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I find that there are a lot of people out there that don't want to pay very much to have their garden maintained, but there are some people that are willing to pay a good rate, it's just a matter of knowing where to find them.
The problem with a lot of self employed gardeners is that when they give a quote for a job they give a low price, and are shooting themselves in the foot. If every gardener in the UK gave a quote based on £40 per man hour, there would be no problem as customers would have no alternative as to pay £40 per man hour as the going rate, because they wouldn't be able to get the job done any cheaper.
The problem with a lot of Landscapers / Gardeners on this and other Forums, is that although they know their jobs, they have little knowledge of how to run a business. Buy that I mean that they have little or no knowledge of Marketing, Branding, Advertising, Customer Relations, Sales, Finance, Economics, Planning & Strategy, Operations Management, and just Business Studies in general. Just having a little knowledge of these would help enormously.
A decent step in the right direction would realise that £180 to do that job with my professional tools is cheaper than 2 guys who are 20 an hour and would take at least a day and a half maybe 2 days and won't do as good a job nor leave it as tidy.
Some of us seem to think that winning a job and giving a low priced quote to get the work is the most important criteria in building up a business, and the closer they get to gaining 100% of their estimates is the main thing that matters. I have heard some people boasting that they get 75% or more of the jobs that they quote for.
This is totally the wrong attitude to have towards building up a business and obtaining work, because to win this amount of work you are having to quote low prices, and then moan that it is low paid.
If you priced the work at a good rate per hour and only won 10% of the jobs you quote for, you will end up with a lot of well paid jobs and no reason to complain.
One more thing: If your jobs are well priced the customer is more likely to much more satisfied with your work, and will refer other people to you.
If you give low prices you get a reputation of being cheap, and if you give higher prices and you get a reputation of being good.
It is a very interesting article by Stephen and I think articulates very well what a lot of people in the industry think. But I think there needs to be a bit of realism about how supply and demand operates in an open free market (although I admit customer perception plays a massive role here too). Yes £40 an hour is doable and more, in commercial work or high value or challenging areas etc. But members of the general public (which is where much of the cultural devaluing of gardeners comes from) will not, on the whole, pay those sort of prices for garden maintenance for example, and some would say for good reason. £40 an hour for 1650 hours a year is 66k a year. Yes there are business and equipment costs involved but we live in a society where a GPs starting salary is around 55k so very few people are going to be willing to pay more for a gardener.
I went to see a potential customer yesterday who last year had a gardener working 2 hours a week for £10 an hour (the garden was quite large and very well kept incidentally so he had done a good job). Now I don't know his personal circumstances but he might be single, no mortgage, kids moved away etc. etc. and the nature of a free market is that anybody is free to enter the market place and offer goods and services. So we can wish that people would charge more and value themselves more but the reality is that people are willing and able to do the job for that sort of money. Goods and services don't posses a value inherent in themselves, they are only worth what people are willing to pay for them.
That said, an ongoing push to raise standards, add value and improve the public perception of the industry is something that all practicioners should engage in.
For those who've not read Stephen's post (and for those who have) there are some interesting comments: http://www.landscapejuice.com/2014/03/time-to-change-our-attitudes-...
We are where we are, it's a great life working outside being your own boss. Yes I would like to earn a plummer's rate, but I would hate crawling around on my hands and knees, in a cold house half my life. An Electrician? Same, hard on the knees, fiddly work where every re-wire means a couple of days in someones dusty, filthy loft. How about joining the millions of office workers - half suffer from stress and the other half are overweight!
No, give me a gardener's life any day, so why aren't we paid what we (think) we deserve? Because it's a job that anyone can do(not always well!) and probably 90% of the population do their own gardens anyway.
It's up to the individual MAKE their business pay them what they feel they need/deserve.
The comments at the bottom of the article are equally as interesting as the main article itself and worth a read. An employer of gardeners giving some alternative viewpoints.
Being a "mobile gardener" I have to say your worth isn't in how many qualifications you can through at a client and how much you wish to charge because of this but in your worth to the client and what they are willing to pay for this ;-)
My business is "ME" I work hard invest in proffesional tools that allow me to carry out a vast array of jobs when ever a client desires because I carry them all the time, so be it felling trees, weeding, cutting that difficult hedge or stock fencing, fixing taps, hanging gates, serving their lawn mowers you name it I get asked to do it !!!! you need to carry this diversification with you like a multitool...reason being is it not only adds value to "YOU" but allows that value to translate into what you charge and also supplies work when the seasons weather might not otherwise allow it !!! try getting that at horticultural college ;-)
I started my business in the month of August 7 years ago not perhaps the best time to start you might think ! but after only advertising for 3 months had a full diary and has been that way ever since...there is room in the industry for folk to earn a wage..ok maybe not get rich ! but not the low end drop out sado picture that is perhaps dipicted via the article ?
I can only speak from my perpective but I don't consider being an outside cleaner such a bad thing it's part of the job !!! lets face it someone has to do it lets not be snobs about doing what might be considered unskilled !? people are quiet happy to pay for someone to do what they don@t want to do and if done well pay well.
If you are a people person, willing to learn, invest, work hard you can do ok plus you have the added benefit of working in some glorious spaces as your office ;-)
I'll drink to that one
Mark
ive been trying to say this for 6 years on here - very well summed up !! a like minded garden business owner finally out of 2000 !
Adrian Noble said:
Adrian Noble said:
Not for the first time Adrian Noble has hit the nail square on.
As professionals we are too hung up on competing effectively with 'mondeo man', whereas there is a distinct market out there comprising those who want a better service, and are prepared to pay more for it. The big challenge is finding them.
Consider Alfie Bines' comment from the comments on the link re maintenance gardeners sharing a platform with hairdressers etc; repeat businesses that rely on employing unskilled workers.
A lot of people buy an Argos Wahl strimmer and cut their own hair, they don't particularly care what it looks like other than tidying it up. Others of a similar ilk, looking for the cheapest cut might go to a £5 barber who wields an Argos strimmer professionally, with little or no training.
Those more discerning might seek out (or be recommended) a £15 barber, with £150 Japanese scissors and professional kit and training.At the top end, for those with means there is the highly trained professional with imagination, skill and design where you might pay £65 for a cut and styling.
The £15 barber doesn't lower his prices because a £5 merchant opens up along the same street; he serves a completely different market.
Professional Gardeners should adopt the same mindset...offer a quality product, professionalism and consistency and there are people prepared to pay a premium for it. Don't be tempted to compete solely on price with uninsured 'mondeo man'. You're in the wrong market and he'll win every time.
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