5 Mistakes to Avoid if you're a Self Employed Gardener! | UK 

Tip Tip! 👌

Exactly! Thanks for commenting David👍

I just start my own business and have my first customer and she was surprised when she asked me about my charge. She asked daily or hourly rate? I said you pay for my service. Anyway a bit under priced myself but that was my first ever customer . Lesson learnt. I watch a lots of gardeners all around the world mostly from USA and in my opinion €1.80 a minute is a price what you have to charge that’s including travel time. Will see in the future😎 anyway good luck for all the gardeners many happy returns

Its difficult sometiems to calculate how long youll be at a job. Lawn cuts are fairly straight forward. With one off work you win some you lose some id day. All the best for this season Robert

@@TheGreyGardener1990 you are right man. I was totally wrong with my first one🤣 and lots of customers asking a bit more in here and there if you don’t mind 😂 and just added up the day.

@@robertveres6735 it's difficult. Haha yeah you always get customers, can you just cut that bit back there...etc! The odd bit I don't mind as it keeps them happy but if it's too much I do say, I will have to add a bit onto the price. Most people are fine though and don't take the piss!

I appreciate that thanks Gary 👍

Cheers, that helps with the on screen confidence! Haha

Aha cheers mate. Hope all is well for you! Yeah thats a good one to do. Will add to the list. We'll have to meet up sometime, once things have settled with the baby arrival I'll probably come down to york

Appreciate it mate cheers

Cheers Gary, yeah will add to the list. Was going to do something similar on the tools I have so could tie in the two 👍

Yeah thats what I do. Probably should have included it, as you say a lot of people might not do it separately and lose out on jobs because of it - great point!

Spot on 👍🏼

Yeah thats a good idea mate, probably will do cheers 👍

@@TheGreyGardener1990 Do you offer pesticides and fertilizers for customers what do you use? That might be a good vid ? good luck with the baby mate

Hope you're enjoying them 👍

Hi there mate, thanks for commenting. How do you mean the processes?

I just find an hourly rate too restricting. Plus, why should an hours heavy digging be the same as an hours light pruning? You live and learn though and it may work for some people, everyone's different

Thanks mate, great comment. I always like to hear how people run their own business. Sounds like you're doing really well

I have a set amount of clients which I visit on a two weekly or 4 weekly visit and they pay me per hour. The only way I can increase my income is to employ or use other self employed gardeners. If you clients are all private clients then you have to be careful that your income doesn’t go through the VAT threshold as this will mean a 20% increase on their invoice. It’s a tricky one I have deliberated over the years. At one point I had two employed and 3 part time self employed but that was difficult to manage and keep up the standards that I had already set. So I would say I could be more successful and build my business further as the work is definitely out there. It is finding that balance of really loving your job and making a reasonable living or pushing it to a very profitable business with employees and becoming a manager of people rather than working in gardens. One thing I was given advice on is don’t focus on what other people are doing focus on what you are doing. People can bullshit about their rates and their businesses. I suppose sharing your business on this platform will afford you good and bad comments. Sorry for the long winded rant. Good luck and I hope you prosper and most of all be happy with your choices. 👍👍

Yeah good stuff mate. Each time I quote I literally tell them everything I'll do that way there's no confusion! Haha Quite a few times the first visit need a bit of a job doing to it as you say so it's a good way of earning a bit extra. Which weed and feed do you use?

@@TheGreyGardener1990 I use miracle grow 4in1 at the moment, good results but not very cost effective... I'll be trialling out a new company I found online soon called "agrigem" on my own lawn then might set up an account to bulk buy

@@Jordan.E same as me I think. Do you include that on most lawns then within the overall price?

@@TheGreyGardener1990 I'd estimate how much I'd use through the year and divide that by the amount of visits... If it works out to just a couple of quid then I'd just apply it within the job, larger lawns I'd add it on to the nearest £5 Some of my gardens I don't bother with at all though, like where they park on the grass or have dogs that leave highly concentrated nitrogen patches lol

@@Jordan.E ah right yeah cheers. Few of those 'dog' gardens on my round!

I have a scraper tool which gets in between

I got lucky last year with my £60 mower. It's my spare now, I've gone for one of the cobra ones this season. Spent big on a good stihl kombi.

hi mate can I ask what mower you bought

It's a tricky one. I don't have any jobs where they're a dedicated amount of time so to speak so it's easier for me. If I had a job similar to yours where I dedicate 2 hours to a job, if they want a boarder digging and they are happy for other things not to get done, it may be difficult to say no. If you're anxious you may lose the customer I'd just say get it dug and then forget about it. Easy for us youtubers to say things but I always like to tell people it's your business and do what YOU feel is right. There are jobs where I go against my own advice as it FEELS the right thing to do

It varies but I'm similar to you. If I MUST give a time I try to keep it AM or PM. A couple of older customers with access through the garage I'm sort of stuck to a time but it all works well enough. I'm buying a power wash soon so hoping to do driveway/patio cleans. I have a driveway clean booked for October so once I start to advertise that I'm hoping to get some bookings. I have 4 air B&B properties which is carrying on albeit monthly rather than fortnightly and just hoping I get a steady trickle of garden jobs come through as well

@@TheGreyGardener1990 I do pressure washing too I spent a fortune on gear from a firm called spina clean in north Hampton . I get the hod job that I do on a weekend that pemote a bit more for winter months also cutter cleaning with a sky vac. Witch is good money 👍

@@adrianhoward7253 which pressure washer you got? Haven't thought of gutter cleans...maybe a bit high for me 😬

@@TheGreyGardener1990 Gutter cleaning no ladders it’s done with vacuum and carbon fibre poles/ it’s called sky vac google it. / pressures washer is a Honda pump and turbo Lance. Awesome bit of kit both of them 👍

@@adrianhoward7253 ah right ok yeah I'll google that thanks.

Yeah, £20 per dumpy sack. The big tonne sacks

Depends what you're doing in them. You can do more grass cuts than full garden maintenance jobs. Grass cuts only realistically anywhere between 4 to 6 or 7 depending on the size. That's just me. I couldnt be out all day doing gardens until 6/7pm

@@TheGreyGardener1990 thanks for the reply much appreciated. You have inspired me to make the decision of going for it and moving forward with my own business.

@@adamlittlewood1453 good stuff. Best of luck with it

@@adamlittlewood1453good luck 🙌🏼

Yeah mate absolutely fine. I probably have to renew my line every 4-6 weeks approx. You can buy different quality and thickness so it lasts longer as well.

@@TheGreyGardener1990 ahhh thank you for replying. I myself have started a gardening business in the last two months and I am really enjoying it. As your next video, I would love to see what sort of equipment did you buy to use when you first started. All I own is a flymolawner and a basic strimmer. It seems fine for now as I only do it part time.

@@MohamedFareedh No problem. Yeah, that is on my list to do 👍 I bought some new, some 2nd hand. I didn't buy a leaf blower at first but I wished I had. It saves so much time and gives a lovely neat finish for any stray blades of grass etc. Really useful. Good luck with it 👍

@@TheGreyGardener1990 thank you mate!

She'll love you mate. You do what works for you 👍

@@TheGreyGardener1990 she makes a mean cuppa and always has homemade cake so it balances out 🤣

@@DjDolHaus86 tea and cake is probably worth a fiver isn't it especially homemade!

@@TheGreyGardener1990 exactly

Fine lines for me. If the same customer constantly asked me to do these little bits for 5 or 10 mins then I'd add money on. But if it's someone who litterally asked me as a one off, depending on the job of course I might do it. I've become a bit more battle hardened since this video 2 years ago though and a lot less tolerable 🤣🤣

Good stuff mate totally agree 👍

@@TheGreyGardener1990 really enjoyed your honest upload...prices are never talked about where I believe they should be..our equipment isn't cheap and we work professionally to high standards

@@mickeyhughes7244 I have quite a lot of pricing videos. Obviously all just ball park figures but I feel like when I started, there was nobody really giving actual examples. People either agree or disagree but it gives a starting point. I'm wrong a lot of the time too! Haha

@@TheGreyGardener1990 great stuff. I've just subscribed

@@mickeyhughes7244 Great. Hope you enjoy the channel 👍

This was one without my mic I think.