Big garden - typical costs for a gardener
Discussion
Alucidnation said:
£15/hr for a gardener?
f
king hell, i chose the wrong trade!
Why ? What do you charge for whatever you do ?f
king hell, i chose the wrong trade!I very rarely manage more than 30 hours billable work a week during the season. Probably average 20 hours once travel time and bad weather is taken into account.
Over the year it works out about a quarter of what I was earning in IT as a permanent employee.
Edited by lunarscope on Thursday 28th July 23:27
MX5_Nuts said:
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.
Sorry, thats a very very poor argument when you look at what other professions charge and what their kit costs them. My mate is a agricultural mechanic who has probably £40k of tools and £15k of stock at any one time, and charges £32/hr. You can hire a man with a £100k tractor for about £30 hr, and the breakdown and wear and tear costs can be massive. Even your average plumber or electrician will have at least as much invested in tools as you do, probably more if they do any kind of specialist or industrial work. Yours for £15/hr.
Makes the amount of kit you have look very cheap.
Buy some petrol engined garden tools and enjoy your outdoors
Petrol lawn mower
Petrol hedge trimmer
Petrol rotovator ( rare thee days)
Petrol strmmer ( 2 stroke so it makes a really annoying noise).
If that does not appeal sell up and buy a flat.... And hand in your PH badge on your way out!
Petrol lawn mower
Petrol hedge trimmer
Petrol rotovator ( rare thee days)
Petrol strmmer ( 2 stroke so it makes a really annoying noise).
If that does not appeal sell up and buy a flat.... And hand in your PH badge on your way out!
Condi said:
your average plumber or electrician will have at least as much invested in tools as you do, probably more if they do any kind of specialist or industrial work. Yours for £15/hr.
When I was a specialist mechanic with workshop, ramps etc I used to charge £45/hr
I was a little surprised that the washing machine repair man - who pretty much had a van and a screwdriver charged the same.
rallycross said:
Buy some petrol engined garden tools and enjoy your outdoors
Petrol lawn mower
Petrol hedge trimmer
Petrol rotovator ( rare thee days)
Petrol strmmer ( 2 stroke so it makes a really annoying noise).
If that does not appeal sell up and buy a flat.... And hand in your PH badge on your way out!
You forgot petrol chainsaw. Petrol lawn mower
Petrol hedge trimmer
Petrol rotovator ( rare thee days)
Petrol strmmer ( 2 stroke so it makes a really annoying noise).
If that does not appeal sell up and buy a flat.... And hand in your PH badge on your way out!
rallycross said:
Buy some petrol engined garden tools and enjoy your outdoors
Petrol lawn mower
Petrol hedge trimmer
Petrol rotovator ( rare thee days)
Petrol strmmer ( 2 stroke so it makes a really annoying noise).
If that does not appeal sell up and buy a flat.... And hand in your PH badge on your way out!
Don't forget the Petrol chainsaw Petrol lawn mower
Petrol hedge trimmer
Petrol rotovator ( rare thee days)
Petrol strmmer ( 2 stroke so it makes a really annoying noise).
If that does not appeal sell up and buy a flat.... And hand in your PH badge on your way out!
When I was 15 I worked as a gardener had a busy routine over the weekend - pretty much year round. As it turned out all had their own equipment, provided their own fuel and any consumables (strimmer string etc) I used my bike so my costs were zero. (Well I bought suntan lotion)
Ride on mowers petrol chain saws (full protective kit) cultivators and one had a strimmer with wheels.
I really enjoyed that work - it was hard solid graft make no mistake. One thing before I started I was reasonably well buillt swam a few times a week and jogged a year after doing this I was very ripped and gained that sun tan you can only get with being outside a lot.
Cash wise I quoted a price for a job - even if a week in week out job it would be a price. This way I had the drive to be more productive so I could fit more work in each day.
Other upsides were gifts of free horse manure - tonnes which we took back to our garden. Sometimes a bottle of beer.
A very satisfying job
Worst one I had was to rake by hand what I'd guess was land totalling 4/5 acres. A baking hot day and it was a new gig where hey had sacked the previous gardener who cut the grass low and thought it good to leave in thick lines grass cuttings to "feed" the lawns..... Back breaking work but that was added to my list of jobs (note grass cutting/pruning/chopping wood for the winter stock etc - good pay too incl food and drink).
If I ever lost my job and wanted time out Id not not discount it.
Hardest thing I found was the weeding/can you dig over that veg patch- what veg patch? Oh the one where clearly it hasn't been one for 20 years by hand. Decking hard work but I looked at that as a great workout you bulk up quickly and are genuinely strong.
Ride on mowers petrol chain saws (full protective kit) cultivators and one had a strimmer with wheels.
I really enjoyed that work - it was hard solid graft make no mistake. One thing before I started I was reasonably well buillt swam a few times a week and jogged a year after doing this I was very ripped and gained that sun tan you can only get with being outside a lot.
Cash wise I quoted a price for a job - even if a week in week out job it would be a price. This way I had the drive to be more productive so I could fit more work in each day.
Other upsides were gifts of free horse manure - tonnes which we took back to our garden. Sometimes a bottle of beer.
A very satisfying job
Worst one I had was to rake by hand what I'd guess was land totalling 4/5 acres. A baking hot day and it was a new gig where hey had sacked the previous gardener who cut the grass low and thought it good to leave in thick lines grass cuttings to "feed" the lawns..... Back breaking work but that was added to my list of jobs (note grass cutting/pruning/chopping wood for the winter stock etc - good pay too incl food and drink).
If I ever lost my job and wanted time out Id not not discount it.
Hardest thing I found was the weeding/can you dig over that veg patch- what veg patch? Oh the one where clearly it hasn't been one for 20 years by hand. Decking hard work but I looked at that as a great workout you bulk up quickly and are genuinely strong.
Condi said:
MX5_Nuts said:
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.
Sorry, thats a very very poor argument when you look at what other professions charge and what their kit costs them. My mate is a agricultural mechanic who has probably £40k of tools and £15k of stock at any one time, and charges £32/hr. You can hire a man with a £100k tractor for about £30 hr, and the breakdown and wear and tear costs can be massive. Even your average plumber or electrician will have at least as much invested in tools as you do, probably more if they do any kind of specialist or industrial work. Yours for £15/hr.
Makes the amount of kit you have look very cheap.
Still there is a floor so given you can't really get anyone to work for cheaper than £10 an hour £15 if your supplying tools is fair enough. The bloke with the £100k tractor who charges £30 an hour should change jobs, that's just daft.
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