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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Graeme @ BGS on March 30, 2010 at 8:39

I know the feeling all too well Paul.

Just one quick question - where are the leads / work requests coming from? Can you pin point if it's one particular source of advertising?

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Permalink Reply by Niko Coulthurst on March 30, 2010 at 10:45

I would stay away from the expensive ads in the magazines, In my experience they are a complete waste of money. We started off doing maintenance and called ourselves Green and Brown's with the strap line Grounds Maintenance and Garden Sevices, which is on our cards and van. We have since decided to try a bit more landscaping and so have advertised in Parish newsletters under the strap line Landscaping and Garden Services, hopefully appealing to a more domestic client. We have had a great responce with around 5 decent sized jobs in the first 4 weeks. I am currently trying to write the content for our website and am toying with the idea of splitting in two - commercial and domestic, under the Green and Brown's heading. I guess what I am saying is, why not have a name with a chageable strap line, depending on where you are advertising and who to? Spending some time getting listed on all the free web listings is also worth doing, freeindex, hot frog, yell.com etc. If you want maintenance, have you contacted managing agents, letting agents, developers? Quite oftn they tell you to send in your 'brochure' just to get ri of you, they are difficult to get to but once you are working for one, you will find they have associates that could do with your services. We started working for one managing agent because a resident saw our card in a newsagents window and he decided he wanted my partner Farley to do his garden and so made sure that he got him. The residents have the power to say who they want and so a domestic style ad can win you a commercial contact in that way.

As for the work, don't turn it down, charge a premium for it, if they go for it great, if not never mind. You never know if they have a friend of a relative who may have a bigger job for you.

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Permalink Reply by Classic Gardens on March 30, 2010 at 11:26

Hi

I use to have classic gardens maintenance services

We like you had small weeding and mowing jobs so last year I bought a new van and changed the wording on my van, letter headings invoices and website.
I have been really pleased with the results we are getting a lot more calls from the commercial side and far less from the smaller gardens.
Don't get me wrong it was the smaller gardens that got me to this stage in the first place but I was ready to take my business to the next stage.

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Permalink Reply by Paul @ Ashgate Garden Care on March 30, 2010 at 11:39

I'm aiming for exactly the same customer as you and seem to do a lot of weeding and pruning too.

I'm quite philosophical about it and view it that the client must think you are capable of identifying a weed. Also a few weeding jobs have lead onto bigger and better things.

I advertise on a local free mag and a local 'posh' mag.

I find I get lots of smaller jobs (and a few big jobs) from the free mag but from the posh mag I get fewer enquiries but bigger jobs.

I pay about the same for each advert - £60 per month.

One source I've discovered for the countryside management side are the local footpath societies. I don't know if you have them down your way but they seem to be able to tap into government funding via the council for path maintenance.

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Permalink Reply by Rob Glassborow on March 30, 2010 at 13:47

It takes time to start getting those jobs your after. People who use garden services are ususally very wise as to who is doing it in their area, and you will find that they can spot the new ad and will give the new 'starter' a call as they will consider that they will need the work and be cheap. It takes at least 3 seasons before you will be able to turn down the weeding jobs, once you start building up the customer base that appreciate and require more than just a weeding service. You will soon start to recognise that weeding can be prevented by better practices, mulching, more fuller and successional planting, better soil structure etc. And perhaps you should offer these when people call for weeding, you can also call for a better price as you will be providng products also.

Despite being called 'Robert's Mowing & Lawn Treatment Service' , I still get calls for Regular gardening, weeding, Landscaping and the like. But I can now plainly turn them down. I do do some of these services for people that I take care of the lawns for, but only for regular customers. I deliberatley named myself so that I wasnt attracting the 'per hr weeding service' clients, and generally it works. I also know someone who has just re named their company xxxxxx Landscape Garden contractors, and employ 8 people, and still get the calls for a bit of weeding.

Also, people dont know the difference between Gardeners, Garden maintenance companys, Landscape Gardeners, Landscapers. So, they will conatct any of the above, reagrdless of the type of work they require. But, it takes time, and it gets there.

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Permalink Reply by Jez Wardman on March 30, 2010 at 13:55

Paul, I takes time to build up a customer base so you just need to stick to your guns. In time you will get enough regulars and repeat clients that you can be more selective. One thing that is nice is to get repeat hedging jobs six month or a year later. I now have a few regular clients where i just visit once a year to trim the hedges and others who initially asked for just a one off hedge job and now trim their hedges three times a year.

I am also concentrating on mowing and hedging rather than weeding. We have invested thousands of pounds in equipment so we can cut hedges and mow lawns very efficiently and so achieve very good hourly rates to repay this investment but if we take on weeding jobs where all you need is a bucket and a couple of forks then it is difficult to charge at the same rate and often seems very expensive compared to the little old man down the road who doesn't even have any equipment.

This is nothing to do with 'just wanting the cream' nor is it anything to do with being 'unable to identify a weed'. There is nothing wrong with concentrating on certain types of work and focusing on what you enjoy and find profitable.

When you get asked to do weeding jobs just tell them you are too busy looking after your regular mowing and hedging clients and only take on this type of work if it is for clients where you also look after the lawns and hedges.

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Claire Brown on March 30, 2010 at 20:05

Where are you based? (your profile doesn't say, as most people on this site are UK, maybe put your county even if you don't want your town known)- I love doing weeding and pruning and won't do lawn mowing and hedgetrimming - why not partner yourself up with someone like me, !

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Claire Brown on March 30, 2010 at 20:26

great idea, - I think that there are too many clients think that gardener, means someone who will do everything in the garden, and although that can happen, there are so many specialisms, that partnering with other local "gardeners" will really help

Paul Williams said:

I am based in West Herefordshire Claire & yes you are on to a good idea. I have spoken to a couple of lady gardeners this week as well as a chap today who does a lot of commercial mowing, he just happened to be over the road with his fancy shredder. They all have my card & I suggested we help each other out in the future.

Claire Brown said:

Where are you based? (your profile doesn't say, as most people on this site are UK, maybe put your county even if you don't want your town known)- I love doing weeding and pruning and won't do lawn mowing and hedgetrimming - why not partner yourself up with someone like me, !

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Pip Howard on March 31, 2010 at 18:00

I've noticed a few outfits in SW England starting to call term themselves 'Land Management'. I chatted to one guy who had changed his name to include this and said he had 10 calls in the first week he advertised, big jobs as well. This may be regional but he was sure it was what quite a lot of people typed into a search engine!

Paul Williams said:

Would the strap line 'Garden, Countryside & Woodland Services' sound ok? It sums up what I do & am geared up for.

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Permalink Reply by Geoff Norfolk on March 31, 2010 at 18:18

All the work I do is regular stuff where I go along for a couple of hours every fortnight and just turn my hand to anything that needs doing. I find hoeing through a bed, if its done regularly, really easy and quick....... and it makes everything look neat and tidy........ no grovelling around pulling up weeds by hand.

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Gardens4u.co.uk on April 1, 2010 at 0:17

without reading other comments:

im called gardens 4u !!

i have always put : maintenance , landscaping & design (in different orders)
for years , so many calls 'do you do weeding?' or that was the job required.

eventually (never my favourite, as bending all week isnt too good on my neck)/back....
i either charged £15 now £20 an hr or i said i can spray it (weed control) , do bark/weed supressant, gravel?

then my brother did it - sometimes i made a few pounds an hr from the job, maybe £1 an hr.
sometimes i just said ' not really' , but usually 98% i went to look.

when i turned up , i arranged my brother (knowledgable), or ended up mowing, spraying, doing a bit and got asked to cut hedges etc (bigger jobs)

do you have all the kit : prof , petrol. new big and reliable machinesready to do the 'bigger' jobs???

if so : tell them what you do, but you end up gradually getting more and bigger jobs each year basically.

good luck, (sometimes you have to sell your self / and your price)

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Gardens4u.co.uk on April 1, 2010 at 0:19

Robin Ainsworth said:

without reading other comments:

im called gardens 4u !!

i have always put : maintenance , landscaping & design (in different orders)
for years , so many calls 'do you do weeding?' or that was the job required.

eventually (never my favourite, as bending all week isnt too good on my neck)/back....
i either charged £15 now £20 an hr or i said i can spray it (weed control) , do bark/weed supressant, gravel?

then my brother did it - sometimes i made a few pounds an hr from the job, maybe £1 an hr.
sometimes i just said ' not really' , but usually 98% i went to look.

when i turned up , i arranged my brother (knowledgable), or ended up mowing, spraying, doing a bit and got asked to cut hedges etc (bigger jobs)

do you have all the kit : prof , petrol. new big and reliable machinesready to do the 'bigger' jobs???

if so : tell them what you do, but you end up gradually getting more and bigger jobs each year basically.

good luck, (sometimes you have to sell your self / and your price)

(ps . i have never really had a design job ive been paid for (only 1 ) ! although used my experience/art/design background in the landscaping/planting etc to give them ideas)

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