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I don't think people are as affluent in the north-east so perhaps £20 for what is probably half-an-hours work might be excessive. I realise you've spent money on the Honda/Stihl stuff but now you have them, they should last for years so won't be a regular expense. As you say, the "dole patrol" are out but to their credit, they're out there earning some money and not sitting on their backsides watching the Jeremy Kyle show....... mind you, they can't do that now:)
what of the front lawn is 500m2 and the back 1200m2?
Putting a price per lawn is just stupid. Its about time involved
The answer (and it is not an immediate solution) is to broaden your experience and services. If your lawns look better than those of the 'dole patrol', then you will gain work. All round garden care is very attractive to many customers and you can then move to annual contract charging. A mix of private and commercial will give you flexibility eg where private customers like a set day, it is less important with commercial work.
The world is full of people who are willing to pay, providing they receive a good, reliable service.
Your prices sound very reasonable Neal. It's not worth even turning up to a job for less than £20 around here!
Don't worry about the cheaper people stick to being reliable and professional and the work will come.
People who earn money whilst claiming benefit are scum! Hard working tax payers money being wasted on low life's!
Cheers Jim , hopefully ...cheers for the imput everyone.
I think whether you remove the waste or not is also a big factor in the price. If they get rid of it, fine, but if you do, there's the time, fuel and tipping costs to take into account
I'd generally start at £25 for a small garden with waste removed and adjust upwards from there
mulch mow - much better for the lawn
Agree with that Adie, waste removal always has a separate price in my quotes and it's expensive!
It's a very difficult question to answer as every job is different. The cheapest jobs I have are very small domestic lawns. I have three altogether which are £22 each. They are only about 75 square metres in size. I use my Stiga 740 PWX [no hand mowing] and each one takes about 15 minutes including strimming, edging with the strimmer and blowing around. I have another one which is only 60 square metres [front and back in total] which is £25, as I have to use my hand mower. This one takes a little longer by the time I have fiddled about with the hand mower and takes about 25 minutes.
At the other end of the scale I have a job which takes one hour and is £100, another which takes 1-45 and is £156 [It’s actually much more than this but my strimmer man has the rest of the money]. I am fortunate to have quite a few like this.
Grass cutting should be at the very, very least £40 per hour. I would say that about £50 to £60 should be a good average to aim for.
Of course there is the loading and travelling. When I say I have a one hour job which is £100, I mean one hour on site. This doesn't include traveling there and back, although it is only seven miles away and I try to plan the work in a circuit.
It’s funny how when you work for yourself, you don’t count the time sending emails and invoices, going to the bank, visiting the dealer, doing repairs and maintenance, trips to the petrol station, viewing new jobs and talking/calling clients, when saying how long a job takes. Also, I spent eleven thousand pounds last years on mowers. This is why the hourly rate for when you are actually mowing needs to be £60 per hour or more.
Definitely agree with Colin,
theres loads of people cutting grass round our way but they don’t want the more skilled Gardening work which sets you apart and where you can charge a lot more. I tend to find you go in and do the pruning/borders etc then you pick up the grass cutting aswel and they cancel the previous grass cutting person so they can deal with just one person etc. I would ignore the dole patrole they come and go and if they are willing to get out the van for less than £20 then let them have it!! I do odd bits of grass cutting that I tend to fit In the evenings but not a lot. One thing I do find is that you need to make sure the customer realises that your price is based on cutting the lawn at pre agreed intervals, I have had people try and phone now and then where the grass hadn’t been cut for a month and they expect you to do it for the same price I.e if it’s £25 to cut it every other week it would £50 to do it once a month etc,
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