Being competitive @ gardening

[Rkd]

I'm faced with a dilemma, my farther in law is being made redundant and we wanted to set up a gardening business....

 

Starting to advertise got ourselves a van and a few leads but we are a little unsure about pricing!!!

 

For instance I've seen a number of adds for gardening @£10/hr but how do these people operate that bailey gives enough for diesel and upkeep on the equipment let around petrol to run the kit!!

 

The kind of work we will be doing is grass cutting , hedges, small( I mean small) tree felling, log splitting (as we have a large family splitter) weeding, boarders complete garden clear-outs.

 

So my question is where should I be pitching our quotes at?? What kind of money do I ask for??

 

I'm based in the Shropshire area!!

 

Thanks for your thoughts

 

 

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[10 Bears]

First off, best of luck in your new venture. When I set out 10+ years ago, the first couple of years were definitely hard as I didn't earn, I piled everything back in and was a kept man by the wife!

 

The way I got by was I made a spreadsheet which itemised each element of the job and it had a cost attached to it e.g., spade 50p, wages £60, day insurance 37p etc etc.

 

Each time I was asked to price a job, I would simply put an entry in the correct box for the equipment I needed to use/staff etc. and it will then output a cost to me. I then decided on two profit rates for either private or commercial work and then tax on top. What came out the other end was the price for the job. I can tell you it probably wont be £10 an hour, but it will give you a better idea of how to cost things out and perhaps you can settle on an hourly rate based on a series of average jobs that you complete - and the costs shown on the spreadsheet.

 

So, I suggest making a similar spreadsheet yourself, or if you cant do it, I could email you an old one of mine - just PM me with your email address if you want it.

[Hodge]

Work out your running costs, van running costs, insurance,

fuel, equipment, public liability insurance and wages. Add em up and divide by the year/month/week etc and work it down to the hour. Then charge that.

 

 

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[K.T.S Tom]

I personally would try and do as many set quotes as possible rather than by the hour.

 

 

http://Www.keighleytreeservices.com

[Rkd]

Thanks all I will spend the next few days having a play with the figures, I'm sure I won't get it right first time but I will hopefully get there!!!

 

Ps bear pm sent thanks!!

 

 

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[richy_B]

Gardening is worse than tree work in my opinion for being under valued. The biggest challenge is convincing the customer you are worth more than £7/hour (or the equivalent as a job rate). The vast majority of people think gardening is a no skill job and will be flabbergasted if you want more than £50 for a half day.

 

It is not helped by the sheer number of people who enter (and leave) the market. Anyone with a van and couple of tools from B&Q can call themselves a gardener and start competing with you. Its cut throat.

 

Have you considered specialising in a particular aspect and building your pricing on that? Could be specialising in patio cleaning/pressure washing, garden design or renovation, instant hedging, etc. etc. Specialised skills command better rates even if it not particularly challenging.