"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
T...
In article ,
says...


"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
The secret as always is to charge enough, if you get no takers maybe
there is not a viable business. I know several gardener/landscapers down
here and all are happy with their earnings but all rely on contracts to
maintain hotels, golf clubs, and holiday cottages rather than cutting
someones grass once a fortnight. And the holiday issue is a very real
one, its like a double wammy, you have to pay for the holiday and take a
cut in wages at the same time (you get used to it but it takes time) The
biggest adjustment I had to make was not having the money in my account
at the start of the month so not being certain that the big bills
like the mortgage would be covered, it took around 7 years of it turning
out ok before I was able to relax. I am a nurseryman not a gardener but
tried the gardening route to start with and quickly came to the same
conclusions as above, lots of customers, non prepared to pay enough. had
I been properly trained I may have realised the right way to set up and
been fine, as it was I thought like a lot of people that because I was
good at gardening for me that I could do it for others, unfortunately you
can keep busy and suppliment an income or pension but if you want a
living you have to do it properly and set up a proper business.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

If you take on annual contracts as u stated then u should get paid monthly
or quarterly regardless of whether u are on holiday or not.I am able to take
about 8 weeks holiday a year as is my business partner we just cover each
other when the other is away and it makes no difference to monthly payments.