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I have a minimum price for each of my maintenance services
grass cutting inc strimming and blowing is £20 any less and it wouldnt be worth my while unless the job was in my own street
Cheer Gavin. £20 was the figure I had in mind, I was unsure as some gardens are only small. I was unsure if £20 was too much.
Cheers mate.
Consider it another way;
If you had 5 or 6 smallish gardens to do in a day, on a min charge with say 15-30 mins between each, could you make a living ?
Above all, Know your costs and have an idea of what you want to earn (huge back catalog of threads on LJN re: this subject)
Many other trades have a much higher min charge, which effectively reduces the longer you spend on site.
A sole trader friend of mine, now just divides his day in two hour slots and wor't accept jobs that take less than that.
Appreciate it depends on location and whether you are urban or rural (due to travel time)
Its a tricky one as Gary says, location and "going rate" have a big influence. I generally make it £20 as in a reasonably affluent area. Saying that, if I'm doing a regular £20 job and the neighbour asks if I can run the mower over her small front garden, I might well say "just give us a fiver" if its just a 5 minute job. Funnily enough, this can often lead to a regular £20 job in the future.
I'm not sure if a minimum charge is common or not but I don't have one.
My cheapest job is about £5.00 or so (I cant remember the exact price) +vat. 21 visits per year billed quarterly.
Zero travel time as I'm maintaining the common areas on the estate anyway.
roughly £22+vat minimum for either a mow or lawn treatment. Remember you're not being paid travelling time, but it's got to be covered, and typically at start-up season you're doing more as you haven't been able to create tight rounds yet.
Other common advice is don't start too low in charges as it's hard to fix later on as you realise your not really making a living.
I never cease to be amazed that people will pay £22+VAT to have a lawn cut.......... if we're honest, a fairly unskilled job that the majority of homeowners could just do themselves if it was too pricey. I can understand though that this price may well be necessary if you've got 2 mens wages in the van and you've got a lot of traveling to and fro the job. This is where the one-man-band with all the jobs in close proximity comes in handy to keep overheads to a minimum.
If it's an "in & out" with no skill or care than maybe that assertion is true.
Common fallacy that a one man band is the always the most cost effective entity - basic business costing proves that for even for "mow-blow-trim & go" services a two man 1 van operation has greater chance of recovering business overheads (and making a better profit).....
Clients perceive value for money depending on how it is offered and by whom. You sell on "benefits" not "features".
Under-valuing one's self is a bit of an own shot in the foot......
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