mcmac74 wrote:

I'd be very keen to hear from others on the site who are landscape
gardeners, particularly those who have set up their own businesses. My
primary motivation is the fact that i enjoy the outdoors and the
opportunity to work creatively. I don't mind physical work and i want
to be my own boss. My main concern is that i'd be taking a fairly big
drop in salary if the averages they talk about on career web sites are
to be believed (15K - 26K). I'd really like to know about peoples
experiences doing this, do they enjoy it, is there a lot of work
(obviously depends on the area) and generally would you reccommend
it?!

Concerning self-employment.
I started doing it last June, but could not make a living out of it.
It has been discussed on here several times, some people think that
paying £8 an hour to a gardener is about right.
I dont think you can earn a living at less than £15 an hour, and £20
would be more realistic.
If you need a breakdown of the various expenses, then I can do one for
you.

Firstly you'll need to get customers. Easier than it sounds. You can get
5 or 6 quite easily by puttings ads in papershops/Post Offices etc.
To earn a living, you need at least 20 regular customers. Most only need
a visit every 2 weeks during the growing season, and once a month during
late Autumn/Winter/early spring. But getting 20 is the hard thing.
You'll need to advertise regularly.
Then they need to be close together, to cut down your travelling time.
If you do 3 gardens at 2 hours each, in a day, then you will have done
well. You may fit in a 4th if they are local. But then you are doing
well over a 9 hour day. Even getting 2 people within 10 minutes of each
other will be difficult to start with.
You will be asked to do all the horrible jobs that people dont want to
do themselves. It wont be a life of pottering around a garden doing a
bit of pruning, and picking up the odd weed. You'll be clearing thick
brambles and stingers, as well as treading in the cat shit. I'm not
joking.

To make things worse, there are the (at least) 1 in 20 working days that
it will be too wet to work. Then the quiet months of December, January
and February. If a gardener is busy in those months, then he is the
exception. There is only so much hedge trimming and tidying that can be
done in a typical garden.

So, to sum, if you like working for £150 a week,dont mind thorn holes in
every finger and are not bothered by smelling of cat shit, then it may
be a good career change.

Alan.
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