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Where abouts are you in the uk?
Also are the said people working on there own in a vehicle your provide them with?
I can't imagine i would ever work in manual job for so little.
That is comparable to here in Northern Ireland, are wages are low though to the rest of the UK
I suspect anyone who charges £15-£20 p/hr effectively has a take home pay between £15000 - £19000, after all costs/expenses are settled, which would give a take home rate IRO £7.50 - £9.00p/hr.
Assumes they average 40hrs/week over 47 weeks a year.
For those in employment, comparative NMW:
Fair comment ?
Really simplistically (imaginary ST);
T/O:
£15 p/hr * 1840 hrs = £27600 (if you can work those hours.. ie max'd out)
Costs (pa):
£750 Motor insurance
£300 VED
£55 MOT
£500 Service/tyres/breakdown etc
£1000 pa Van loan/Sinking fund for next vehicle
£2500 Fuel based ~ £10k miles
£2000 Basic Machine costs
£500 PL/ELI insurance
£500 Machine Repairs/Fuel/Oil/Blades/Strimmer line etc (unless recover as COGS)
---------
= ~£8000 to £9000 = overheads
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= ~£19000 GP on a good day
Then tax on profit etc
..Just putting it out there...sniff sniff... I can smell the coffee....
What are your overheads per hour costs then Mitchel?
Less than that i run bio diesel in the 4x4 for starters.
my machine costs aren't even close to that haha
my insurance and vehicle costs are lower than that gary
public liabiltys cheaper to
I wasn't implying they were your costs, but some stick their head in the sand and never know their costs, but what if costs increase ? Vehicle breaks down, you need new machinery ( buy a trailer, plough & a snowex ;)
I suspect those costs are 'reasonably' representative of a normal young-ish Sole Trader
true but as everything the more equipment and stuff the more expensive jobs you can quote for that others can't also faster you work the higher you hourly wage goes.
the lads in the place I used to work in do a 44 hour weeks on £6.50 per hour cutting grass and clearing messes, the landscapers at basic 'rank' got £7.20 and the skilled/longer standing members got £8.
In my honest opinion that is disgracefully low especially when a hard landscaper could do a bricklaying apprenticeship/NVQ and go earn £15-21.
I did it the other way round and it honestly shocked my when leaving the trowel to go to the greener side as there is so much more to learn in landscaping or horticulture all together yet the wages were piss poor.