Forum

Profit or pot luck?

Profit margins are being squeezed due to many factors but I ask the question does anyone actually factor in “profit” when quoting for jobs?There have been a number of posts on the forum where I suspect that a daily labour rate has been quoted plus ma

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gaining new residential contracts, how to go about getting them.

ive noticed a town not to far from me has loads and loads of old peoples homes and commercial properties etc, some looked very tidy others not so, i wondered how i could go about putting in a quote to take over the contract for the care of garden mai

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Wet Days

What does everyone in this business do on continous wet days when they can't get outside for work.What about the winter months.I have often thought of being like a ski instructor and having two jobs-one for summer and one for winter.Anyone want me to

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Snowed under? Merchant bankers?

It looks like we are entering our second week gripped firmly in the icy hands of the big freeze. As I write, we still have at least four inches of lying snow and still more to come, I believe. A vision of crisp, winter loveliness.Certainly in the sum

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Scheduling work: What methods do you use?

If like me you are handling quite a few different numbers of clients and requirements (at one point I had 400 regulars but now trimmed this way down) then scheduling is a very important part of running the business.Whilst I currently use a mix of Exc

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Yell earnings review

I know quite a few people either use Yellow Pages and Yell.com, or at least get constant calls from their sales reps! So I though you might be interested in a write up of its recent earnings review: Earnings: Yell.com Grows Online, But Over Tenth Of

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Real help for businesses

I follow quite a number of news feeds and recently crossed this one about Business Link: Press release, Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform: Businesses are being urged to take advantage of a range of business support packages on o

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Small firms urged to sign up for government contracts

Small firms across the UK are being urged to sign up to the government’s Supply2.gov.uk website and to take advantage of the thousands of government contracts available. More than 123,000 companies have already signed up to the website, which provide

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The Planning Portal - planning and building regulations for England and Wales

Heard mention of the Planning Portal over the weekend and thought for those involved in bigger projects it might be useful to store away for reference: The Planning Portal The Planning Portal is the UK Government's online planning and building regula

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Research

I am curious, as I have not seen it mentioned much, but how much research do those offering gardening maintenance put into finding work? Have you found different tactics work better in some areas then others?Do you adapt your flyers for different typ

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decent lawnmower

Hi,I'm battling through websites and various advice from here and other sites re the best mower to get! when i started 15years ago i swore by Rover mowers but did get through three in 5years!! Then bought a John deere R52s which lasted 3years before

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Twitter for Landscaping Business?!?

Stephen Fry sent me to Twitter.com and I have noticed an increasing number of trade and service orientated businesses advertising or blogging that they are now "Twittering". I am going to speak in the third person now for the benefit of shamelessly c

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Recession hits the London gardening industry?

Is it just me or is every gardener/landscaper that I catch up with in London moaning about the lack of work out there? Three have told me this week that they're thinking of packing it in because the phone hasn't rung once this year with any enquiries

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Bloom or Doom

Well what a complete and utter mess the gloomy picture that we now see evident with countless reports of job losses well known high street retailers and Banks crashing an economy that is likened to that of a pernitious weed or the Hedera helix slowly

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customer management software

I'm wanting to expand the data stored about my customers.I'm currently using microsoft excel, but find it is limited.Is there any other software that people find effctive for there own landscape business.

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Looking for advice

I am chair of a tenant management organisation and our gardener is retiring later this year. So we will be looking for a new gardener, I am trying to get an idea of the type of person we need to look for, and perhaps some indication of pay.Not wishin

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Quoting for work

I would be interested to know how others go about writing up quotes for work.I put a lot of time and effort into preparing a quote so that the price you see is the price you pay.I have always given a breakdown of materials labour and vat, (I know you

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Staying positive

Hello everyone,I try to keep up to date with your forum, however, I am normally doing paperwork. However, I have turned to you guys and girls in my usual emergencies with gardening.Generally, I am pretty upbeat about the business and am seeing anothe

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Moving the business?

Since I have shed the majority of my full-time staff and will be opting in 2009 to hire contractors for big projects as and when needed; my business has taken on a more flexible format and we have been offered a fresh start in Hampshire which is some

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Small business advice

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