On 5/3/08 10:19, in article ,
"pied piper" wrote:
"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
T...
In article ,
says...
"A.Lee" wrote in message
news:1idapa0.1dchge197flo8N%alan@darkroom.+ 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 abl 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 abl 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 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.
But surely this is different to the OP's question, which was about landscape
gardening. Landscape jobs tend to be done and finished with, unless
maintenance becomes part of the deal. We did a biggish job for someone last
year, got paid for it and it was over. We're about to embark on another but
will not be remaining there to keep the garden. That's fine because the
Nursery is the main focus of this place and those jobs are more or less as a
favour because we're supplying the planting. They're certainly not a major
source of income.
As Charlie says, those he knows who are landscape gardeners in Cornwall,
rely on contracts to keep them going. If landscaping work dries up, there
is no income *unless* you're lucky enough to be working as contract
gardeners, too. In the right area, one could probably have a prosperous
business which does both but it has to be somewhere where people will pay a
good rate for garden maintenance.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'