On 31/8/04 12:32 pm, in article , "Tracey"
wrote:

Hi All. I hope you don't mind me asking the following question, but I
really don't know where else to ask. My fiance is planning on leaving his
present employment (he's already a gardener) and setting up by himself,
doing garden maintenance, renovations, clearance, hedge reductions etc. He
has done quite a bit of research, but doesn't know how much to charge - he
doesn't want to go round under-cutting other established gardeners, but then
doesn't want to charge too much. We thought perhaps £8-£10 per hour (we are
in Midlands region), would be a reasonable charge. Any thoughts or advice
on how we could find further help in deciding on costs would be very much
appreciated.


This will be affected to some extent by his experience, whether he provides
his own tools and machinery and whether he is really a gardener, or someone
who will do the heavy work in the garden. When you say he is already a
gardener, do you mean that he can propagate plants and knows how to treat
sickly ones, for example?
Here in South Devon prices range enormously, from a pensioner who wants just
to keep going and earn a bit as well at £6.00 per hour for doing some
weeding, to £25 or more for the highly experienced & trained, who take sole
charge of a garden and even more if they design it, too.
Speaking roughly, general garden maintenance here is £10 per hour for those
who are just keeping lawns cut, hedges trimmed etc.
I'd suggest the best bet is to find out what others charge, as has been
suggested and then put up some cards in local shops and post offices and in
parish magazines.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)