Article research - How much do you charge for a days work?

[MattyF]

250 -400 a day,at the momment got 5 days on the same site and it will be regular once a year affair and its 2 miles from base and only hedges so £250 a day for 2 men....most of my work is within 5 miles of base so i charge on average £300 a day out side of that it goes up to £400+ a day.

my PL is 750 a year in north herts.

Im happy with what i get but the above is a guideline i can charge a lot more on more certain jobs...the averarage around here is 400-500 but i really dont want to put my day rate up ,i dont advertise and most of my work is word of mouth,i get a lot of people coming to me been quoted usually obscene amounts in my view ...took down a row of 5 cypresses the other day to ground level 1/12 loads of chip and a load of timber, late start early finish £400 ,they where qouted £1700! fair play if you can get the jobs at that price but you wont get many!

[Stephen Blair]

depends mate, i very rarely do a full day on any job, i do domestic and i have some good kit which speeds things up a lot. it never really runs all day long. some days i do a couple of grand with the kit some days i do 150 quid cutting some hedges just with my van and wee trailer. i aim for 100k a year, a jerry can of fuel mix will last me a month easy so that tells you how much cutting i actually do. when i first started i would do one in a week, cutting more on each job and doing so much more work for my pound. i work 5 days a week, but more time is spent changing kit around to make my life easier on site. i have one member of staff, who is self employed and gets on average 3 days a week from me. most of my work is glorified gardening but no grass cutting or strimming, with the odd big tree here and there. i can go a month with the climbing kit staying in the bag. if you know anything about the work you will understand what i am talking about:001_smile:i can also do my work in 2 days a week with one extra member of staff, and make the same money but i get bored the other days in the week:sad:

[Mark Bolam]

Do some companies just put mega money on every job, and hope they pick up one in ten?

 

I've done loads of jobs like the one Matty described. Perhaps it might be a good business strategy. Work one day a week and make the same money!

 

Incidentally, I never ask customers if they have had any other prices then try and beat them or any of that old b***ocks.

 

Pretty much got to be £50 minimum these days IMO.

 

Quoted £45 to reduce a very small cherry last year. The old boy thanked me and said he had three other companies coming round to price it! Reckon that one went to the bloke who happened to have his Felco's in his pocket.

[Mark Bolam]

SWB I know exactly where you are coming from. A lot of our stuff now is really basic clearance etc. Been great wearing shorts recently!

 

I haven't got the kit you have, but the more kit I buy the less hard I have to work for the same money.

 

My current project is building my own hedgecutting MEWP using a 20' ladder and an old skateboard.

[jojam]

!

 

Incidentally, I never ask customers if they have had any other prices then try and beat them or any of that old b***ocks.

 

Do you know where you stand in the system regards other companies? IMO you should ask discreetly if not at the beginning if any one else has quoted but at the end to find out how you compare! I am not suggesting that you level or compete with them, that just leads to cheap work.

[combined tree services]

Do some companies just put mega money on every job, and hope they pick up one in ten?

 

I've done loads of jobs like the one Matty described. Perhaps it might be a good business strategy. Work one day a week and make the same money!

 

Incidentally, I never ask customers if they have had any other prices then try and beat them or any of that old b***ocks.

 

Pretty much got to be £50 minimum these days IMO.

 

Quoted £45 to reduce a very small cherry last year. The old boy thanked me and said he had three other companies coming round to price it! Reckon that one went to the bloke who happened to have his Felco's in his pocket.

 

i think pricing work slides from one end or the scale to the other , i have quoted on jobs where the client has had several really high quotes , i have quoted quite a bit less and done the job and the job makes me money but i have also gone to jobs where the client has been quoted a price that makes you wonder how the guy thats quoting that can actualy make any money .

 

i think if you sit somewhere in the middle you will be kept in work and there are usually a few jobs where you can make a few quid more .

[Mark Bolam]

Do you know where you stand in the system regards other companies? IMO you should ask discreetly if not at the beginning if any one else has quoted but at the end to find out how you compare! I am not suggesting that you level or compete with them, that just leads to cheap work.

 

Yes mate, I always enquire about other prices, usually after my quote has been accepted or during the job. There have been major discrepancies!

 

Most of my work is word of mouth now, so if I price fairly I normally get the job without anyone else being asked.

 

There are people out there who think 2 blokes and £35k will work for £50/day!

[Rob D]

Thanks gents that's some great feedback here. There's quite a lot of variation depending on what part of the market your in, whether private or commercial, whether you employ a team or it's you and a groundie etc, and what equipment you have.

 

Most people including myself prob give a fixed quote but calculate the quote by how many days/people/equipment would be involved.

[Stephen Blair]

i also give a price to do when i am passing if it is a small job, if they are not in a hurry. i call it saving the invisible money, the stuff that is added on that i dont see. ie fuel, wear and tear wages. if a job takes 20 mins i will charge 50 quid on my home but if i have to go out just for that and say its a 20 mile round trip for 2 men in 60k worth of kit then i want 250plus vat. my profit is better on the 50 quid and the customer is happy

[Ian C]

I aim for 300 quid a day for me and a groundie and chipper, less for hedge cutting. garden work/landscaping 150 a day for me, i don't really budge from these prices as there at the bottom end of the range round me. grinding priced by the inch. some people are working for the sake of it at the moment round me, day job for 2 men and chipper 200 quid, not for me thanks.