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One of my domestic customers gets charged £150 for a one off residual spray for her whole garden, not a massive garden at that
There was a thread in the hub about this.
People aren't paying for the chemicals, that's a small part of the overall bill. What they are getting is a qualified professional, applying the correct chemicals in the right dose, with minimal risk to their family and the environment, but maximum efficiency.
That's a premium service, and should be charged way above the un-skilled rates we see charged sometimes.
Paul, beat me to that :-) and he's absolutely right. I also remember that topic/thread. All goes back to time vs value pricing debate.
I can't tell you a price as all our cost bases are unique and somewhat region dependant, but do not undersell yourself.
You're offering a service that can not be performed by just anyone.
You've taken training in a specialised area and should be looking to capitalise on it
Your charge should not be just based upon time & product costs, but upon the value you add by being a qualified PA6 practitioner. That in itself is worth a considerable uplift.
Previously some have commented that it is profiteering. I disagree, it's about valuing yourself, skills and what you bring to the job. Otherwise you just become another 'jobbing' trades contractor or you might as well be 'employed' by someone if you are not interested in making money :-)
Absolutely, practice well and execute professionally. Make a deal of it. When you quote be sure to add a standard paragraph extrolling the fact you trained as required by law under COPR. Make your prospects question the opposition ;-)
One way, although basic, is to calculate area, thus product costs, plus estimated time and then uplift that figure by a reasonable factor (to take account of training/skills, specialised equipment etc). There are parallels to the Lawn Care industry that may give some 'base' prices
Paul has hit the nail on the head (and beat me to it!)
Paul McNulty said:
You also need to bill for the time cleaning out the sprayer when the job is finished.
Morning Tom,
The guys are right about the chemical actually being a very small part of the cost of spraying, click here to see a chart we have with the various hard surface total weeds killers on it with the cost per square metre of each one. As an example, Roundup Probiactive 450 works out at only 32p per square metre!!!
As they say, you will be charging for a qualified and premium service, and you should therefore be charging accordingly.
If you need any help deciding which chemicals you need or want to chat about equipment and PPE, then give me a shout and I will do my best to help you out.
Cheers Ollie
ollie.wright@agrigem.co.uk
0800 133 7849
Oliver Wright said:
Ducking and running for cover here already.
I don't really follow the arguement that it is a premium service and so you should charge more for this than other work. As far as I'm concerned PA1 and PA6 are tickets that I feel that anyone working professionally as a gardener should have and be expected to have. I'm RHS qualified and charge my time based on the fact that I'm a fully qualified professional horticulturalist. I certainly wouldn't value a short spray course as more than my hard earned horticultural knowledge. I charge all the time I spend on it at my standard rate, plus the cost of the chemical with a small mark up.
I'd do a typical drive in 30-40 mins, including a little travel time and cleaning out the tank afterwards. It's an easy job to fit in between other work en route, the equipment doesn't cost anywhere near as much as the other machines you'll have in the van (£150 sprayer, £50 chemicals and a few quid for nozzles/overall/gloves?).
During dry weather I'll be using the sprayer a lot in a day so won't need to clean it out until the end of the day. I use a different tank for lawn applications.-
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