"A.Lee" wrote in message
...
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.
--

Some very very good answers on the subject but can I throw in some more
problems with being self employed please?

What happens when you go on holiday? You are going to have to plan to go in
the quiet period.

What happens if you are sick? Not so much about you but your customers? They
will have to find someone else , will they come back to you?

Breakdown of your tools/lawnmower/strimmer etc. Have you taken into account
wear and tear maintenance and replacements?

AND, and this is a big AND, your retirement? How long could you go on and
what provisions are you to make about retiring? (This applies to any self
employed person and having been in business both as a Director and as a self
employed sole trader AND as a partner, I was able to make provision for
retirement and now live on a very nice pension, BUT, in the very early days
of running your own business, the thought is very hard to conjure up
'Retirement and financial management')

Self employment? Not all rosy :-(

Mike


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