whats the lowest price for a single tree you would charge

[Bob Rolfe]

ive recently been pricing some really small jobs but because they've come in at different times ive not been able to link them and it has affected the pricing whats the least amount that you could charge for a single tree call out ive been charging £100 it does seem high for the jobs that take at the most 40 mins but when you have to get yer gear ready and get to the job and then tipping cost and wages its really a low price but its hard to get the customer to understand this. got the jobs though!

[Stephen Blair]

if i am passing then i will charge as little as a cup ot tea or coffee if its a wee old lady, but if you have to get all the kit ready and its the only one, a 5 minute job can take up a full morning. i explain the difference of cost due to time, if they still want to spend the larger amount fine but usually they wait for the bargain

[Mesterh]

We just have a minimum price whether its a fell or to remove one branch which is £50

 

Its cheaper if we are working in the street and someone asks us and we can do it there and then or if its a good/regular customer who needs a bit of a quick one that we can just call past anytime and sort out.

[Rupe]

Another thing you could try, and I have doen it a few times, is to explain that it would have to a minimum charge 100 quid but if any of the neighbours need anything doing then there could be a discount of up to 50%.

 

Once I tried this and they went off and spoke to neighbours and called me back with four other houses in the same street all wanting minor things doing. The original job went down to 50 quid and the others added up to half a days work so well worth the journey and all doen in probably the same time as the first job as we parked the truck once.

 

Another time, the customer got theirs doen free cos they got me a 500 quid job next door. Its a good way of gettign other poeple to do promotional work for you instead of you maybe droppign leaflets etc.

[Rupe]

50 quid is very low if you have to travel even 15 minutes each way.

[Stephen Blair]

i think its our hang up of not wanting to seem like a door knocking cowboy, i have had customers like that rupe, they just go next door, have a quick word, offer a bit of a bargain and come back with money. it happened to me the other day. i went to go and do a 200 quid job and left with 400plus vat and a trailer load of ash. and the second customer has been a nightmare for paying in the past when dealing with me face to face, so i told the first customer that i will need paid before i leave. off she went and came back with a cheque. some folk are just good sales folk.

[gibbon]

I would either price it to cover the time taken to load up travel and unload, or maybe give a cheaper price to include maybe 1/2 travel and loading time on the condition that it can be tied in with other local work. That might mean that they have to be flexible on the time frame and wait a little long for the job to happen

[Mesterh]

50 quid is very low if you have to travel even 15 minutes each way.

 

There has been many a customer(potential one) who has dropped dead of a heart attack when I have even quoted £50! I usually leave the quote with the corpse in case the inlaws inherit the property and still need the work doing

[Rupe]

A potential customer who panics at 50 quid is not a very good potential customer!!

 

Another thing to look at is how many trees they have. If the 50 or 100 quid job is all they are ever goign to need then stick to the price. If they have loads of trees but just want this one small job doign for now then do it cheap.

 

I know we all need work but cuttign doen the one and only tree in a garden is a dead end. We need to look for routes to more work not just the work itself. If every job you do leads to 2 more then you will always be ok. Sometimes you can suss out the job over the phone, if I have been recoemnded by anothe rcustomer then I'm there quickly, if its from the council recomended list then I'm there quick enough but knowing I'm competing against others on the list and ig its from yellow pages (I only have a free line entry) then I ask questions and might not bother going to look.

 

This may sound silly as like I said we all need the work at the moemnt, but recently I've been to look at a few yp jobs and they had been done by the tiem I got there!

[bob]

minimum price is a cup of tea

usually £10 as well