How much to charge for garden maintenance

I guess it depends who your market audience is and if you offer anything more, I put my prices upto £20 an hour and lost the ones I didn't mind losing and a few customers who have been with me from 8 years ago I kept at £17 but charge for extras on top
You must remember you are in business for yourself not for the customer, if they offer tea and biscuits and a toilet I respect that in my rate,
£20 an hour is pretty standard as a rate around Swindon,
An increase from £18 to £20 is over 10% increase in one hit but less if you say there rate has not gone up for say three years
People will always find someone cheaper but i am always aware people love when you tidy up after yourself and I can distinguish my self as a professional at my rate and not of a cheap substandard rated worker
I would put ur rate at say £22 an hour for new clients to subsidise keeping the £18 ones, once you get a load of new customers this year at £22 an hour you won't feel so bad ditching the old cheap ones and I have shown these customers my invoice pads stating hourly rates elsewhere, if they see it in ink they less likely to challenge you, if they do go elsewhere, you may have the satisfaction when they come back because there is either no one cheaper and qualified or they realise your better
My accountant charges me more each year so I put there rate up every year !!!!

As you refer to increasing overheads, I presume one of those is better/newer/more efficient tools and equipment to do your maintenance. If so, ask yourself why your hourly rate has gone up - is it because you have invested in this and you need to justify an increase to recoup?

This goes to the old chestnut of task rate v hourly rate. If you had bought better kit, you would not have had to increase your internal per hour price as the equipment could have made you more efficient, save time so you can do exactly as before but in less time. Your increased income then is obviously gained by being able to do more work and an ability (if you wish to) to keep customers better. Mine haven't a clue what my 'hourly' rate is, because it's an internal one, the only increases in fixed visits would be small inflation ones rather than larger increases because of buying newer kit or vehicle.

My final tip would be if you have to put up rates 10% or so, give your customer a reason to stay with you. I bet you will keep any customer worth their salt if you do a little more (on your terms) than they expect. I can always add 5% in time to a regular loyal customer and it's that that gives you the edge over the less professional types.

Replies

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Luke brooks March 2, 2014 at 4:52pm

I guess it depends who your market audience is and if you offer anything more, I put my prices upto £20 an hour and lost the ones I didn't mind losing and a few customers who have been with me from 8 years ago I kept at £17 but charge for extras on top
You must remember you are in business for yourself not for the customer, if they offer tea and biscuits and a toilet I respect that in my rate,
£20 an hour is pretty standard as a rate around Swindon,
An increase from £18 to £20 is over 10% increase in one hit but less if you say there rate has not gone up for say three years
People will always find someone cheaper but i am always aware people love when you tidy up after yourself and I can distinguish my self as a professional at my rate and not of a cheap substandard rated worker
I would put ur rate at say £22 an hour for new clients to subsidise keeping the £18 ones, once you get a load of new customers this year at £22 an hour you won't feel so bad ditching the old cheap ones and I have shown these customers my invoice pads stating hourly rates elsewhere, if they see it in ink they less likely to challenge you, if they do go elsewhere, you may have the satisfaction when they come back because there is either no one cheaper and qualified or they realise your better
My accountant charges me more each year so I put there rate up every year !!!!
Andy Kenney March 2, 2014 at 5:17pm

As you refer to increasing overheads, I presume one of those is better/newer/more efficient tools and equipment to do your maintenance. If so, ask yourself why your hourly rate has gone up - is it because you have invested in this and you need to justify an increase to recoup?

This goes to the old chestnut of task rate v hourly rate. If you had bought better kit, you would not have had to increase your internal per hour price as the equipment could have made you more efficient, save time so you can do exactly as before but in less time. Your increased income then is obviously gained by being able to do more work and an ability (if you wish to) to keep customers better. Mine haven't a clue what my 'hourly' rate is, because it's an internal one, the only increases in fixed visits would be small inflation ones rather than larger increases because of buying newer kit or vehicle.

My final tip would be if you have to put up rates 10% or so, give your customer a reason to stay with you. I bet you will keep any customer worth their salt if you do a little more (on your terms) than they expect. I can always add 5% in time to a regular loyal customer and it's that that gives you the edge over the less professional types.
chris March 2, 2014 at 6:22pm

How many have you lost so far ???
Kieran Ray March 2, 2014 at 6:44pm

What part of Herts are you in? If it's south, when I was doing garden maintenance in the St Albans area our charges where based more on £30 an hour.
Peter March 2, 2014 at 7:07pm

All depends on the individual customer, they all seem to differ on what they deem reasonable. Some people will pay it and others will say it's too much.
Colin Hunt March 2, 2014 at 8:52pm

The correct rate is the rate you can charge to pay for and renew your equipment plus all other overheads with enough over to give you a decent living with a little bit left over for profit......and that will entirely depend on your location, type of customer, how good you are at your job and at selling your services.

I don't think you are far out by the way!