Self employed Gardening business

[Jct88]

Hi all.

I’m looking for some advice regarding starting up as a self employed gardener next spring. I was laid off in spring 2020 due to the pandemic so I went self employed and did garden maintenance (I have always helped around the garden and have had an interest since being young so I had a general idea and did a tidy job). I was able to buy new kit (trimmer, mower, blower, hand tools). I advertised Facebook and left cards with customers and I did well for about 5-6 months but then I accepted a job offer I’d been waiting on for a year and I wanted the security as I’d become a home owner that year (bills, mortgage etc). Fast forward to now, I’m still doing groundwork’s with the same firm but things aren’t going great - lots of time wasters in the company and too much pressure from management and it’s making want to set up as an a self employed gardener again next spring as I feel this is where my passion lies. I still have all the tools, I drive a van (mainly for the dog). I know the pros and cons of being employed vs self employed but I wanted to see if I could get some advice from gardeners currently in the business. Do you think I could build up work fast? I live on the outskirts of bedford/Northamptonshire so plenty of villages around me. I hear from people that there aren’t enough gardeners but I always seem to see cowboy mow & blowers stealing the work and doing it cheap. Do you think there’s still a chance to do well as a self employed gardener? Thanks

 

[MBE2017]

Hi all.
Do you think I could build up work fast? I live on the outskirts of bedford/Northamptonshire so plenty of villages around me. I hear from people that there aren’t enough gardeners but I always seem to see cowboy mow & blowers stealing the work and doing it cheap. Do you think there’s still a chance to do well as a self employed gardener? Thanks

There are two types of work in general. The kind which at first seems good, keeps you busy and you feel like you are doing well with lots of money coming into your bank account. Fast forward a year or so normally and you realise you have been a busy fool, working for below NMW very often. That sort of work is easy to find and get lots in quickly.

Then you have the much harder work to get hold of, regular contracts, clients who appreciate your work and are willing to pay you enough to make a living. That sort of work takes more time and effort.

You are in my area, so plenty of wealthy clients and companies, but why will they use you instead of someone else? How many days and weeks of the year do you want to work, tax, depreciation, holidays, pensions etc etc all come into deciding what “Your rate” should be.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Some years ago I tutored a Gardener who had become very busy very quickly

Unfortunately he had done it by being cheap, and hadn't put parameters on his cheapness; hence he was liberally recommend as 'the ten pound an hour Gardener '

We had to work on extracting him from much of his cheap work whilst building a quality client base.

So, in a nutshell, you can build quickly by being cheap, but you absolutely have to define your parameters (eg opening rate / first 3 customers etc)

 

[HFE Signs]

I would expect with a business such as this you would have plenty of people needing your services. You really need to identify your market, and work out how you will target your desired audience. For example, commercial work, general mowing, landscaping and so on..

You have a few months in winter with no work so you need to build this into your pricing. Also, make plans for retirement, it may be a long way off but plan it in.

Good luck, if done correctly and you’re hard working and in good health it shouldn’t be too difficult.

 

[Jct88]

Great replies. Thanks

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Look to diversify during the quieter months. Cleaning autumn leaves from gutters, moss from paths etc., Ideally serving the same customers who's lawns you mow!

 

[bodgitt&scarperLTD]

If you can be bothered to attain some horticultural knowledge and RHS quals, there’s a much higher paying market out there.

 

[HFE Signs]

If you can be bothered to attain some horticultural knowledge and RHS quals, there’s a much higher paying market out there.

Not if your market is the old couple next door who want their lawns mowed every couple of weeks and the hedge trimmed.

Definitely if you’re looking for council contracts though ?

 

[WaveJumper]

There certainly seems to be a need for the services but as others have indicated its the quality of the contract, both my neighbours have services in place and when the gardeners are here they are normally here all day. On the other side of the coin we have a gardener in to help my mother every couple of weeks who does a bit of weeding and gets the mower out. Commercial contracts can be better payers, obviously getting these is a lot more difficult, a lot of these may form part of an overall maintenance or cleaning contract that a landlord has put in place in which case you might want to let these types of business you can other landscaping services and get your foot in the door this way.

If going down the more commercial route you will defiantly need to up to speed with H&S, risk assessments etc, and make sure you have suitable insurance cover. best of luck.

 

[bodgitt&scarperLTD]

Not if your market is the old couple next door who want their lawns mowed every couple of weeks and the hedge trimmed.

Definitely if you’re looking for council contracts though ?

Nope. Councils couldn’t care less about RHS, they want safety schemes instead.

The target market I was alluding to is the solicitors wife who really loves her garden.

 

[HFE Signs]

Nope. Councils couldn’t care less about RHS, they want safety schemes instead.

The target market I was alluding to is the solicitors wife who really loves her garden.

The kind of customer you probably don't want then

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

@Jct88 Do you have a garden? If you do (or don't, but have a good friend that does), get several quotes to see what the average cost is. Then, set your pricing at no less than this (however, you might want to tactically offer things to get through peoples door).

When you are doing work, drop leaflets in neighbours' doors a couple of days before to say that you are working in the area. Over inflate your price and tell them that your traveling costs are covered, because you are in the area, so you can offer a little discount for your time (as long as it doesn't drop below your set pricing).

 

[HFE Signs]

Of course Pavement Signs outside a garden you're working at works well

 

[bodgitt&scarperLTD]

The kind of customer you probably don't want then

It depends what kind of business you are wanting. OP doesn't sound like he wants to employ teams, just have enough work to pay his bills. Given that he has a finite amount of hours in the day, the most sensible course of action is to find the clients who pay the best. I suggested one method to do this.

 

[bodgitt&scarperLTD]

@Jct88

When you are doing work, drop leaflets in neighbours' doors a couple of days before to say that you are working in the area. Over inflate your price and tell them that your traveling costs are covered, because you are in the area, so you can offer a little discount for your time (as long as it doesn't drop below your set pricing).

Be careful there. A fine line between that and pikey doorknocking...

I'd personally do an absoloutely spot on job for fair but not cheap money, establish a rapport with the (rich) client, spin them the story about how hard you are trying to establish a viable business, and ask them to recommend you to their friends in the local area.

 

[HFE Signs]

Be careful there. A fine line between that and pikey doorknocking...

I'd personally do an absoloutely spot on job for fair but not cheap money, establish a rapport with the (rich) client, spin them the story about how hard you are trying to establish a viable business, and ask them to recommend you to their friends in the local area.

You're assuming the rich are the most reliable payers, it that a fair assumption ?

When I was 15 I went door to door with my dads old electric mower, I always found the better off people were much more fussy and the lets say 'down to earth' folk always paid up with a decent tip on top.

 

[MBE2017]

I see nothing wrong in politely knocking the neighbours and explaining you are starting a new mowing / gardening service and would they have an interest in using you.

It makes a lot of commercial sense to acquire clients close to each other, cutting down on travelling and fuel costs.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Of course Pavement Signs outside a garden you're working at works well

I was once told about a gardener who had a hand written A-Board saying 'Bushes trimmed from £10', which young mums walking the school route would have a laugh about. The torrent of double innuendos went right over the gardeners head!

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I see nothing wrong in politely knocking the neighbours and explaining you are starting a new mowing / gardening service and would they have an interest in using you.

It makes a lot of commercial sense to acquire clients close to each other, cutting down on travelling and fuel costs.

I agree and this somewhat lacking in the modern era
Go and talk to the people. Thats what gets the business in

 

[Stuart Bailey]

my wife is a professional gardener and earns £17 per hour. Whilst there is lots of work out there for gardeners, people are not keen to pay too much for them. Its a tough job too working in all conditions but she loves her job which is the most important thing.

 

[catshill]

I was once told about a gardener who had a hand written A-Board saying 'Bushes trimmed from £10', which young mums walking the school route would have a laugh about. The torrent of double innuendos went right over the gardeners head!

Or maybe a marketing strategy?

 

[HFE Signs]

Or maybe a marketing strategy?

Quite possibly, we’ve see similar ideas and to be fair it works very well

 

[IanSuth]

Quite possibly, we’ve see similar ideas and to be fair it works very well

"General Gardening and Topiary - let me trim your bush!!"

 

[HFE Signs]

"General Gardening and Topiary - let me trim your bush!!"

We did a car wash banner once that mentioned a full wax, I'll leave you to imaging the image used

 

[fantheflames]

I agree with @Lucan Unlordly - you'll need to think about the big picture.

There is a lot of work out there for gardeners. And it seems like your area is perfect for it.

So for the quiet months, you'll need to have either saved for those months or have an additional service that you offer.

If you have the capital to get all the equipment you need, you could start in the new year.

You'll want to focus on local advertising.

And you'll need a logo, wrap for your vehicle and potentially a basic website.

 

[SillyBill]

Businesses pay more so do well to see what you can pick up there. We have a great local gardener who does a lot of residential work but also does a lot of the industrial/commerical estate maintenance. Basically for us just tidies up our site perimeter fence which gets covered in brambles/weeds. He sees us once a quarter for a couple of days (charges about £1000-1200 for 2 days work and there is 2 of them). Imagine it is trickier to get £500-600 a day out of a local homeowner but sort of spend for certain businesses that falls under the "low cost" maintenance task category so can up your rates. Few decent medium sized businesses on a round and suspect that is a good base income to then supplement with your domestic work. Slow grind acquiring them though I would guess.

 

[bodgitt&scarperLTD]

Businesses pay more so do well to see what you can pick up there. We have a great local gardener who does a lot of residential work but also does a lot of the industrial/commerical estate maintenance. Basically for us just tidies up our site perimeter fence which gets covered in brambles/weeds. He sees us once a quarter for a couple of days (charges about £1000-1200 for 2 days work and there is 2 of them). Imagine it is trickier to get £500-600 a day out of a local homeowner but sort of spend for certain businesses that falls under the "low cost" maintenance task category so can up your rates. Few decent medium sized businesses on a round and suspect that is a good base income to then supplement with your domestic work. Slow grind acquiring them though I would guess.

Commercial work is also good for gardening companies wishing to expand. It helps limit the fear of the VAT threshold, and can be a good way to start bringing in larger machinery that can also improve margins on domestic work so long as your charging structure is right.

 

[m4hmo]

A £10 advert on gumtree and that is it, you're a gardener. Get yourself onto the other websites as well like mybuilder/rated people, test gumtree first, keep your investment minimal. I prefer mybuilder but thats because it allows you to cover more categories like electrics, plumbing carpentry etc. Hopefully your location has a lot of searches for gardeners.

 

[Volopa]

Hey lots of really good advice on here. You should look at Googles digital garage they have lots of free course that could help. they used to do live training and mentoring but seems to have stopped. Take a look at it the new year to see if it starts up.
I would look at getting yourself on Nextdoor app for local jobs and get your self listed on Task rabbit. again for local these will give you insights on local pricing. Nothing really beats word of mouth in terms of getting business.. any work you do be enthusiastic and try and get those clients to write you some google reviews..Oh and if you need help tracking your business expenditure give me a shout.