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  Dan Frazer Gardening February 3, 2010 at 3:33pm

  What do your associates get paid if your business charges £12.50 per hour? i.e. where do you get paid for managing them and the work?
  
  It sounds to me like you need to change your business model. Take on permanent staff, ensure the brand is clean and consistent, smarten up and buy new vehicles if needed, raise prices to £15 and ramp up the marketing for new customers.
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  Alison Gregory February 3, 2010 at 3:51pm

  Hi Steve,
  
  Thanks for that - trouble is I pitched the price far too low when I began. I've been trying to increase prices little by little, 50p here a quid there - doesn't make much difference though...think I'm going to have to bite the bullet. I have become more like a charitable organisation - no wonder my customers all love me!
  
  Steve Kenyon The Garden Company said:

  Thats why you are so busy £12.50 per hour ,,,,, alison increase your price , example , if you loose 50 per cent work and increase by 50 per cent in charging your better off because less wear and tear on equip etc , its good bisiness, and you are still bringing home the same income ,
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  Alison Gregory February 3, 2010 at 4:08pm

  Hi Dan,
  
  The girls are paid £8 per hr of the £12.50 charged. Whenyou take into consideration travelling between jobs, it works out more like £6.50 per hr. I dont earn anything for the paperwork, which takes ages - not to mention the headaches of covering sick & holiday absences.
  
  Our season is quite short - we work from mid Feb to mid December. As all our clients are regulars, by the time we get to the end of the year, all of our gardens have been tidied up and put to bed as it were.
  
  I have two vans - both seat three and both fully stocked with tools. One van is signwritten, though am unsure whether to commit to having the second done yet.
  
  We are quite unique in that there are no other female only gardening companies in the area - no shortage of potential business, but yes I agree with you - £15 per hour sounds more like it, though that would represent a 20 per cent increase...
  
  We also have a corporate image in that our workwear is all logoed - black and pink clothing, so we do look the part too. Just need more resources in order to meet demand, maybe wont be needed if the prices go up...
  
  The only marketing tool we have is the van - all other business so far has been by word of mouth recommendation.
  
  
  
  Dan Frazer Gardening said:

  What do your associates get paid if your business charges £12.50 per hour? i.e. where do you get paid for managing them and the work?
  
  It sounds to me like you need to change your business model. Take on permanent staff, ensure the brand is clean and consistent, smarten up and buy new vehicles if needed, raise prices to £15 and ramp up the marketing for new customers.
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  Dan Frazer Gardening February 3, 2010 at 4:25pm

  Do you feel being a women-only business attracts more customers? It may put some customers off, although I appreciate this would be a major change in the way the business is ran and marketed!
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  Alison Gregory February 3, 2010 at 5:21pm

  We originally set up gardening, on a part-time basis, between school hours, hence it being an ideal job opportunity for Mums with school children (me included). Therefore, not such an attractive proposition for someone intending to earn a living from it.
  
  Possibly it could be off putting that we are all women, a large proportion of our customers are women living alone who seem to prefer the fact that we are. I also have professional business people we have regular maintenance contracts with, they employ us for our creative input, in addition to basic maintenance services.
  
  I'm not far from an agricultural college - am intending to advertise there for staff...fingers crossed it may generate some interest from people with the necessary skills needed!
  
  Dan Frazer Gardening said:

  Do you feel being a women-only business attracts more customers? It may put some customers off, although I appreciate this would be a major change in the way the business is ran and marketed!
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  Dan Frazer Gardening February 3, 2010 at 5:34pm

  Should we call you Roberta?
  
  Rob Glassborow said:

  Also, please can I come and join your all girl team.
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  Alison Gregory February 3, 2010 at 5:47pm

  Haha! Yes please, all help welcome at the moment!!
  
  Cheers for your advice - think you are confirming what I already suspected...
  
  My accountant is pretty good - we have Tax refs and signed declarations on file for all of the ladies stating they are responsible for their own NI contrbutions and Tax. We all have our own Public Liability insurance also, so that's covered too.
  
  I hear what you say about not charging hourly rates - my window cleaner doesn't so why do we? I will definately be charging per job in future - if I decide to continue of course!!
  
  
  
  
  
  Rob Glassborow said:

  No wonder you are pushing the elephant uphill. Not getting paid for Paperwork? Running vans, and providing a good image for your company. Im sorry, but for £15 per hour, you may as well give that to your customers to get someone else to do it!
  
  It also sounds like a lose arrangement with your staff for £7.50 per hr. I am sure that they will tell you they have, but are they meeting their Tax and NHI as they should. If not, it will come back to you, and the HMRC will require you to pay all the backdated unrecieved contributions. It does happen, especiall
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  Alison Gregory February 3, 2010 at 6:00pm

  Doh, just got it - sorry Dan, thought you were talking to me! Have got room for Roberta and Danielle too.....!!
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  Alison Gregory February 3, 2010 at 6:36pm

  Thanks for that, is looking more like a no-brainer each comment I read...
  
  My accountant is pretty good - she costs me, but glad I have invested in her advice. The girls all have an alternative source of employment - none work solely as gardeners (some work just one day only with me per week). I have spoken previously with Business Link who made me aware of this, but thanks anyway.
  
  We have wide ranging expertise, so I am able to cover differing requirements in different gardens, our customers are all really happy with our service, but it just doesnt seem it will ever be profitable!
  
  
  
  Pro Gard said:

  I think all your questions have now been answered, In a nut shell the charge out rate is abysmally low for a business employing.
  
  I wonder about the quality of work that manual workers on £8ph, genuinly self employed can produce, this is an extremely low pay rate for the responibility and overheads of self employment.
  
  If you currently employee 8 on a self employed basis then, raise the prices to £18 or £20ph on all work via a job price for work and with the jobs you lose you should still have a one or two man (profitable) business.
  
  Are you aware that legally workers who work for you on a self employed basis must also be able to prove an additional income stream. it is not possible to be self employed working for one employer only. Have a look at the HMRC site/ consult an accountant as you risk getting into hot water.
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  Nicky @ GardenImprovements.com February 3, 2010 at 8:13pm

  Hi Alison - as everybody has said you must increase your basic charge out and I whole-heartedly agree with Rob's advice. I personally think the all-girl approach is a fantastic idea and presents a great USP which is backed up by your corporate imaging. I doubt it will have any significant negative effect at all! The job-for-school-run-mums idea, other than being a great potential supplementary USP, is also something that could really work very well if you can enforce some structure into the hours that the ladies work. It sounds to me like you have a good foundation for a real business and as you have admitted it is surely time to step it up!
  
  If this idea started between yourself and some other girls you are friends with then the shift between what you are doing now into a money-making business may prove to be an awkward transition. I reckon that as long as you hold a meeting to present your intentions to the group at the outset, and then reinforce the aspiration with constant positive vocal ambition you should hopefully find that the team will move with you as much as they can and nobody will feel sidelined by the big shift.
  
  Anyway I reckon you should "go get some and go make some"!
  
  Good luck - and use LJN as much as you can; that's what it's here for!!