Ambitious gardening project - advice

[Hodge]

:congrats:

 

Sent from my Galaxy S2

 

Excellent! Earning 19k and then wanting more by charging peanuts and taking work from real firms. Doing tree work? Do you have tickets and insurance?

[Hodge]

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

I got back to the guy today and asked him if he wanted me to go ahead and level his garden. I am doing it on the cheap, but I will try to make this my last work on the cheap, simply because I'm getting better at the job and am learning to price it. To be honest I think I lacked confidence in my ability, only being an amateur, so didn't want to barge in and say twenty quid an hour.

 

I've offered him, to dig and level his garden, going downwards, labour at £7 / hour, plus circa £110 in costs. Costs are for petrol, chain sharpening, a sledgehammer, spare spares, tarpalin cover to hold in soil at back where he has a meshed fence, and other bits and bobs. This job is solely to level his garden which is about 5 by 5 metres. My father said there is a week of work in it, so I'm anticipating 3-7 days, which should earn £210-£490 in wages, and £4 an hour for my father when he helps. He quite literally, like Homer, works for beer money, and a bit for cigarettes.

 

After this my idea would be to buy pre-fab lawn roll from B and Q at around £4 a roll - about 10 of them - and charge him £30 to put them down. This would mean for under £1000 I'd turned a garden with 7, 25ft trees, covered in weeds, ivy, nettles, brambles, without sunlight, or ability to move, into a respectable lawn, ready for the barbecue and socialising.

 

I will take photos next time I'm on sign and try to get them uploaded here to give you guys an idea of the work I did. I know I'm amateur but the guy said today again he was delighted with the job and it would be a question of when and not if he would be in touch, namely when he gets the money together.

 

Chain sharpening? You pay to have your chain sharpened?

[s.varty]

Chain sharpening? You pay to have your chain sharpened?

 

Hodge i think youd be surprised how many chainsaw owners pay to have their saws sharpened, mostly they are gardeners who buy a saw , the seller never shows them how to sharpen it (why should they?) its a regular little income for them.

[Pedroski]

Cheers Pedro

 

Whilst the OP is admiring my sleeper wall building brilliance, and digesting all the other well proffered advice I have a question for you... at risk of derail.

 

I'm a BSC Hons Env Sci myself ... I tried to save the world for a while but its a big job and frankly I can't be arsed..

 

Anyway I wonder what area your PHd was in.... My final thesis thingy was on organochloride pesticide residues in the marine environment, with a focus on dead dolphins and bioaccumulation up the food chain. Also on the lipophilic nature of said nasties and effects on the young through dolphin version of breast feeding.

 

Just wondered:001_smile:

 

Albedo, I'll send you a PM.

[Andy Collins]

I bet the OP is really glad he came on to Arbtalk for advice, many of the replies on here are enough to put anyone off the forum. What a bunch of prissy prima donnas we have on here. i can think of many many people who started out in business in a simlar vein to this guy, some of them post on this forum, some of them are now AAACs. Its about getting a start on the bottom rung of the ladder. By law, there is no fixed price for doing work, no minimum wages for family, no requirements for Employers Liability for family members, and no requirement in law to carry public liabilty. If you want to advise the guy, then advise politely and constructively. So what if he wants to supplement a £19k job with a bit of extra work, if youre all so professional he is hardly going to be taking work from you is he?

Man up

[Albedo]

Cheers Pedro:thumbup1:

 

Hodge... Your very own Mr Blair has written several times on this forum about how he started this way. As in from scratch and with little experience or knowledge.

 

Here's a young chap starting with little experience or knowledge.

 

We have covered the dad helping and the EL insurance.

 

Yeah you can pick more holes in his modus operendi (sp) but I don't see why you would want to.

 

 

Nobody has a right to the work that's out there. If he sticks at it he'll be a 'proper company' if he wants to be, in his own good time.

 

 

Edit : writing at same time as andy but saying same thing it seems

[Jimbob87]

I bet the OP is really glad he came on to Arbtalk for advice, many of the replies on here are enough to put anyone off the forum. What a bunch of prissy prima donnas we have on here. i can think of many many people who started out in business in a simlar vein to this guy, some of them post on this forum, some of them are now AAACs. Its about getting a start on the bottom rung of the ladder. By law, there is no fixed price for doing work, no minimum wages for family, no requirements for Employers Liability for family members, and no requirement in law to carry public liabilty. If you want to advise the guy, then advise politely and constructively. So what if he wants to supplement a £19k job with a bit of extra work, if youre all so professional he is hardly going to be taking work from you is he?

Man up

 

 

Yea give the lad a break. Hes starting out with very little experience just a lot of enthusiasm and a will to do a good job. At least he is asking questions and seems to care about the thoughts of the people hes working for. And trying to do a good job. I started on my own 4 years ago with 5 years previous experience in landscaping and fencing and its not easy going from been told what to do to having to work out what to do for yourself. I was lucky and had people to sound ideas out with and prior experience to call upon. 4 years on i have 3 fultime staff and a good reputation and im still learning all the time. So lets give him a helping hand.

 

By the way i used to have my dad mix cement when i started never paid him alot he still helps by picking materials up and delivering to jobs.

 

Good luck and if you ever need any advice feel free to pm me any time and il do my best to help

 

James

[Hodge]

Man up? Yeah what ever. I posted my opinion to his situation is that not allowed? I don't have to agree to what he is doing do I so I can put my opinions on here as far as I'm aware I haven't broken any rules by doin so.

[Andy Collins]

Yeah youre allowed an opinion, and so am I, we differ in our opinions and I happen to diasgree with yours and others in this thread, so what.

[Albedo]

The main gripe seems to be undercutting through lower overheads due to not paying for as many things as you feel you have to pay for. 'You' being all you lot who feel this way.

 

Lets say you both quoted the job... Thats the OP and any one of you chaps who feel this way.

 

Surely this is always going to happen.. different types quoting jobs.

 

To me the bottom line is that the customer will choose based on his own evaluation of the options presented to him.