Mike wrote:

We have a near neighbour who did work with his father, in Garden
Maintenance. He has thought of starting up again, but is at present working
in a factory. Another neighbour did 'use him' to trim a hedge. We would now
like him to do the same for us, which he said he would do and 'it doesn't
matter about paying me, I will do it for you'

I would like to give him at least the going rate, especially as he is going
to start on his own at some time or other. The job involves dropping the
height of a 12 ft high Hawthorn Hedge to about 7 ft over a length of about
20 - 25ft.

I would hate to embarrass him.

Your comments please


You seem to have two choices to do this "fairly":

a) give him how much you would expect to receive for doing the work

or

b) ask a couple of firms to quote for doing the work and give the average

if he gets embarassed by giving money tell him you'd rather give it to
him than some company and if he still refuses try to negotiate with him.

ff

When I had my factories, I paid minimum rate + Bonus. Everyone was happy at
that. In 'theory' they could have sat and done nothing all day for basic,
but the incentive to get the work out was the bonus.


and how much did you earn off the backs of these happy workere? I bet
they hated you

"tekno anarchist" wrote in message
...


When I had my factories, I paid minimum rate + Bonus. Everyone was happy
at
that. In 'theory' they could have sat and done nothing all day for
basic,
but the incentive to get the work out was the bonus.


and how much did you earn off the backs of these happy workere? I bet
they hated you


Not at all, we were all one 'Happy Family'. If you read my post again, you
will see that "Everyone was happy at that."

Do you have a problem with the thought of a boss looking after his/her work
force? How many people do you employ? None? Talking from the theory book
then aren't you?

Please remember, I rose from the Shop Floor to the Boardroom, I know both
sides of the picture.

Mike

Mike wrote:

Do you have a problem with the thought of a boss looking after his/her work
force?
a. I have a problem with the thought of a boss - full stop


Please remember, I rose from the Shop Floor to the Boardroom, I know both
sides of the picture.

b. so what? all that means is that you turned your back on your
comrades to suck up to bosses who cream off the profits from the workers.

people paying a minimum wage and then expecting the workers to be happy!
Did you get them to doth their caps and call you sir? You are living in
a bubble if you really believe the rubbish you are talking. But you
were happy to pay them a bonus - how generous. How much more money were
you paid?

On Tue, 04 May 2004 16:01:18 +0100, tekno anarchist
wrote:

Mike wrote:

Do you have a problem with the thought of a boss looking after his/her work
force?
a. I have a problem with the thought of a boss - full stop


Please remember, I rose from the Shop Floor to the Boardroom, I know both
sides of the picture.

b. so what? all that means is that you turned your back on your
comrades to suck up to bosses who cream off the profits from the workers.

not if Mike has a one man business.

You have a very serious complex don't you.

'One out all out'??

Have you ever done a day's work in your life?

Gimmee, gimmee, gimmee.

On 3 May 2004 09:33:54 -0700, (Mike Lyle)
wrote:

"Tumbleweed" wrote in message ...


A gardener's as skilled as a good builder, so why not go for that
rate? (Though I know this particular job isn't particularly skilled,
and it's presumably cash, so I doubt if he'd be insulted by a tenner
an hour.) The builder won't mind telling you how much he charges at
present. My last plumber (a good one) in West Wales charged UKP17.50
per hour with no call-out fee; I get about UKP20 per hour for proper
gardening (more, incidentally, than I get for editing or, probably,
translation).

Mike.

If the guy is using his own electric/ petrol hedgetrimmer £10 ph is
cheap ! I charge £12 ph for hedge/ grasscutting in Bedfordshire
but only work very locally to keep travelling costs down.
This is also my rate for general garden maintenance etc. & using all
my own tools + machinery . Extra charge for taking away rubbish.
I think that is pretty good value as the advice + knowledge comes
free ! There are *gardeners* & Gardeners. Someebody wanted a veg.
patch dug over - I told them to get a fit youngster at £5 ph ( if they
could find one ! )
BTW Plumbers around here won't look at anything for less than £60
Four years ago I needed a new lock on my garage door in a hurry as I
didn't have a key ........... standard Henderson type. He wanted £80
for a five minute job and then ddn't bother to turn up ! Finished up
doing it myself for £20...

"Olly" wrote in message
...
On 3 May 2004 09:33:54 -0700, (Mike Lyle)
wrote:

"Tumbleweed" wrote in message
...


If the guy is using his own electric/ petrol hedgetrimmer £10 ph is
cheap ! I charge £12 ph for hedge/ grasscutting in Bedfordshire
but only work very locally to keep travelling costs down.
This is also my rate for general garden maintenance etc. & using all
my own tools + machinery . Extra charge for taking away rubbish.
I think that is pretty good value as the advice + knowledge comes
free !

I think so too

There are *gardeners* & Gardeners.

Oh. soooo true (-;

Someebody wanted a veg.
patch dug over - I told them to get a fit youngster at £5 ph ( if they
could find one ! )
BTW Plumbers around here won't look at anything for less than £60
Four years ago I needed a new lock on my garage door in a hurry as I
didn't have a key ........... standard Henderson type. He wanted £80
for a five minute job and then ddn't bother to turn up ! Finished up
doing it myself for £20...

Given that there are many who might be reading this thread out of genuine
interest in case of future projects, then might I point out one or two
things to try to avoid.

I have a customer who previously took on some landscape contractors. They
provided a price , to do some tree work, but the it went more like, say, '
Gardeners; 'That'll cost £30 quid to mow the lawn'
'Ok' says the customer and they get on with it.
Afterwards they present him with a bill of £55.
'But you said £30!!', says the customer
'yeah!' says the gardeners, it's £30 plus another £25 cos we had to hire the
mower.... how else did you think we were going to do it?'

In another instance, a customer was in effect conned into accepting a
maintenance contract.
& it was the same aherm, wonderful contractors
They provided a seasons guarantee for work done (life of plants mainly)
However, in order to administer this arrangement they (off course) needed
permission to pop in regularly and do what ever needed to be done to ensure
this work was successful.
So, they turned up and did what amounted to general maintenance. Even cut
the grass, which the customer thought was jolly nice of them...but boy oh
boy... that customer (husband+wife) had no idea that somewhere in the small
print they had accepted liability to pay for this maintenance form of
assurance.

That said, I may as well point out that £12 per hour for labour which is
every bit as skilled as knowing how to fill out a form, is more than dirt
cheap when said form-filler can get , oooh £180 per hour (-;

Patrick