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Could you call me 0844232 4221.
Regards
Phil
Just tried to call - but not getting through for some reason.
I am on chat - if you are free?
Sefton
Philip Voice said:
Pro Gard said:
Clive Warwick said:
Further to what we discussed ... Pro Gard makes a great point. If you charged yourself out at £22.00 per hour you wouldn't even need to worry about employing anyone.
Look to build up a client base of people who really are looking for a quality service.
Good luck.
Phil
Sorry for the long reply and if I am teaching you to suck eggs.
You raised a very good question and most one man bands / small companies will be faced with this dilemma at some point.
The transition from one van and a few staff members to a multiple van operation isn’t easy – it takes guts, money and planning.
Before even considering expanding you must seriously consider raising your prices as £4 per hour gross profit per man isn’t really worth it. However not knowing what your outgoings are or if they supply their own van / tools etc. you may be happy to work on those margins. As you have previously stated you may have trouble increasing your hourly rate due to location.
In my experience good staff are hard to come by. I wouldn’t be able to get a decent gardener for £7 per hour in the South East and the minimum wage / £6 - £8 per hour people don’t as a general rule of thumb have their heart in the job and could in some cases be classed as Macdonald rejects. Anyone can be a gardener right?!
I have found that the really good workers who are very knowledgeable are more inclined to what to set-up in business themselves so again something to think about. Having said that there are good workers out there it is just a question of finding and retaining them.
I did run a six van garden maintenance operation but the profit margins just wasn’t worth the headache. You end up really “working for them” trying to ensure that you have sufficient work for them all every day and as you have pointed out spending far too much correcting their problems and chasing them up all the time.
You also become a “business manager” rather than “gardener” and for some people it is just not what they want to do. Unfortunately it is very hard to run a business with staff and to also work in the business rather than on it.
I eventually pulled out of general day to day maintenance and switched to more profitable areas of the garden business that didn’t need very knowledgeable staff only staff with the right mindset and some get up and go but did kept one van for general maintenance.
However it is possible to run a sizable operation and the Italians in my area have done very well but most of the companies are mainly all family members.
May be you would like to consider retaining your existing client base and look to expand the business in other areas such as fencing, turf management, grass cutting etc. to name a few.
If I had my time again, I would seek out one large commercial maintenance contract (housing Association, private block of flats, business park etc) which would hopefully pay the staff wages for the week and give two or three days per week to find other work for them. That way at least covering the basic costs for the week.
Join forces / forming alliances with other companies that are not necessarily in direct competition with you such as an events management company – when they put up the marquee for the garden party – you could undertake a quick tidy up of the grounds could be another avenue to explore?
Strongly suggest that you write a business plan and seek help from various organisations / other companies to bounce ideas off them. You must be realistic on your outgoings and believe me there will be many and how quickly you can get to breakeven point.
As I said earlier it takes guts and money to expand and sometimes just by modifying your business model and aiming to be more profitable doesn’t always mean increase in staff and client base.
Have a read of the posting by Robin as it covers very similar points.
https://landscapejuice.ning.com/forum/topics/anybody-seem-like-they-are
Feel free to contact me at anytime if you would like to discuss this further.
Good luck
I have a lot of ideas and yet somehow I feel hindered by the day to day stuff. It's so frustrating. I'm desperate to take gardening into the local community but I don't know how. I was thinking last night that really I need to set it up like I did with the gardening business and do a proper business plan and do it all step by step (baby steps). I think that's the thing with self - employed and business owners, there's too much enthusiasm as we're all passionate about what we do.
I feel exactly the way you do right now very alone with my ideas and not really knowing what to do. Maybe we could help each other? Set each other tasks to do in a week.
Good luck Sefton
vehicle depreciation - so all the above (£1200max vehicle) would have in total 12months cost say £2,000 before my quoting etc.......................
look whats happened !! BANG i'm so glad i didn't...............i use casual freinds/locally when i need or whoever needs a bit of work and is suitable ..........
think about prices up 3%.........supplies down 3%........lose the crap customers.........promote to get more 3% customers = this should give you ACTION to DO. NOW (maybe this equals 10% increase ON PROFIT) im quoting Robert ? some top business mentor here so i hope this makes sense to EVERYONE. TRY IT. I AM BEFORE ITS TOO LATE. PROFIT PROFIT PROFIT !! Dig?
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