Sacha wrote:
On 13/8/06 20:54, in article
,
" wrote:

snip Thanks for all the replies. I've spoken to someone today who's
quoted
£16 an hour which was a bit more than I'd expected, though I got the
impression that they could do a lot in a few hours, and they will take
all the non-compostable greenery away with them.

I take your point(s) about how time should be distributed. The man I
spoke to today suggested fortnightly rather than monthly visits were
fine, He's been doing it for 20 years, so I'll take his word for it, Am
seeing another couple of people in midweek so should get something
sorted.

I think that charge is fair and I think, too, that he's right about visiting
you every two weeks. However, when it comes to lawn mowing at the height of
the season, I think you'll find once a week will be necessary, so I'd
discuss that with him. Don't forget you're only talking part of the year,
not every week or fortnight throughout the year. In this hot weather and no
rain we've had down here, our grass went two weeks without cutting recently
so I think you might have to ask him to be a bit flexible in that regard.
As an afterthought, do make sure he only cuts the hedges outside nesting
times.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

Thanks Sacha. The plan is to get someone in to help rather than to do
all the work for us, so I would still be on hand to fill in with more
regular mowing etc. Good point about nesting times, though I'd hope
that experienced gardening professionals would have the same rules
themselves. I'll mention it though.