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I think realistically most of us will have to tighten our belts .... some will be lucky and be able to put their prices up - if I just look at things as if I was employing a Gardener on a regular schedule.
Our food bill has gone up around 20% in the year
Fuel (for heating and power) has more than doubled
Fuel for cars has gone up by 50%
... Guess what my pension hasnt - its gone up by a whole 3%, I cant be the only one in this situation
Utilities and other businesses don't seem to be holding back increasing their prices on essentials
Some customers may regard having a regular gardener as a non essential if their disposable income is compromised by rising prices .
Garden projects can also be postponed until the economy turns a corner and they have the funds to spend .
Problem is though rising prices for materials have a nasty habit of normalising and they never seem to go back down again as there is often several suppliers in the supply chain which has knock on effect .
Will the cost of energy and food drop to previous levels is anyone's guess so I suspect many in our industry will have to go with the flow and increase prices since we are not immune from rising price increases in order to stay afloat .
Interesting our milkman was determined not to increase his prices and now delivers the weeks supply in one drop saving on fuel which has worked for the time being .
I had Six one off jobs booked in for December and they were all jobs which the customers had put off so they were overgrown demanding jobs which they felt needed doing with Christmas in mind .
Five of these customers got in touch to cancel in every case they explained it was due to the increase in their energy direct debit .
Just heard the chancellor has announced things will get worse before they get better .
Personally I feel there is room for flexibility to a point as a sole trader as long as I can see some light at the end of the tunnel to keep me motivated .
Simple write down your Costs pre price rise and now and whatever the difference is increase your rates to cover it. I put my hourly rate up by £3.50 7 months ago and haven't lost any work over it everyone's understands. There's no point working for less profit
Things seven months ago where very different to how they are now and how they are predicted to be in the future. So the decision to increase prices or not isn't that "simple" plus, a lot of us don't work on a hourly rate.
I've thought about increasing my prices next year. But only about £1.50 a customer (residential garden) this would give me about an extra £75 a week. I'm still not sure tho. I seem to sway from doing it and hanging off this year.
Have been contemplating something similar, then after a visit from the accountant realise something a bit more is needed. Fuel for the vehicle use has been just over £200 more for the year , yet I'm driving the same as one example
In October I put in all my contracts for renewal. I upped all by 10% which was accepted without question.
I will be doing the same for all my contracts for next year.
I think we all know which customers will accept an increase without protesting.
I'm advising everyone that due to increasing costs, I have to make a small increase but as I'm aware that everyone is experiencing similar conditions, I'm keeping it to a minimum. Most people will accept that I think but it rema8ns to be seen of course.
We look at inflation at the same time each year for consistency and increase accordingly. With inflation being so high this year and most people being in the same boat we can suffer an increase of inflation less 3% next year but I wouldn't do that on a regular basis. It's important to remember an increase missed one year is lost income for not just the following year but for every year after that, unless you intend making an adjustment at some point.
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