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Furthermore again, he suggests NOT breaking down the estimated cost.
If I were asking a trades-person for an estimate, I would prefer to see some detail rather than one figure.
I don't give details of hourly rates to customers, only a fixed price, but I base my fixed price on an hourly rate. I do provide a labour cost and a materials cost and sometimes break these down further if a job can be broken into several tasks.
I would be very interested to hear how others work.
I don't think this is something anyone would want to openly discuss unless it's on the member's forum. Anybody, including your clients, can read it here.
Apologies, I didn't think. I shall make amends.
Not realistic in my opinion.
I like to think we're all honest/fair people so cannot see the need to hide pricing discussions on a "closed" forum unless we're trying to conceal something lol!! I always try and be transparent with charges, explaining to customers the cost of equipment/tipping fees/fuel etc etc and they understand and happy to pay a fair price. £35 for a hedge may well be a fair price but you obviously need think about the time it will take etc. Backbreaking work at £55-£66/hour..... personally, I'd feel very guilty about charging that much as I couldn't justify it and I don't think many customers would either.
Paul McNulty said:
Well there's contrast for you.
Neil - approximately what proportion of your time do you spend trimming hedges?
by the time you consider the 3-5k of kit needed to do hedge cutting properly and remove / handle the waste, 35ph is quite cheap imo.
By the time you factor in depreciation, running costs and the fact the tools are used for maybe 10 hours a week average through the year (more at peak hedge time), that does not leave an awful lot left to pay a wage.
Daft thing being, at 35ph, you will get more done in one hour that the have-a-go brigade at £15-£20ph could in 3 hours, Everyone's a winner.
Agree that with the proper gear, you can get a lot more done than the "have a go" brigade however I'm not so sure about needing 3-5k worth of equipment for your average, regularly maintained hedge. The main essential being a good quality Stihl cutter which will set you back £500 max and should last years if looked after.... I find the majority of cuttings can be disposed of in the clients wheelie bin. A strimmer for the hedge base and a blower are also very handy but these get minimal use in the operation. Maybe I'm a have-a-go brigade as I have sometimes charged £20 myself in the past for a short/low hedge.... I like to think I do a really good job however I'd reckon to do 2 of these in about an hour if they're near each other so £40/hour isn't bad I reckon.