HOW MUCH DO GARDENERS CHARGE
HOW MUCH DO GARDENERS CHARGE
When considering whether to have a Gardener undertake some work, you may be wondering, how much do Gardeners charge. Working out how much something may cost, before wading in on a process, can reduce your disappointment.
Which statement would best describes your needs:
A. I'm not concerned about who or how someone does the work, I just want it done
B. I've experienced poor service previously and want someone I can trust to answer a phone, who is accountable and professional
C. I value pleasant experiences. I'm prepared to pay for quality and a simplified experience
Without a universal industry pricing model, it stereotypically attracts two polarising approaches; a per-hour rate or a fixed quote. This can make it slightly harder to compare services, based on how much Gardeners charge alone. A fixed quote is comparative (the cost of works once completed), whilst an hourly rate is variable (the pace of work varies between businesses, with no fixed outcome).
We recommend first deciding on the level of service you want and then how much you are willing to pay for that convenience. This will influence which conversation you need to have, with whom and ultimately your experience. If you are looking for a business to provide a service at your premises, whether a large company or just one person, you should expect to pay closer to £100, than minimum wage. Simply put, most services cost to deliver an outcome to you.
PER-HOUR RATE
Some Gardener's in the industry may charge per-hour, have their workload allocated upon arrival and time commitment defined by their customers. We routinely hear that this commonly generates conflicting priorities and relationships between customer and Gardener. The customer wants efficiency, whilst the Gardener is incentivised to work inefficiently. This type of working relationship places a high dependency of regular involvement from the customer. In addition to the Customer monitoring and motivating efficiency, they also are required to prescribe tasks each visit and regulate the timings of the Gardener.
Unsurprisingly this approach often attracts a per-hour (employee) type wage, without Ni/PAYE/Insurance/Equipment/H&S dependencies.
Customer's on this path, then commonly do two things:
Compare it to their own employment wage/salary. Reaching the conclusion that despite the Gardener having possibly profoundly greater Self-Employed overheads, they should be on a lower income, possibly even close to minimum wage.
Assume professional safeguards such as Ni/PAYE/Insurance/Equipment/H&S/Licenses are covered by the Gardener and adding a couple of pounds on top of a 'fair' figure, should in their mind cover those costs.
Gardener's on this path, commonly:
live under the poverty line, are unable to acquire sufficient resources to invest in their businesses and before long, stop coming (fade away or change careers), because their business is frankly unsustainable. Creating a necessity for you to invest more energy in sourcing a new gardener/solution.
FIXED QUOTE
In contrast, we find our clients are more satisfied when we offer a professional service, delivered by professionals who are trusted to perform duties within a pre-agreed arrangement. That's why we stress, all of our work is via a pre-agreed fixed quote. Similar to what you may experience with most other services.
Unlike the per-hour approach, which places unhealthy dependency and responsibility on you, we're here to provide more than a technical solution, we're here to provide a service. It's us that carry the responsibility to inform you of the process, to keep you updated and to remind you. The process works better when it's about making life easier for you, not harder.
Written quotes with terms and conditions
BACS payment
A website, phone and email which someone promptly responds to
Public Liability, Risk Assessments, Qualifications
Their own equipment which is regularly maintained
Reliable punctual delivery, customer service, limitation of our workmanship, presentable business
Responsible disposal of waste
Longevity of relationships
These are all integral to what we do. We hear, when businesses or labourers don't have these safeguards in place, it's usually their clients, unfortunately, who burden the negative implications.
So rather than ask what Gardeners charge, it may be more efficient to reverse engineer the process and conceptualise:
What technically you want - what do you want to be left with after
What type of service you want - what do you want your experience to be throughout
What price range you are prepared to disclose early on - what your expectations are of cost
Although gardens and scope of work vary profoundly, we've attempted to reduce the ambiguity about how much do Gardeners charge, by providing example pricing here.
We trust that when comparing and assessing how much Gardeners charge, you'll appreciate the varying degrees of professionalism and service.
It should be noted that how much a Gardener charges is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much resource it requires to provide a professional service, and should not be used to form any judgement about earnings.
