Replies to This Discussion

PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Matthew@Westend Landscapes on June 7, 2010 at 0:08

so thats 8 featheredge panels pressure treated at 25 each £200 plus say 8 good smooth conc posts and gravel gravel boards £240 plus £35 on balast and cement for conc. your at £475 plus vat plus waste disposal of old panels and conc £50. Total material/waste £525 plus vat therefore £285 Labour. £75 for labourer, £125 main fencer, £50 costs inc fuel £35 profit if the job goes as planned, no massive amounts of old concrete or footings, trees or roots effecting the line, longer posts cos ground isn't right, additional boards to keep the level and no gaps underneath the list could go on.
People seem to forget its a business not just for pin money, you still have a mortgage to pay and put food on the table.
And you can't work at a lower rate and do 365 days a year

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Geoffrey King North Yorkshire on June 7, 2010 at 6:38

Well no actually, this was a few years ago, he was an OAP and we did do maintenance as well.
he was the only customer we have ever walked away from, some third party interferred and said we were doing it wrong., which is of course incorrect.

I've looked upthe archive invoice, it was March 2007, we charged £50 labour, that he did not pay, £23.34 for 3 x 2.4m posts, £53.92 for 4 x 1.5x1.8 fence panels and £8.48 for the concrete.

So the installation was charged at £135.74 and he paid £80.00

and we had charged £48 for the removal & disposal of the old fence.

So total charge was £183.74 and we got £128.00.

Clearly we should have charged more.

No we did not use concrete posts, can't bear them myself.

Pro Gard said:

Your joking? right!
For me to do said job supplying materials at cost and without any profit:
Quality panels 6x6 £20 ea so £80
4"x4" 8' posts £10 ea so £30
All in and cement £20

Waste away £60 ( proper disposal via skip company with transfer note not burnt) could possibly do it for £45 if near transfer station.

Labour 1 man £150

Total £340

I would price this to the customer at £370 -£400 allowing a small margin

Even if one were burning the wood on a farm and using the cheapest of cheap panels and 3" posts it would be a struggle to do it for anything even near £110!!!!!

Geoffrey King said:

Hi Stuart,

In York, a good part of the population seem to wallow in the ' am Yorkshire and I wants value for money' and 'something for nowt'.

We (two of us) charged £110 (in total) to install 4 panels, 3 posts c/w concrete and take the rubbish away. We did want to charge another £30 but the bloke did not want to pay us.

Stuart Marler said:

Cant be that expensive, otherwise you wouldnt have customers!
Geoffrey King said:

I'm interested in this chaps, does this include the cost of the materials, because when we did some fencing in York and charged £20/hr plus materials, our customers were moaning at us being expensive!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Geoffrey King North Yorkshire on June 7, 2010 at 6:46

Well we have moved on from this scencario, but many 'Yorkshire' folks seem to have a really negative attitude towards paying for garden services.

We have thought about moving back to Worcestershire.

We had a guy once, who wanted to pay £10 /hr for both of us, we just said, NO

• ▶ Reply

▶ Reply to Discussion

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page