Hi everyone. I signed up to this forum a while ago so have read a few threads on setting up a business, I feel now I’m ready to take the plunge and want to launch a garden maintenance and hopefully design business. What I want advice on is what to include on flyers/ business cards with regards to starting off doing the things that I feel comfortable with. I have some RHS 2 training and I’ve just started studying RHS level 3 in Garden Planning and design and have been doing an Arboriculture course in lockdown.
I have a background in textile design and my ambition is to eventually focus on garden design but would like to work as a gardener now, I really do enjoy weeding, so I might as well get paid for it! So far, I have done a couple of garden design projects for places I volunteer at, (planting plans you can see on my website) and for family. I suppose what I’m not confident with is a customer wanting a larger garden design project and me not having any experience doing landscaping, or doing plans a landscaper can work from.
I am going to be cycling or motorbiking to jobs and using mostly manual tools so I could emphasise a quiet, green service, with a smaller carbon footprint as a USP. I design with pollinator-friendly plants and want to do wildlife gardens that will look stunning, not just the usual wildlife gardens which some people may see as 'messy'. There are some very ‘green areas’ in South Manchester, so I should be able to access those sorts of customers. I am confident in offering weeding, pruning of plants and shrubs, basic hedge trimming (I'm not going to be carrying a ladder), planting, garden tidying and plant advice, so I could list those as services. I've also thought of doing a wildlife garden audit service where I advise people how they could attract more birds and wildlife, what's good and bad in terms of wildlife in their garden and say how it could be improved. That service could lead into offering a full design. But it’s what to include about design on my flyer or business cards, should I include ‘garden design’ ...or just 'planting design'?
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Hi Marie
You seem like you have lots of insight already and forming a business plan .
It seems a logical step for you to advertise a green service but i feel it depends if potential customers see it as a unique selling point so you may have to use your research and intuition as to how to target them specifically .
I am sure if you advertise your services as a general gardener you will attract customers then go along and eliminate the ones you dont feel comfortable with but some may require you to carry out a task using equipment you are limited to transporting .
I started out initially on a bike many years ago with a pair of secateurs and a bag of hand tools but i used customers machinery which is an option if they have it , alternatively i have a small van but i have bought machinery i can't carry and had it delivered and stored on customers premises if it justifies the cost .
Turning back to the eco side i dont advertise it specifically but more and more people are asking if i use chemicals or not , i dont personally but not against them when used by qualified , responsible contractors but the fact they ask me without being prompted means there may be growing awareness .and recently have being asked to rip up artificial lawns and reinstate to real grass .
I would certainly immerse myself in all things green , from products to solutions and become a consultant if that was my intended business model , customers do ask questions about attracting hedgehogs and best plants to attract pollinators but its advice i offer freely without charge , how one can convert it to a sale never really enters my mind .
Perhaps its possible to sell an eco friendly package . Others on here may have more suggestions .
Hi John thanks for your input. I wouldn't be using chemicals, I try my best to avoid them. I would love to replace lawns with tapestry lawns and sell that to customers as less mowing and more biodiversity. I suppose I can start with basic maintenance as you said and see what customers needs are. Maybe I could do a bit more market research too.
In my mind, I have always separated garden "planning" from garden "designing" and believe that is a way into someone's requirements without a fully-fledged, charged-for garden design service where they will expect a high level of expertise and demonstrable.
There is a good and growing marketplace for niche contractors working with the right type of clients. Certainly, homeowners are becoming more aware of their environment hastened by spending more time at home during Covid.
The challenge is finding those clients, but if you are able to 'read' people's attitude during 'qualifying' them I suspect you will learn to take on the right kind of clients and work with them over a period of time to develop those gardens.
We have an eco/green gardener in our region that attends the regular Farmer's market and other town-based events and they clearly generate a lot of interest on the day...
Word of mouth recommendation could then take over......
Just some musings while taking a tea break....
Your musings are most helpful, the farmer's market idea is something I would never have thought of.
I would suggest contacting all the bodies/groups/ companies etc. that are likely to want natural/wildlife gardens installing. You could write/email/speak to them offering your design service, listing your qualifications. English Heritage are involved with this kind of work at nearby Hardwick Hall here in Derbyshire.
A personal introduction can really pay off. Talking to the Clark/secretary/administrator/ director/manager and also emailing them with your details will mean they will remember you next time the garden contracts come up. Ask to be put on their ‘list’.
This will yield better results than blanket bombing with flyers. All good advertising is always targeted in some way. A personal approach is the best possible way to get work.
I think that asking people to pay for advice only works in the Solicitors office. I am not sure that domestic clients would pay you to advise them how to attract a hedgehog when Google is both free and so easy.
If you are going to be hedge cutting professionally as part of your gardening services, then hand shears will be a non-starter and just won’t be efficient. Most of us now use battery hedge cutters and strimmers anyway. They are very ‘green’ and also very quiet. But of course, difficult to carry on a push bike or motorcycle. A small van is what you need. Probably no more polluting than a motorbike.
A new car in the 1970’s put out the same amount of pollution/co2 as fifty new cars today [taken from the RAC website]. That’s how far we have come.
You might need to think about mowing lawns. General garden maintenance clients usually want their gardeners to cover all bases rather than just doing specific tasks.
Mowing lawns might not be where you want to be, but if you are just starting out then offering a more complete service will attract more clients and get you up and running. You can then evolve and diversify as you go along, gaining more clients and focusing more on the areas you are interested in.
Thanks Vic for the suggestions. I would definitely mow lawns I'm not opposed to that, I've just not had much practice as the council does the lawns at the place I volunteer at, so it's just never featured. I could do my relatives lawns for practice.
I do have a design project underway at the place I volunteer, so if that does go to plan it should work out quite well, as it's right in the city centre and very visible. Recently lockdown has put a spanner in those works though.
Your comment about paying for advice only happening solicitors offices tickled me, I'ts probably be true. The thing that made me think about consulting or advice is that some people seem to know absolutely nothing about gardening and want to be reassured even though they can just look things up, this happened with a family member, which is what gave me the idea. As you say though...maybe not many people would pay for it!
Also dont overlook approaching local garden designers they often need an extra pair of hands to implement their planting schemes and make visits to keep new plants and shrubs watered .
The experience and knowledge you can gain from those opportunities is priceless
Great suggestion, thanks John.
Hi Marie,
You and I have much in common! I was a bespoke wedding dress designer for years, then qualified RHS L2 and now also have a planting design diploma under my belt.
After all that, I felt that I was too old to start up as a gardener and after nearly 30 years working 1:1 with clients I wanted to put a little distance between myself and the customer.
I'm in the middle of the development of an online platform, which has at it's heart the support of new and consolidating garden and planting designers. Though I'm focused at this point on homeowners in order to measure demand levels, I'm beginning the process of customer discovery on the professional side too.
I'd love to hear your views on how you see your career in gardens/design unfolding, what your aspirations are too. If you're interested, I'd like to run my business model past you to see whether you feel that I'm on the right track as far as the issues faced by new designers trying to get established in the real world of garden design are concerned.
There are so many overlapping areas with my own journey in bespoke fashion. The path to success (earning a good living) is long and arduous and I'm not convinced by the research that I've done that the design courses out there really convey that message adequately to students graduating from their courses.
I'm not sure how we contact one another privately via this forum/group, but presumably we can work out a way if you'd be happy to chat and interested in doing so. I'm always up for jumping on Zoom for half an hour if you have the time.
Jo
I believe if you go to Maries profile page you can request adding yourself as a friend .
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