Few months back i asked the accountant,how are the other lawnies doing that he's got on the books
He says they get by but no one is doing any better than the rest.Or in other words nothing over exciting as income
As for tradies we are not,just a service with no 4 year apprenticeship and trade school so you can't compare this up against gas fitter or sparkies at $100 per hour.
One thing it did over the years was streamline the business including the smallest of details.Anything that made the job faster and easier for me,no matter what it cost to make it work in my favour
its easy to be a gardener. most people have the lawn at their houses so they have tools to mow and edge. they just utilize their tools to make money instead of invest alot of $$$ to other industries.
Masterpiece Gardenscapes
Web: http://www.masterpiecegardenscapes.com.au
Email: info@masterpiecegardenscapes.com.au
Very true Jal,After starting up buying my round then leaving to take on landscaping and investing into buying a tipper,bobcat,trailer for bobcat,trencher,post hole borer,brick cutting saw with $700 diamond blade,compactor,chainsaws for lopping,power tools for pergolas and the list goes on.4 employees wages plus my own to be paid every week and on some $20,000 jobs having to run on overdraft and some cases have 4 jobs on the go and the money is spread out for suppliers.
Contracts,deposits and progressing payments,court dates for bad payers.Payments to debt collectors.
Was it worth it ? yes and no..Went back to lawn mowing for the simplicity of running a business where a Victa 160cc and bent shaft trimmer and boot will get anyone started these days at $25ph.LOL
Its easy to be a gardener.... maybe..... Its not easy to be a good gardener , to know what you are talking about , to have an eye for detail , to be able to look at a job and know what's required to be able to solve plant problems to have spent 8 years doing tafe courses to run your own business , to put up with all the crap that goes with it , to have spent a lifetime trying to improve everyday , to work so hard some days you come home and feel sick because you are exhausted , too much work not enough work , to hot to cold, to wet , to dry yeah its a piece of cake. My jobs easy I'm a gardener
Just on what you charge, I have never and will never say what I charge to anyone, so there is no way I would put it on a public forum. I wish I could have got all this free info when I started up , what do you reckon scoob ,
Horticulture is a trade, i've got the qualifications that says so, to say otherwise is bs. As soon as you move past the mow, blow and go guys/girls it takes a bit of skill to be a good gardener. Trouble is its taking forever for some customers to understand that fact. The amount of times i get called out to a job where the customer says i'm not happy with my current gardener, it happens all the time, when you ask what the guy/girls is charging you start to understand the poor job thats being delivered but the customer then has that price per hour stuck in there head. They say we want you but at his price......yeah well..........
South Aus and smaller regional centres may be different to Melbourne and Sydney but there are plenty of solo operators grossing $150,000 to $200,000 running small gardening businesses in the bigger cities. Do the sums yourself if you can earn $75 to $110 an hr mowing lawns in Melbourne, why should gardening be done for less, the jobs harder, you need more tools, you are exposed to chemicals that damage your health long term and you are earning less than the mow, blow and go contractors hhhmmm no.
I would say its how the business is run rather than the operators trade qualifications etc
There's many highly skilled ppl out there not charging enough!
Also, some of my best paying jobs require the least skill