Big garden - typical costs for a gardener

[Amateurish]

We are moving into a new place in a month's time with a big garden. Neither of us want to spend any time gardening, so we are looking to get a gardener in. The vendors have given us their current gardeners's details, but I was wondering if other PHers with large gardens could give me an indication how much time their gardener spends per week and what the cost is? The garden is 1 acre with most laid to lawn. Lots of borders and flowers around. I would probably do the mowing myself. Cheers

[Cheib]

We pay our bloke £10 an hour on an informal arrangement. When we lived in London we paid more than twice that to a company.

Very hard to say on how long...shrubs need a lot less work than flower beds in my experience. Big hedge need looking after which could bee two three days work once a year on their own.

We bought a place a year ago with a garden about twice the size what you have which has needed an awful lot doing to it because apart from the lawns a couple of flower beds was left to run a mock for ten years. Our bloke has be doing 40 hours a month for the last year andI cut the grass. I reckon once it's all sorted and it's more regular maintenance it will be 20 hours a month.

[V8RX7]

Totally depends on the garden and how fussy you are - eg do you weed / cut back plants once a year or weekly ?

My Dad has 1 acre and he spends about 10x less time than we do with 2 Ac.

My place had a gardener 2 full days a week - god knows what he did, we are spending at least that but hoping to get it down once we have it sorted out.

[BlueHave]

£10 an hour, i know someone that does it. Lawns and hedges and nothing else.

He keeps saying he's the cheapest and a rival charges £30 an hour.

[condor]

Would you be supplying all the equipment? ride on mower, chainsaw etc. If so then expect to pay between £10-£15/hour

[Danm1les]

My brother and his friend do it as a business £20 per hour per person, they are fully booked all day every day.

[PostHeads123]

I think I'm paying too much now, I'm Hertfordshire I pay £17.50 an hour and they come every 2 weeks and do 2hrs so £35.00 a visit they have the own equipment. I have about 0.3 - 0.4 of an acre mainly lawn / bushes. For £35 a visit they basically do maintenance so mow the lawns front and back, tidy up edges with strimmer, use the leaf blower thing, trim bushes if have time. I found it hard in my area to get a gardener as they have no shortage of business so may be explains the price, the one thing I found is most gardeners also wanted me to commit to them visiting over the winter etc when I didn't really need them, my guys bugger off for 10-11 weeks in winter which works out fine for me. I like to garden so don't mind doing bigger bits myself but I got to say the £70 a month they cost me is so worth it, my guys come on Saturdays at 9am so by the time I get up in the morning I've got a nice smart stripy lawn.

Edited by PostHeads123 on Thursday 28th July 11:28

Edited by PostHeads123 on Thursday 28th July 11:33

[lunarscope]

PostHeads123 said:

I think I'm paying to much now, I'm Hertfordshire I pay £17.50 an hour and they come every 2 weeks and do 2hrs so £35.00 a visit they have the own equipment. I have about 0.3 - 0.4 of an acre mainly lawn / bushes. For £35 a visit they basically do maintenance so mow the lawns front and back, tidy up edges with strimmer, use the leaf blower thing, trim bushes if have time. I found it hard in my area to get a gardener as they have no shortage of business so may be explains the price, the one thing I found is most gardeners also wanted me to commit to them visiting over the winter etc when I didn't really need them, my guys bugger off for 10-11 weeks in winter which works out fine for me. I like to garden so don't mind doing bigger bits myself but I got to say the £70 a month they cost me is so worth it, my guys come on Saturdays at 9am so by the time I get up in the morning I've got a nice smart stripy lawn.

Edited by PostHeads123 on Thursday 28th July 11:28

£17.50 an hour per person is not expensive. I charge £15 an hour in North Wales. Have you thought about Insurance, Tax, NI, accountancy fees, fuel for machinery, wear and tear/maintenance, unloading/loading time, travel time, lost time due to bad weather (like today when I won't earn a penny) ?
How much would you pay for a decorator or other tradesman ?
It annoys me when people (not you) think that they can get a 'little man' in to do garden work and pay buttons as if it's a bit of pocket money. Not all gardeners are dole scroungers working for cash in hand.
Rant over.

[Simpo Two]

Depends on the skill level. Some 'gardeners' can cut grass and do handywork but little else. A proper gardener will know all about plants, how to care for and prune them and so on.

[Rangeroverover]

After about 6 months of gardener getting it to a decent state I now pay him £100 per month, on the basis its looked after, over the year it balances out as he does less in the winter and more in spring summer....works for both of us

I cut the grass though

[lunarscope]

Simpo Two said:

Depends on the skill level. Some 'gardeners' can cut grass and do handywork but little else. A proper gardener will know all about plants, how to care for and prune them and so on.

There's not much call for that sort of skill level - the vast majority just want basic maintenance or occasionally landscaping. Anyone who is a keen gardener usually already knows about plants. The gardening business is not like the TV series "Rosemary and Thyme" or "Gardener's World".

[PostHeads123]

lunarscope said:

PostHeads123 said:

I think I'm paying to much now, I'm Hertfordshire I pay £17.50 an hour and they come every 2 weeks and do 2hrs so £35.00 a visit they have the own equipment. I have about 0.3 - 0.4 of an acre mainly lawn / bushes. For £35 a visit they basically do maintenance so mow the lawns front and back, tidy up edges with strimmer, use the leaf blower thing, trim bushes if have time. I found it hard in my area to get a gardener as they have no shortage of business so may be explains the price, the one thing I found is most gardeners also wanted me to commit to them visiting over the winter etc when I didn't really need them, my guys bugger off for 10-11 weeks in winter which works out fine for me. I like to garden so don't mind doing bigger bits myself but I got to say the £70 a month they cost me is so worth it, my guys come on Saturdays at 9am so by the time I get up in the morning I've got a nice smart stripy lawn.

Edited by PostHeads123 on Thursday 28th July 11:28

£17.50 an hour per person is not expensive. I charge £15 an hour in North Wales. Have you thought about Insurance, Tax, NI, accountancy fees, fuel for machinery, wear and tear/maintenance, unloading/loading time, travel time, lost time due to bad weather (like today when I won't earn a penny) ?
How much would you pay for a decorator or other tradesman ?
It annoys me when people (not you) think that they can get a 'little man' in to do garden work and pay buttons as if it's a bit of pocket money. Not all gardeners are dole scroungers working for cash in hand.
Rant over.

Agreed for proper legit run gardener £17.50 in my area is cheap the range seemed to be £17.50 to about £25 an hr, I went with my guy as he does next door as well plus he was the only gardener was willing to fit me in. £17.50 an hr to me is good value I certainly don't mind paying it

[leginigel]

I have a very small garden but hate doing the maintenance so we went totally fake













beats £20 per hour and sold my old mower for £20 !

[MX5_Nuts]

I charge a minimum of £17 per hour for weeding/pruning jobs. Minimum of £20 per hour for hedge and grass cutting which I charge per job (usually works out more like £40 an hour for large hedge cutting jobs). Anyone who moans at paying this can fking do it themselves and I'm fully booked solid so personally I can be as fussy as I want when it comes to new customers.

Before anyone moans about how much you're being charged, stop and think about how much professional machinery costs (£800-£2000 for walk behind mower, £500 for hedge trimmer, £300 leaf blower, £500 ladder and then theres fuel, breakdowns, insurance, waste disposal costs etc etc etc.

Edited by MX5_Nuts on Thursday 28th July 20:29

[V8RX7]

leginigel said:

I have a very small garden but hate doing the maintenance so we went totally fake




beats £20 per hour and sold my old mower for £20 !

It really doesn't

[Smiler.]

V8RX7 said:

leginigel said:

I have a very small garden but hate doing the maintenance so we went totally fake




beats £20 per hour and sold my old mower for £20 !

It really doesn't

Oh I dunno. I'm usually of the "grass is always greener..." opinion, but in this case, probably not

[Alucidnation]

£15/hr for a gardener?

fking hell, i chose the wrong trade!

[Simpo Two]

lunarscope said:

Simpo Two said:

Depends on the skill level. Some 'gardeners' can cut grass and do handywork but little else. A proper gardener will know all about plants, how to care for and prune them and so on.

There's not much call for that sort of skill level - the vast majority just want basic maintenance or occasionally landscaping. Anyone who is a keen gardener usually already knows about plants.

But any monkey can work a lawnmower. That makes a gardener no more than a simple labourer.

[Welshbeef]

PostHeads123 said:

I think I'm paying too much now, I'm Hertfordshire I pay £17.50 an hour and they come every 2 weeks and do 2hrs so £35.00 a visit they have the own equipment. I have about 0.3 - 0.4 of an acre mainly lawn / bushes. For £35 a visit they basically do maintenance so mow the lawns front and back, tidy up edges with strimmer, use the leaf blower thing, trim bushes if have time. I found it hard in my area to get a gardener as they have no shortage of business so may be explains the price, the one thing I found is most gardeners also wanted me to commit to them visiting over the winter etc when I didn't really need them, my guys bugger off for 10-11 weeks in winter which works out fine for me. I like to garden so don't mind doing bigger bits myself but I got to say the £70 a month they cost me is so worth it, my guys come on Saturdays at 9am so by the time I get up in the morning I've got a nice smart stripy lawn.

Edited by PostHeads123 on Thursday 28th July 11:28

Edited by PostHeads123 on Thursday 28th July 11:33

You only have the lawns cut twice a month! I cut ours at least once a week. Last year I was still cutting in Nov as it was still so warm and started in early March.

When we go on holiday say two weeks wow it's a mess then heck even on a one weeks holiday come back and it's in dire need of a cut.

That said I really enjoy it - and yes I'm sad enough that it's only me who cuts the lawns at our house

[lunarscope]

Simpo Two said:

But any monkey can work a lawnmower. That makes a gardener no more than a simple labourer.

A monkey can wield a paintbrush or a spanner but what would be the result ?
What I do doesn't require super intelligence but there is a bit of an art to doing a good job. The design side requires the ability to collect customer requirements/offer advice/suggestions and having the skills/vision to create a 3D computer model.
I wouldn't let a 'simple' labourer do work for any of my customers.
I was in IT for twenty years, finishing as an Integration Architect and chose to work for myself after redundancy.