Open Association of Landscape Industries
put your prices up .
be strong. be tough
do it
or tell me your still happy and self-employed in mid June ....
i went from £5 hr to £10 hr to £15 hr to £20 hr........................in shropshire
in london i charge £35 hr now domestic and £60 hr commercial
thats for general maintenance : blowing,mowing,strimming,litter-collecting,spraying weeds.
IF WE ALL DO IT IN RELATION TO AREAS , ITS LIKE PETROL PRICES .
WE ARE MOST LIKELY THE VERY BEST 2000 GARDENERS (AND ONLY ;)) IN THE UK
LETS STICK TOGETHER - DO IT OR REGRET IT
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by chris nangle on -
with the vat rise, fuel price ext ext you can not afford to be a busy fool thats for sure!
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Anthony @ JDC Maintenance on -
I decided last year to only put up prices for new clients, this year however because costs have increased considerably all my clients will be paying more.
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Permalink Reply by Rob Glassborow on -
Im putting prices up by 5% on last year for services. I will also be increasing the waste disposal charges, and adjusting matierials accordingly.
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Permalink Reply by Classic Gardens on -
Only waste charges will be put up this year.
Iam happy to sit this resission out on what Iam on.
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Permalink Reply by rachel marsh on -
I tried putting my prices up last year after being in business for 12 months. Starting with my most valuable client, I said I would be increasing my hourly rate by £1, due to rising cost of living, blah blah.. She said, 'no you're not, I don't believe the cost of living has gone up'. (!) So although I'm running the business, I had to go along with it as I couldn't afford to lose the job.
I got cold feet about it after that and kept the rates the same for my other clients, although new clients I am charging 50p more. In hindsight, maybe I tried to put it up too much in one go and I should have gone for a 50p per hour rise instead of £1. I think I must put my prices up across the board this year, but what with the recession, i'm not looking forward to breaking the news.
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Permalink Reply by Matt Brown on -
i have quite a bit of spare time on my hands and i'm advertising for new customers at £15 ph then when i have enough i'll deffinately be increasing existing customers rates that way i have new customers to cusion the blow if someone says no,
i would have told your customer like it or lump it to be honest, i will not be told by a customer how much i am charging, no way. its my business and i know the costs and what i need to take to be proffitable sometimes i dont earn enough but thats because i'm lazy.
rachel marsh said:I tried putting my prices up last year after being in business for 12 months. Starting with my most valuable client, I said I would be increasing my hourly rate by £1, due to rising cost of living, blah blah.. She said, 'no you're not, I don't believe the cost of living has gone up'. (!) So although I'm running the business, I had to go along with it as I couldn't afford to lose the job.
I got cold feet about it after that and kept the rates the same for my other clients, although new clients I am charging 50p more. In hindsight, maybe I tried to put it up too much in one go and I should have gone for a 50p per hour rise instead of £1. I think I must put my prices up across the board this year, but what with the recession, i'm not looking forward to breaking the news.
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Permalink Reply by Andy Thorne on -
rachel marsh said:
....I said I would be increasing my hourly rate by £1, due to rising cost of living, blah blah....
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If I were you Rachel, I wouldn't mention the cost of living - that sounds like you are wanting a pay rise.
Focus on the fact that the cost of providing your service has increased (fuel, insurance, tool, plant etc)
I would be far more ameniable to a contractor increasing rates to cover his increased costs, but would resist an increase to give him an effective pay rise to maintain the standard of living!
It's not what you say, but how you say it! Be careful not to lie or deceive! Costs have gone up, therefore cost to customers should!
IMO you should always charge more for new customers as it is very difficult to keep 'old' customer's charges up to what is necessary! No one needs to know who's getting charged what. It is allowable to charge differently! Of course, on an hourly rate system people may compare and grumble...
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Permalink Reply by Matt Brown on
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it is quite difficult for me as i started on a very low rate and all my customers are friends with eachother. thats why i want to advertise and get jobs where they dont know eachother.
Andy Thorne said:
rachel marsh said:....I said I would be increasing my hourly rate by £1, due to rising cost of living, blah blah....
____
If I were you Rachel, I wouldn't mention the cost of living - that sounds like you are wanting a pay rise.
Focus on the fact that the cost of providing your service has increased (fuel, insurance, tool, plant etc)
I would be far more ameniable to a contractor increasing rates to cover his increased costs, but would resist an increase to give him an effective pay rise to maintain the standard of living!
It's not what you say, but how you say it! Be careful not to lie or deceive! Costs have gone up, therefore cost to customers should!
IMO you should always charge more for new customers as it is very difficult to keep 'old' customer's charges up to what is necessary! No one needs to know who's getting charged what. It is allowable to charge differently! Of course, on an hourly rate system people may compare and grumble...
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Permalink Reply by Matt Brown on
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one day i will change to fixed pricing and i do see the logic in it but its just not right for me at the minute.
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Permalink Reply by Matt Brown on
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i know i understand it fully, i'm just happy as i am for the time being
Pro Gard said:Why, When you look at a job say a fortnightly lawn cut or regular allround maintance, you say it will cost X per visit. Nothing difficult or complicated about it.
Matt Brown said:one day i will change to fixed pricing and i do see the logic in it but its just not right for me at the minute.
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Permalink Reply by Jason Felstead on -
Yep put my prices up, luckily my clients have been understanding which has made it abit easier.
Matt Brown said:
i know i understand it fully, i'm just happy as i am for the time being
Pro Gard said:Why, When you look at a job say a fortnightly lawn cut or regular allround maintance, you say it will cost X per visit. Nothing difficult or complicated about it.
Matt Brown said:one day i will change to fixed pricing and i do see the logic in it but its just not right for me at the minute.
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Permalink Reply by Charles Langford on -
Has anyone concluded when is a good time to put prices up in relation to maintenance? Presumably if you do it before the first visit of the season then your clients have an opportunity to look for alternative contractors however if you do it a few weeks in, once you have reminded them how invaluable you are, they might be more acceptant of a price increase but perhaps a little disappointed in the way you went about doing it? Equally are there some clients where you wouldn’t raise the prices? - for instance someone who was with you from the beginning who inadvertently gave the opportunity to build your business, or someone who refers you are a lot etc…
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