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Thread: Things that make me grumpy

  1. #4696
    Senior Member BSD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by Scooby Steve View Post
    Crazy hey. And a lot of other trades have call out fees and minimum charges. Pool cleaners even do. Pool cleaners near me are $80 an hr plus chemicals, minimum $80. Sprinkler repairers local to me charge out at $110 for the first hr, $88 an hr after that. Compare that to Mr Gardening man.
    That's the point, tradies is the key word, there are lawn 'specialists' like some here, but like myself a semi retired Fitter & Turner who averages $60 per job. Most which are 1 off crap.

  2. #4697
    Senior Member BeetleJuice's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    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

  3. #4698
    Member Victoria jal2007's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    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.

  4. #4699
    Senior Member BeetleJuice's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by jal2007 View Post
    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.
    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

  5. #4700
    Senior Member NLALM's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    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 ,

  6. #4701

    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by geoff View Post
    Yep we are at fault as we should have only put prices in the private section as Blue said earlier .
    I know a couple of these that have done just that... undercut the prices of contractors on here .
    So my advertised hourly rate on here shall be 18.50 per hour lol
    F*** Geoff! When did you put it up. I will have to review all my prices this Spring time now

  7. #4702
    Senior Member Scooby Steve's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by BSD View Post
    That's the point, tradies is the key word, there are lawn 'specialists' like some here, but like myself a semi retired Fitter & Turner who averages $60 per job. Most which are 1 off crap.
    I wouldn't actually call pool cleaners tradies no offence to any pool cleaners out there but i'd say they'd be a step down the pay scale compared to a gardener but obviously that aint the case.

  8. #4703
    Senior Member Scooby Steve's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by BeetleJuice View Post
    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
    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..........

  9. #4704
    Senior Member Scooby Steve's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by BeetleJuice View Post
    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
    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.

  10. #4705
    Senior Member Scooby Steve's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by NLALM View Post
    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 ,
    I reckon your right mate would have been handy. I like what you wrote well said. Someone gets it, now if only we can get through to some of the others reading this.

  11. #4706
    Senior Member 4 Gardens's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by NLALM View Post
    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 ,
    Well said ��
    Hope you are hitting birubi this weekend

  12. #4707
    Senior Member 4 Gardens's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by Scooby Steve View Post
    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..........
    Absolutely - its a trade if you choose it to be and take the time to study and get qualified

    As a result you can charge similar to other trades

    Reputation and quality of work is more important than cost for my client list

  13. #4708
    Senior Member NLALM's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by 4 Gardens View Post
    Well said ��
    Hope you are hitting birubi this weekend
    Yeah just got back from a surf up there , only small waves , but the water is perfect for this time of year.

  14. #4709
    Senior Member Chris B's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    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

  15. #4710
    Senior Member geoff's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by Chris B View Post
    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
    Sadly you are so right....i know several well qualified and thats diploma with well round apprenticeship with years of experience charging 40 bucks an hour....they do fantastic work but cannot run and survive through their business...good point chris ..

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