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We do a lot of planting, it helps to make a margin if you're vat registered, which assume you aren't?
We use a very local nursery who are primarily retail but give us 25% off the retail price but includes vat, we charge the client the full retail before discount and plus vat, EG plant retail price £8 Inc vat less our 25% equals a cost price to us of £6 Inc vat, we claim the vat back so it's cost us £5 ex vat. The plant costs the client £8 plus vat so we have a profit on that plant of £3.which covers our design and time to fetch, obviously there's another profit to be made from the planting.
When we use a true wholesale nursery where the plants are ex vat, we charge the client double the wholesale price Inc vat and then plus vat. EG wholesale price £3 plus vat equals £3.60 client pays £7.20 plus vat..
If you aren't vat registered suggest you use your cost price plus 40 or 50%
Hope that helps
We also do a lot of planting, and our nearest wholesaler is 35miles away, or we order deliveries. We pass the cost on in 3 ways;
Additionally when we order bulk, we buy extra, for future sales. Of course we need to water, protect & care for the plants, and we charge for that.
We currently have approx 800 perennials & 150 shrubs.
With a few exceptions e.g aquatic plants we supply from stock.
It would be useful to have a trade nursery nearby, but they don't exist.
Find a good plant nursery who's plant quality you can trust and get them to deliver to the site or if its nearby or you can collect .
We have a trade nursery 50 mintutes away so its a no brainer if its a large order they will deliver direct .
£40 suppliers delivery charge compared to what you would have to charge for sourcing and compensate for loss of your productive time works out better all round .
Another approach i have learned to use is to have a plant list i.e plants and shrubs which work together in similar gardens right plant / right place sites which is almost a blue print only quantities differ often works out well to buy a bigger pot and you can split the plants three ways .
Simplifies things when pricing and placing your order with your supplier .
A customer made me think recently when she casually asked me to pick up a bag of jacks magic compost from her go to garden centre where its only £4.99 a bag .
It meant a special trip taking 45 minutes in total , I wondered if because she pointed it out that she would still expect to pay me £4.99 for the bag of compost ? I worked out that cost of fuel and percentage of my productive time total should be £27 + £4.99 = £31.99
Then it struck me is there a case for customer service and going the extra mile ?
I find though when it happens too many times it falls into the category of customer fatigue which is not a healthy state of mind so find its important to have a system which enables you to prepare for it happening again .
John
i would have pointed that out to the customer; collection, delivery ((which would include fuel cost) would be added to the cost. If you were already going there for a plant order for them then it's a different story.
I grow my own! That way you keep 100% of the profits and clients know that if any fail within a couple of months (apart from not being watered!) I'll replace them FOC. Also means I get to keep & recycle the pots, and getting paid to plant them. It's also a low-energy way to get ancillary income.
Hi Dominic,
sounds great! How do you set your prices? Especially plants that you have been growing for a few years - how do you make sure they are worth it? How much space do you need to make a sensible stab at growing your own?
Thanks a lot!
I charge for time plus 20%.on plant prices as a minimum
Unless it's quite a few bigger stuff I usually just put £1000 on for time and hassle
I used to go and buy things in my own time and add a mark-up. But now, I make a point of buying it in their paid for time, and still adding the mark up. My feeling is they wouldn't expect a plumber to use his time to go and buy a part, and there's the extra fuel (especially at the moment) and plant selection - IE, your skill in selecting something good, that isn't pot bound and so on. I go for trade nurseries but I'm lucky to have one near where I work most of the time.
thanks everyone - really useful advice, especially the tip about buying a larger plant and dividing - hadn't thought of that!
I have opened a few trade accounts, and charged the full amount to the customer - feels good to know that I'm making a decent amount of money on something that did actaually take time and skillls...
Now I'm wondering how to log this in my records - any easy answers?!