take any short cuts by thinking too big too soon and I'm happy with that.

[Gareth Dalzell]

Thanks for all the replies, it's certainly gave me something to think about the past week. At the moment, I be sticking with my domestic customers and not going for the hotel maintenance.

 

I think in the current financial climate I need to grow organically and not take any short cuts by thinking too big too soon and I'm happy with that.

 

Wise move. Commercial sites can change very quickly and you can be chopped at the stroke of a pen. A spread of smaller jobs over a wider client base gives you as much security as you can get being self employed:001_smile:

[DN22 Gardening]

when we started with commercial contracts we bought a s/hand ride on off fleabay.

Cost us £300 and lasted 4 months !!! but that four months throughout the summer made me enough to buy a better mower.

 

we usually give a day rate, say, two men, tools (inc ride on if needed). give them the hours you'll think it'll need, and the price to suit.

when you're sending your quote include ALL extras,

one of our hotels does weddings, so we've given a price to send a man with a vac to clear up confetti

another has a spa, so, depending when they have treatments we may have to wait to cut certain pieces so we included a quote for 'waiting time' (we dont wait much now )

 

NEVER work for nothing !!!! you can be sat at home and earn that

 

:thumbup1:

[DN22 Gardening]

forgot to say

 

we're NOT the cheapest, we do a cracking job, for a decent price.

 

one hotel on the edge of our area even put our rates up after i mentioned that we may have to give the contract up due to rising fuel costs.