Forum

Replies

• 

  simon powell December 29, 2009 at 5:08pm

  i have several regular clients and at the moment was deciding weather or not to charge by the half/day,in the new year,or to put my hourly rate up from £12.50 to £15.00 an hour plus £7.50 a bag of rubbish (1 ton builders bag as much as i can lift into back of pickup prob about half full)
  
  Andrew Bentley said:

  I will be looking to increase my customer base next year (At present I only have one!), but have decided to adopt a different pricing strategy rather than an hourly rate. At present I charge £15 per hour, and in the past have accepted work that is only an hour or two in time.....
  
  From January, I am working on the basis of £75 for a half day booking, or £125 for a whole day. If people want me to do a job that only takes 2 hours, that is fine, but they will be charged the minimum £75. By doing it this way, I cover my travel time etc. and don't waste time travelling between lots of small jobs. I will start to advertise in the next couple of weeks, so will have to wait and see if my strategy is any good though!!
• 

  Graeme @ BGS December 29, 2009 at 5:28pm

  We will be doing selective price increases. Most of our work is on fixed price so every year we check to see if any price corrections are required. We didn't increase prices last year due to the credit crunch but would be looking at a min of 2% to a max of 15% where applicable.
  
  Labour "day rates" will remain unchanged but additional extras will be increased as required.
  
  Of particular concern is the waste disposal and fuel price increases - I need to have a serious think on how these will be incorporated / charged back.
  
  Hopefully a small increase can be given to staff including myself!
• 

  Graeme @ BGS December 29, 2009 at 6:14pm

  Sorry I should of also added that this year I managed to lower a lot of my expenses / fixed overhead costs and will again be looking to reduce costs whereever possible. I am aiming to try and reduce these by a further £5K for 2010.
• 

  pete December 29, 2009 at 6:28pm

  Our hourly rate includes dealing with any waste and traveling costs but we increase by 8% each April for fixed price work, have been advised that's standard.
• 

  Classic Gardens December 29, 2009 at 6:50pm

  We will be staying at £14 per hr for domestic and £50 ph for all commercial work.
• 

  GORDON December 29, 2009 at 7:03pm

  Nearly all my work is fixed price. I will wait until the beginning of the season (March) to see if I have lost many customers (dropped of their perch) if I haven't lost many then I may increase the ones which I am not bothered about loosing. To be honest most are paying a good price and I am happy with my lot.
  
  As I am now established and most of my new custom is through recommendation and for regular work (lawnmowing) I now quote a healthy price for new business. The fact they are responding to a recommendation usually puts one in a stronger position to gain the work with a strong price. The price is strong enough to last for a few years and the new customers through the year who are paying the better price provide enough additional revenue to cover the cost of living for that year.
  
  Sounds a bit convoluted but so far I have been happy with the net result.
  
  With regard to the cost of disposal of garden waste. It only applies to services provided at this time of the year, hedge trimming etc as we all have the large garden waste bins which the council provide.
  
  For a very full builder bags I charge £10 each. I don't necessarily take them away on the day but wait until I have 6 to collect. I then round them up and get charged £20 for dumping . If I have 2 loads on the same day, up to 12 bags I still only pay £20. Not bad as at the optimum I get paid £120 for a dumping cost of £20 plus my time which including collection is about 45 mins per load . ( i work only within a very small radius )
  I have this year found a new dumping site which is a local farmer who processes green waste to spread on his land.
• 

  Angela Palmerton December 29, 2009 at 7:13pm

  You took the words out of my mouth!! Worrying about the same thing. I started at £12.50 per hour last year, and have already increased for new customers to £15 p/hr, and £25 (approx) for "project" work. I'm worried that some of my customers will be shocked at a £2.50 p/hr or £20 per day increase, but then I suppose my business head (wherever that may be!!) needs to come into play and, hey, if I lose a few customers then I know there are others waiting (sorry, don't wish to appear arrogant there). But I do like all of my customers and don't want to pee any of them off. I, too, will be charging a flat £10 for rubbish removal to all my clients (but they don't know this yet either).
• 

  Classic Gardens December 29, 2009 at 7:27pm

  It does when you get 1 compost bag of rubbish from domestic and 5 bulk bags from commercial + lawn treatment, weedkillers, mosskillers all Inc in price.
  
  Dan Tarleton MSc, BSc (Hons) said:

  That is an enormous gap! Doesnt make sense at all.martin said:

  We will be staying at £14 per hr for domestic and £50 ph for all commercial work.
• 

  Claire Brown December 29, 2009 at 7:49pm

  i've just increased my rates by £2 per hour, - from £22-£24 - as expected I lost 2 clients (same amount as last time I put up my prices) but both have asked me to do occasional work (which I charge £26) and it means I now have more time to do project work. (at fixed prices)- My core of clients left are my favourite gardens and clients which means even more to me than the extra money.
• 

  Graeme @ BGS December 30, 2009 at 11:44am

  Brace yourselves for higher fuel costs in 2010!
  
  The cost of a litre of unleaded will go up to 123p and diesel to rise to around 128p a litre
  
  With VAT being increased back to its original rate of 17.5 per cent on January 1 this rise will equate to an increase of approximately 2.5p per litre at current fuel prices and on the 1st of April the Government is committed to increase fuel duty in line with inflation along with a 1p per litre rise.