Hi there,
I'm a newby to gardening as a job (just started end of April), but things are going well so far.
I've got 3 clients each of whome are asking me to buy in plants to plant up areas of their gardens I've cleared.
I've breezily said yeah fine, of course I can. But now thinking about it, I'm not sure how to go about it. The easy bit is coming up with a list of plants, but I'm not sure how to tackle the money side of things.
I've got a contact at a local garden centre (the local nurseries only seem to supply to retail) and he has said I can e-mail a list of plants and he'll price it for me.
What do I do next? I charge per hour, but I clearly need to be recompensed for the admin and I recon I should put a markup on the order, but that would mean I'd have to pay for the plants myself and what happens if the client doesn't pay me? (As opposed to asking the client to pay the supplier direct). I guess I need to get the money from the client first and then put the order in. Is that right?
What sort of markup would be reasonable? I'm thinking 20%?
Any advice to help me avoid a stupid newby mistake would be much appreciated! I'm probably over thinking it lol
Thanks,
Sarah.
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Replies
First find out if your clients have a realistic budget to make it worth your while , sometimes clients will just pull a ball park figure out of the air , a nice round figure like £100 quid and so really no point in pursuing the opportunity any further , you can just end up doing a lot of running around and research for nothing .
With a garden makeover customer expectations and budgets should be established at the offset which is your navigation to determine if the job is going to be worth your while .
All too often if a client defines your role as garden maintenance at £25 or less per hour then everything you do will carry the the same value including supplying plants to fill the spaces in the garden you have cleared , the plants become an afterthought when they should be the end goal you are working towards ( a nice garden makeover ) and you charge accordingly for the value your skills , knowledge , admin , running around sourcing plants have added .
usually I would categorise a job like this as a project separate from any regular maintenance arrangements you might have and take a deposit from which you can buy the plants and then invoice for the final settlement once the job is complete which will be based on the estimate or quote you initially agreed with the client .
If it's just a bed to fill with a few bedding plants you still have to establish a budget and have a minimum charge so you can keep on doing a job you enjoy otherwise some clients will take advantage and use you to go to the garden centre to buy Their plants .
Have being there and learned the hard way .
My local nursery has been really helpful. My big mistake was not realising they added VAT to the prices quoted!
Sarah , we do several planting jobs a year, mix of domestic and commercial varying from a few hundred pounds upto many thousands. You have the right attitude that the client should be paying for your time and expertise in planning,sourcing and collecting the plants this is a separate cost to actually putting them in the ground.
We are fortunate that we have several local nurseries,privately owned who offer us a trade discount, you should try and find one that will offer a discount which is NOT passed on to the client but is for your profit benefit, after over 40 years in the trade experience has taught that you don't get any thanks for doing favours particularly financial ones! Remember you are running a business not a charity.
As to pricing, we put 35% on retail so a £10 plant is charged out at £13.50, the client does not need to know the cost of each plant and when quoting and asked for a plant list we only give the total cost, not the cost of each plant, we also remove or black out all price labels as we have had clients going around adding up the prices! No you could'nt make it up.
In regard to payment for the plants - if we don't know the client we ask for either 50 or 100% upfront being particularly careful if it's a LTD company. Avoid the offer of a client paying the supplier as your profit margin/mark up disappears, we have had this happen and say it's a trade only supplier so they can't pay the supplier. Hope that answers everything? Anything else please ask.
We do planting on occasion. Our regulars get told price + 10-20% for anything we spend money on for their property. This way they know from the start what to expect. When we do one off planting jobs we tell the customers the price per metre (for hedges etc) or we tell them the price we sell the plant at, which will include our mark up. We found a lot of resistance when telling customers our prices for plants as they can get them elsewhere for cheaper, however we can't guarantee quality from an unknown supplier.
Hi Sarah, we do a lot of planting jobs. In our experience there are two ways to do it. You can either charge your normal (or an enhanced) hourly rate for research/sourcing of plants plus fuel costs or you charge a mark up on the plants. We'd recommend no less than 50% if you have a trade nusery you can use locally. Remember that you're using your expertise to find them the best plants for that particular spot in their garden. It's interesting to compare which approach is more lucrative for you and should give you a template for future jobs. We always ask for a payment up front to at least cover the majority of the plant costs, say 75%.
We also recommend getting yourself a set of T&C's which clearly set out that ongoing plant welfare is the responsiblitly of the client unless they ask you specially to look after the new plants as part of your ongoing maintenance work. Given the weather we've experienced until recently we also send clients the RHS watering guide (on the RHS website) as many people really don't understand what watering actually means. Hope that's all useful!
Thanks to everyone who has commented on this - some really helpful points and clarity on what I need to do.
I think going forward I will need to find a trade nursery. There are a couple of big ones locally (Wyevale and Allensmore), but they seem to only supply to retail. Is there a useful directory somewhere that could help me find a nursery - or is it just a case of Googling it?
Thanks all!
Sarah.
Not sure where you are but probably worth a quick google check - some of them may not have an obvious presence online of course but there are plenty around. Worth visiting them and introducing yourself, they are often pleased to have new custom.
There are big suppliers such as Johnsons of whixley who will supply more diverse clients other than just retailers such as landscapers and designers etc .
Other established local nurseries may not make it obvious but they are usually more than happy to supply self employed gardeners so always worth a visit and take your business card
Other diversifying garden centre type plant specialists also worth visiting even if it's 10% discount off retail plants including compost , sundries ,turf etc every little helps .
Also there are specialist growers tucked away who are usually very helpful They may just specialise in pond plants ,grasses or wild flowers etc ,always worth making a connection with as they are a very useful resource and can inspire new ideas ,planting schemes etc.
Worth searching on the Ebay plants section by "nearest first" to see if any growers in your area. Also a lot of small independent nurseries and semi-amateur plant enthusiasts stand at car boot sales, their prices can be very reasonable and the selection more diverse than one might imagine
Thanks for all the comments - very helpful once again!
I'm in Herefordshire, which is pretty rural, and there's 2 big nurseries, but they say they can't deliver as they deliver on artics and will only go to commercial premises. I can collect, but I don't have a van, so that'll be hard to work! Also, they all seem to not offer the range of plants I'd like. A lot of bedding. 101 varieties of Dianthus, but none of the go-to perennials I'd like to use.
I've sent another few e-mails this morning to nurseries further afield. I'm going to try now the e-bay nearest tip!
If anyone is in or near Herefordshire and can recommend a nursery, please do let me know! :)
Thanks all,
Sarah.
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