Pricing a Gardening Job using a Real Example | Front & Back Lawn Cut | UK 

I have since lost this garden due to customer moving out. On reflection 2 years don the line, I would price it differently as its on the cheaper side for the size. If pricing again, I would be around the £40 mark. I also strim the edges where possible as its faster but in parts of this garden, there were a lot of shrubs close to the boarder edge, so that required the edging shears. Hope that helps :)

I started my garden business up 5 years ago I am 39 however got taught it in my early 20s. It's such a good business to run if you are confident and honest. I started off with a £500 budget got all 2nd hand and did it from my car as a side earner from my job. I undercut myself on jobs when starting off because I always gave a quote there and then.(no) always take pictures go home and think about the work involved in my second year my prices was spot on. I charge minimum £25 that includes grass cut and strimmed with a nice edge. And depending of pathways a strong weed killer. I always asked beforehand did they have pets and if so to pick up the dog mess the morning that we arrive as that's a big issue for me 3 strikes and your out. If they wanted the green waste taken away I would charge £5 a bag but most of time they would have a green waste bin.if thay wanted it on a regular I charge 2 prices 1st cut would cost more but 2nd cut would be fixed as its more manageable unless they added more work however I also offer them the whole package so I mean , grass cut and strimmed bushes cut and shaped as and when needed normally evey 6 weeks weed treatment on pathways boarders turned then the magic part, seed and feed as and when required scarified 2x a year aerated as and when needed which I usually do on every other 5th visit just to help the lawn. Offering all that as a package would push my price from £25 every 2 weeks to £45 every 2 weeks. It seems expensive however with all that included yes it's hard at first and the customers don't usually see a good result for about 2,to 3 months but offering the lawn that treatment not only makes the lawn healthy it looks great the customers happy and your work gets easier every visit. I have done a year from now pictures and the results are brilliant. I also find if you use a decent weed killer and get control of the weeds you save a tonne of time as only ever other month you will have to keep on top of them instead of every visit. I found that buying from bnq or shops the weed killer was crap so I found a person close to where I live who sells gullup XL It's great stuff and you have to be very careful when using it. And then only when the customer has seen the garden I would let them pay me. I built trust that way as cowboys ruined that for small business like mine. So doing lawncare packages helped boost my income.some customers just wanted a cut so I did that to.and if I can give any advice to anyone if a customer ask for the grass to be cut really short at the end of season tell them the risk and the damage it can cause. I always tell my customers that I prefer to keep the lawn like a shaggy carpet, bout 2" it looks healthy it is healthy because I use 4in1 on the lawns which is part of the package. I wish you the best of luck on your journey seeing you mention insurance shows that you see it as a business not just beer money. You will find the amount of people just starting up with no insurance, no safety gear and just go round damaging peoples gardens for £7 here and there with an electric mower and a pair of sliders on🤣. I know my prices seem kinda steep to some people who think oh its just cutting grass but it's honestly not. I actually told one of my customers of 2 years that I won't be covering that area due to the lack of work in that area so it wasn't sustainable he paid £40 even 2 weeks for the full package it was a smallish front and smallish back garden with boarders and shrubs. So alot of detail. When I mentioned one other company to try as they was a bigger company he rang them and git a quote that company charged £90 per visit same package 🤯 I won't mention the company name but are fairly well known in the nw. So yes find a good balance and know your worth and remember you don't have to be the cheapest all the time. We now can pick and choose what jobs we want to do we also have contacts with car dealerships and local kids nurseries. We are only a 2 person team as I do it with my partner. Anyways sorry for the book I just created lol . I hope it helps 😁 best of luck I wish you all the success, ahh 1 more thing. I never paid or got flyers I found that putting the business on Google and yell.com was all I needed they was free and what boosted my business was getting every customer to leave me a review at a time that suited them. I have over 25 reviews on both pages and this has helped me a lot 25 reviews don't seem alot but when it's spread over Facebook Google and yell sometimes the phone don't stop lol

Can I suggest a couple of things? Corporate clothing - polo shirts & fleeces with the company name/long work pants & finally safety boots (seen some nasty foot injuries to gardeners wearing trainers). Same goes for things like gloves & eye protection. "Looking the part" can sometimes mean being able to charge higher prices. Sometimes they will actually pay more because they feel they are being looked after by a 'professional' & will boast to their friends about how good their gardener is!.. which is essentially free advertising. Also - put your name on the van. Work wear & car signage are tax deductable - as is cleaning the van & clothes..and using your home as an office too. In fact if you haven't already, find a good accountant. Love the channel - good luck with the business.

When I do a first cut, I keep the deck higher in case of toys, tools, dog mess or bumps and dips etc. I usually then lower the deck and mow crossways at an angle. I mow around the outside a couple of times first it gives a neater place to turn. Of course a lot depends on the length and type of grass being mowed. Look after your back too, I started mowing and gardening over 50 years ago and the old back is letting me know about it all these days. Good to see someone using manual edgers too, but again watch your back! Great videos, keep up the good work.

This has been a great help thank you, amazing work !!!!!!

Great video, Im about to start a gardening business wrong time of the year but im get a small amount of work. I would charge around £30 to but if i had to get rid of the grass clipping i would charge another £10 to get rid of the grass. Keep the videos comming.

£30 in and out, straight forward job. Not an hour's work there but an hour to get there, unload, do the job and on to the next. Cracking work mate, keep it up! Keep an eye out for a Viking mower. You can pick up one for a bargain, turn the engine up a bit. Wet or dry grass and you are sorted.

Yes petrol gone up. Aswell. Good to see this on here Wish we had better weather longer

That definately seems like a fair price to me, I tend to charge a little higher on the first visit (depending on the current state) so I can spend a little more time bringing the lawn into a managable condition, and to define all the edges...

As a customer, I'd say that was a fair price. You take a pride in doing a good job and that's important.

Good job mate. I'd charge around £35. It wouldn't include going around the whole edges with the lawn shears though. Sometimes i might edge the front of the lawn with the edging tool as a freebie. I use a roller mower so they would have stripes on.

Hi :-) I would probably be looking at £35 - £40 for this job. Considering it's quite a big "lump" as I call it for the back lawn, Its surprising the wear and tear and fuel used too.

Just strim the edges ,or really only edge with turfing iron)border spade once a year or if needed. ( You should charge extra £20ph for that separate or don't do it). - I mow fortnightly only , stripes is a bonus ( I often do all summer). Mow,strim and blow , clippings in green bin. Most of mine are typical £35 fortnightly on a run. (Same day in area). I use top equipment and have £10k a year costs. 20yrs in the business. Good luck 🌱🌱🌱.

Thanks for putting this up. I'm in Australia and moving to the UK so I'm trying to soak up the culture. I know with my current set up I'd be around 40 minutes just keeping to the grass and maintaining the edge on the garden beds. Where I live that would be a £45 job but the cost of living in the UK is lower compared to Australia.

Nice video, well done. Good to see someone talking openly about pricing which can be a taboo subject! It looked like 180-200 metres squared overall front and back? I live in the South-East and would be charging £40-£45 for this (biweekly visit) if it was in a sensible radius of other jobs/home and had easy parking. A wider self propelled mower would shave time off the job and I personally think that branded company workwear/van signage is advisable and means you can quote higher. Keep up the good work and good luck for the '22 season.

Gardener by trade. Well I wouldn't call it a job if it was my hobby. My dream job. I watch time lapse vids of gardening, there really chill. They would be a good mix on yah channel.

A fair price. Keep it up. The hand edging takes a lot of time and effort.

Looking at the job, I think I may have charged about 30-35, hard edging as well as border edging makes all the difference, tip for you if you don't mind, when trimming around trees, use the guard to protext the tree and if necessary snip the remaining grass with small hand sheers of scissors. might add to the price a bit, but the tree wont be damaged. you will really notice a difference in your work load when you use a self propelled mower, as a lot of people have said. well worth the investment, I started out with a Viking 448 and its stihl (pun intended) going.

Down here in North London this would be £60. I do some lawns of a similar size here. Might sound a lot but everything is more here and with traffic being what it is in the south east I maybe suffer more dead time between jobs than I would in other areas of the country. I think you are providing very good value at £30 and the end result looked nice.

Fair price mate. Think from looking, I’d of quoted £40. Like you said though you ask yourself questions. Is it on your route or out the way, do you do any jobs on that street etc. Keep the vids coming mate, really enjoying them.

I always do one lap round if plenty of space to turn 2 laps round if it's tight to turn then straight lines up and down I think it makes a big difference

how i get a sharp as foook edge. i use a makita battery 4 inch angle grinder with a slitting disc in. i run a line where the lawn ends or meets the slabs and if the lawn is lush it looks fab!!! i always get compliments. for me its very satisfying too

Thank you

I would have charged £25 - £30 we work on the Isle of Wight. It may be an hour's work but when you factor in machine wear, fuel, travel time, set ups and just general chit chat (most of our customers are elderly and you need to give them a bit if time). So fair price.

Fair enough price but when you can try to upgrade your equipment, I moved from what I thought was a good mower a John Deere 21" self propelled to the Weibang shaft drive with the high lift blade and revs turned up. This transformed my mowing especially on damp lawns or in the rain, knocking 20 minutes or more on bigger jobs.

Fair price and great job

Bang on price but would recommend a self propelled mower, great video

£30 sounds a fair to me . id look to upgrade the mower tho. Look for the classic Briggs type 450 or a Honda you will deffinitly notice the difference with a Honda cut cleaner less effort and faster or a big Briggs quantum engine .. I have just come across an old 18" cut rover self propelled lawnmower 20yrs old but it's a cracking lawnmower.. I'd do these all day at £30a pop👍👍👍

Should use your strimmer to edge the grass save yourself alot of time. One that size I would be at £35 a fortnight and be in and out in 15/20 minutes with 2 on it

I do price work but I charge 40 an hour estimating how long I'll be doing it.

On the cheap side to me, you've taken care with the lawn. I charge £29 for an average cut unto 45 mins work and £11 per sack of waste. I always advise I'm a licensed waste carrier and most customers are okay with it.

Your edging shears should be vertical when cutting the edges. This is the only way to get a neat edge.

My neighbours never walk their dog, they just open the back door and the dog goes into the back garden and takes a shit. The garden is like a minefield. Once or twice a year, they get some poor fellow to cut the 2ft long grass that has been very regularly fertilised by the dog and of course he has no choice but to use a petrol strimmer. I think you can imagine the literal shit storm that occurs in that garden twice a year. I Iove my tall fence.

You could save time by using a good strimmer to edge the lawns...but I think you are about right with £30,do you add extra to remove the cuttings?

Wait edging sheers? I just vertical edge with my trimmer sometimes use an edging machine if it's the first edging done on the property.

Loving your videos. Can you please tell me what you do with the green waste if you don't use the owners green bin and have to take it away with you? I know you can't just take it to the local tip.

Wear steel toe cap boots and tighten bolts at bottom of handles of mower

Australian here, for that size about $80 or maybe 40quid in British, just guessing.

40 to 50. My I always push my luck! 😀. Can I ask why you use hand shears for the edges? Strimmer on its side is quicker

I'd charge£40 and be there for two hours, would do a bit of weeding or something after the grass cutting to get my two hours wages, Actually I've been on £20 per hour for the last 5 years! So thinking about it I'd charge £44 (£22 per hour)! I think by not charging by the hour, you will have the potential to earn far more than me!

Very interesting,I’m starting myself soon,out of interest what van have you got?

👍 Looks like a £25 to £30 job based on, edge, blow and cut, gone within an hour.

When customers call me in especially on regular cuts . I always charge more first time in case they do use you as one off . £30 right especially if strimming involved. Only £15 week on average. Fish chips £12 ? Grass cutting your using machines.

I personally start my subscriptions at £120 per month...this comes with 5 liquid feeds per year..additional costs for autumn scarifying/overseed/topdress.. also additional for 3 granular feeds ...these start at £30 per feed...

What mower would you recommend getting? I'm looking to get started would you recommend a cordless battery mower?

In Surrey I would charge £35.00 if its every week or £45.00 fortnightly.i would use Honda mower and strim the edges to be quicker. I would try to do the work in 40 minutes. G luck

Personally I would have charged £45 - £50.00 for the very first cut as it would have taken me around 90 mins, and if they want a fortnight maintenance, Then I would only charge £35.00

My friend how to apply a gardener in UK I'm from the Philippines

Looks quite a large garden think your little cheap !! First visit 45 then 40 every two weeks in south west.

Hi, which tool did you use to get rid of the weeds betwen flags?

I haven't got a business cutting grass i do it to earn extra money the strimmer i use and the lawnmower i repaired and serviced so i haven't got a big outlay out on either buying tools or hire them can eat away on profit and with the regarlar cuts option my customers seems to get you back when the grass seems to get the length it was previous like there getting there moneys worth subbed up m8 im here to learn m8 and any help along the way would be grafeful and appreciated

Use a bent strimmer on the edges take you 5 mins

do you were ear plugs , if not were are your ear protection

Great video. 35 quid is a more realistic price. Some other professions would charge 35 pound just come and look at a problem for 15 mins. Did you use a edger petrol tool on a later video?

If that was fairly local to me, itd be £30-35 to strim all edges and cut the grass and fill up their green waste bin 👍

I say that's a fair price. I currently charge an hourly rate of £15 and for a job like this I'd give it a 2 hour slot. Any time left I would pull any weeds, prune etc. So it works out the same price of £30 and I would return fortnightly. I am currently looking at my pricing plus I am taking on other people as I am getting busy. So making sure I am pricing right. I actually use a Greenworks battery mower and I absolutely love it, not everyone's choice but better for the planet.

Hi - when you guys talk of a bi-weekly cut at £35 say, do you mean charging £35 each visit, or £35 for 2 visits? I'm hoping that you mean for each visit! Just about to start up as a newbie in a few weeks...thanks for the honest and helpful videos...

You know ... erm... erm... you know... you know. Come on fella!

If you click on my channel, then playlists, I have a playlist dedicated to pricing jobs. 👍👍👍

£30 would be a fair price with professional equipment

Thank you. I would charge €35.. Have you any idea what to charge for hedging. Say a 50 yard beech hedge and 6 ft high. Roughly..

That’s what I’d charge. £40 if they wanted striped lawns.

Im a gardener . Been doing it for over 18yrs now . Mainly on the hr rate ... just out of interest whats ur hr rate ..??

first cut edge quote a little more when edges sorted and job bit easier then £30 - £35.if they want all garden doing, quote job to get everything done,lawns,hedges,bushes,weeding how ever long a day 2 days depending.get it right then quote weekly, fortnight,

Thats an in and out twenty quider for me.

I would charged £25-30 . Plus £5 extra if strim is required .depends on area ( north / south )

I know its all work I want come there im luking job

Bring ur mower through my house when I'm not there mate could do with a free floor. Nah ur alright mate

I think £30 for this is a fair price, cheap if anything. I’d probably have gone another 5-10 on that to be honest.

Very cheap for the amount of work. I think £40 would have been more appropriate considering your overheads as you mentioned

That was cheap to do that, i would off charged around 60/70 pounds for thst job

35 for back 20 for front

for small gardens how much do you charge

Simple, being young you are trying to cut your time to an hour, as you get older you get slower. If it takes you an 1.5 hours keep it at that. Once you start getting the job done quicker plus your still charging the same you may find the customer feeling a bit ripped off.i work on £25 per hour, give a great service, don’t advertise, plus I’m always busy all year round. It’s not rocket science.👍

Good price Bad mower

55 quid

1.30 in and I'm guessing 35

id charge 40pounds for that size

80 minimum

if your just doing grass of that size i would charge £35

dont tell the client how long it will take

Too reasonable - increase your prices a little to cover inflation, tax etc

40 will be fair price for quality job

Doing 5 of those a day to earn £150 doesn't compute with me?

ive only jsut realised...lol.... all my customers are female.

Spoil yourself and get a decent mower, one with a drive, life is too short 😅😅

Seems way too cheap mate for a professional like yourself, in my mind it should be £60

You lost before you started charged for 1 hour and it took 1hr 20 mins plus travel plus dump + wear billing etc etc etc. You don't want/need to loose. Price a job - 4 hrs at 20 = 80 divide by 3 = 27 thats what you'll get after your costs but it takes 5 hrs so now you are on 16 per hr. Staff at a petrol station gets 11 per hour no tools or costs to them, labour only. At 16 you are down to 5.30. As soon as seeing the back I was at 60. Then you showed the front so still at 60. Reckoned on 2 hours. One video maker charges 35 for 1 hour so he'd need 70. Doing jobs too cheap = shoot yourself in the foot. How long is the equipment van etc going to last? 3 to 5 yrs you need to put away sufficient to buy new. New MWB van costs about 20000 divide by 5 4000 per yr needs to be saved to replace the van.

£30 for a strim cut and blow only non of the edging up 30mins tops so you could double your earnings if you drop the edging up