What do you think of this?
Other industries have a very good idea of what their competitors are charging, and they are all making good profits. For example, its possible to see what all Airlines charge. Plumbers have a standard rate of about £40 per hour for labour only, and so do roofers, scaffolders etc etc. But does our industry have a standardized rate??
It seems obvious that industries that do have a published standardized rate do very much better than those that don't. So what do say about publishing a set of standardized rates for Garden Maintenance Services.
It doesn't mean that you will need to charge that rate, but it will give the public a benchmark as to what they should expect to pay for the service you offer.
Lets hear from you.
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Adrian I sent you an email about this last week and you have not even bothered to offer a reply?
I charge set prices for lawn work, starting at £15, Majority are £30, £35, or £40, my biggest is £55, i remove the cuttings, and i did it in record time on Sat ( 1hr!, yes i didn't stop, using my Honda 536 Pro beast ) Its the best earning job we do now. Shame they are not all like that though.
I don't charge less than £25 to do a job. Hardly worth it for less than that once you factor in travel, waste disposal and maintenance of the tools used as well as tax paid on that £25.
I don't think many businesses are really comparable for prices other than the huge retail outlets etc.?
I understand that you can easily compare a box of Tetley Tea Bags in every supermarket, but most trades are very varied depending on where you are based. You certainly won't find many plumbers in London charging £40 per hour! Have you actually tried to compare flight costs? In fact there are calls for them to be forced to be more transparent with the final total you pay, not the headline price.
We are even less likely to benefit IMO. Our jobs are so variable, once you factor in access, conditions etc., that saying "a lawn is £xxx" is just raising false expectations. I might charge 2 or 3 times as much for jobs that would seem very similar on paper, or on the phone, but are hugely different when you view them. A terraced house with no back access other than through the house, on a steep hill, with a 20 m2 lawn, or a nice flat site with easy access but a 200 m2 lawn: which would cost more to cut weekly?
If you're going to publish guide prices, you'd have to make them the worst possible sites, in the most expensive part of the country. Of course, that would look expensive!
I guess it does have a standardized rate as set by Spons?
Does anyone use Spons? We certainly do, not necessarily as it is written in there but for cross referencing certain jobs and how long they might take
Spons does set a labour rate though......I wouldn't like to comment what is is - my latest copy is 2012.
I have two lawns on the same street, both about 400SQm, One is almost totally flat, sunny aspect and moss free.
The other is sloping, half of it steep at enough for most self propelled mowers to really struggle up, Shaddy, full of moss and tends to get water logged - both have good access.
Am I right to charge more for the steeper lawn? Yes - thus prooving that comparing prices per job in such a variable trade as ours is pretty much a non starter! The main thing to aim for is a realistic rate for a tradesperson and avoid the daft hourly rate malarkey that some people get stuck in, No other trade entertains it, we shouldnt either.
Haven't we been here before?
I am sorry about that but I have just rechecked my emails and don't see anything from you.
Send it again and I will keep an eye out for it.
Robbie said:
David Cox said:
Adrian Noble said: