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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Landscaping quote - is £200 a day the going rate?

54 replies

PearlHeart3 · 30/07/2020 09:00

Hi all, I just received a quote for some work to be done on my front and back garden. It's a very detailed quote and I've used them before, so I'm happy with their standard of work. However I've calculated the cost of labour vs materials, and just over half of the quote is for labour.

To give you an idea, the total quote is approx. £6300 and the labour costs come to approx. £3600 - so that's over 50% just on labour. It works out to be about £200 per day (over 6 days) per contractor (there will be 3 of them).

I'm in Cambridgeshire region if it helps.

The question is, is that a reasonable day rate?

OP posts:

Fishisjumpin · 30/07/2020 09:03

£600 per day? Sorry but they are taking the mickey.

userxx · 30/07/2020 09:05

Is it a gardening company you are using? Builders can be cheaper to use.

Mmmmycorona · 30/07/2020 09:09

In my experience if it has landscape in the title it’s generally more expensive. Would a building company be an option instead?
£600 day is a lot but presumably they’ve allowed for tax, travel, machinery up keep etc in that as well.

chillychicken · 30/07/2020 09:09

Say they’re working 8hrs a day, it's £25ph. I don’t think that’s unreasonable to be honest.

Original poster

PearlHeart3 · 30/07/2020 09:09

It's a landscaping company.

To give you an idea of the sort of work I'm wanting done...

Artificial grass laid (removal of old turf and levelling (raised))
New back fence and gate
Paved area (approx 17sqm)
Edging
Gravelled decorative area
New front path concreted
Trellis and posts installed (screening)
Waste disposal

OP posts:

BigSandyBalls2015 · 30/07/2020 09:10

About right I would say for any trade

Original poster

PearlHeart3 · 30/07/2020 09:11

So to answer some more questions, they are not VAT registered and they have accounted for things like Fuel/Wear and Tear and the digger (machinery) separately to the labour costs.

All other tools (cement mixer etc) though are included in the labour costs.

OP posts:

Original poster

PearlHeart3 · 30/07/2020 09:12

When they previously did work for me, they worked from about 8am until 4/5pm so it's a full days work.

OP posts:

DaffodilsAndDandelions · 30/07/2020 09:12

This is my line of work. £180-£200 per man per day is the going rate. We carry around £4000 worth of tools in the van that don't get put down as machine hire (hedgecutters, chainsaws,stone saws, cement mixer). All these have to be paid for, run and maintained out of the day rate, along with the van/s, trailer, business insurance, public liability, van insurance, diesel. The man in quuestuon doesn't get to keep very much really.
If you are happy with the work then don't querie their labour charge. You could find cheaper but the quality won't be as good. Landscaping is skilled labour despite what many people think.
Feel free to ask me anything if you are not sure what they mean.

HasaDigaEebowai · 30/07/2020 09:14

£200 per person per day is pretty standard for anyone with any degree of skill. You pay circa £150 a day around here just for an unskilled labourer.

Plus its fairly rare for a project to be completed exactly to schedule and so they will have accounted for some overrun/issues cropping up.

Foxinthechickencoop · 30/07/2020 09:14

Yes that’s about right.
Although usually you would have a skilled person (Business owner or something) on about £200 a day , and then perhaps a labourer on £140 and / or an apprentice on an apprentice wage. So maybe all of them on £200 is a lot.
To put into perspective our plasterer charges £150 a day plus vat.

Foxinthechickencoop · 30/07/2020 09:16

@DaffodilsAndDandelions

Everything said in your post is correct. They don’t go home and put their feet up. It’s all got to be cleaned or sharpened and arranged for the next day. If you paid just labour but had to hire the kit it would be much more.

Zoecarter · 30/07/2020 09:23

This is my line of work. £180-£200 per man per day is the going rate. We carry around £4000 worth of tools in the van that don't get put down as machine hire (hedgecutters, chainsaws,stone saws, cement mixer). All these have to be paid for, run and maintained out of the day rate, along with the van/s, trailer, business insurance, public liability, van insurance, diesel. The man in quuestuon doesn't get to keep very much really. If you are happy with the work then don't querie their labour charge. You could find cheaper but the quality won't be as good. Landscaping is skilled labour despite what many people think. Feel free to ask me anything if you are not sure what they mean.*

100% this!!! it well annoys me the way people don’t want to pay for People’s work. If you think you are being over charged go else where and get a bunch of cowboys.

ClashCityRocker · 30/07/2020 09:24

It's about right, OP.

You could probably shop around and get it cheaper, but if it's a company you know and trust to do a decent job...

DaffodilsAndDandelions · 30/07/2020 09:26

I cannot stress enough how important it is to not use a building company for this work. For a start, they won't be cheaper. You'll get the unskilled 17yo apprentice they can't send anywhere else as builders don't tend to value the garden. Even if you get the skilled builders/ground workers they will manage just fine with your patio, it's what they do but anything involving soil prep/flower bed then you can forget actually being able to plant anything. They are notorious for hiding rubble and all sorts under a sprinkle or nice looking soil.

Even accounting for wear and tear separate to their labour rate they still have all the other things I listed to pay for.
@Foxinthechickencoop you are exactly right, I wish my customers were as understanding! When I leave a job with a van and trailer absolutely piled hire with hedge prunings and other rubbish and they only want to count my labour as the time I arrive to the time I leave. Despite it costing £30 a visit to the waste disposal site and it being a 1hr round trip.

We can pay our tool hire/machine maintenance shop to sharpen blades etc but that costs money or we can do it ourselves after work. Then robbing gits come and prize open the van doors at night and take everything or even worse, drive the whole van away. We had to spend a fortune on steel doors and shed locks this year after replacing our tools the 2nd time. The insurance pay out but it never covers everything stolen and the lost days work whilst we have no kit.

GameSetMatch · 30/07/2020 09:28

£6300 for a full landscape is really cheap! £200 a day between 2 or 3 people is nothing after tax, I wouldn’t do back breaking work for any less. People time and experience is worth money!

CuriousaboutSamphire · 30/07/2020 09:29

@DaffodilsAndDandelions has it right!

We had our very small courtyard garden landscaped a few years ago and our quote looked very similar.

I'm self employed and charge much the same rate. After all the oncosts it isn't as much as some people believe. I think that many forget, or just don't know, that their employer pays, 20 - 40ish% oncosts per employee.

Original poster

PearlHeart3 · 30/07/2020 09:36

Wow - thanks all for your responses. I really appreciate them.

I completely understand about the upkeep and costs of day to day tools, van costs, tax, insurance etc. I wasn't saying I didn't want to pay their daily rate, I was just asking if the majority thought it was reasonable, which most of you are saying yes.

They've been very transparent about the other costs in the quote and they have reduced a little when I questioned a couple of things. I'll get back to the company today and accept. Thank you all.

OP posts:

BluebellForest836 · 30/07/2020 09:40

£200 a day is pretty standard I think.

My partners in a Different trade but he wouldn’t get out of bed if he got less then £200 a day at a minimum.

User87471643901065319 · 30/07/2020 09:41

£6300 for a full landscape is really cheap!
What a stupid comment!
You can't judge that based on the info given. You have no idea of the sizes of the paved area, size of the astro-turfed area and no idea how much fencing and screening is involved.

£200 a day between 2 or 3 people is nothing after tax, I wouldn’t do back breaking work for any less.
Read the post properly. The OP has stated it is £200 per contractor per day.

Wejustdontknow · 30/07/2020 09:49

We had our garden done last week, it’s only a small garden but it requires taking up a patio, laying decking down one half of the garden, levelling rest off and laying artificial grass and putting new fence panels down one side, all in cane to £2200 for 2 days work, I can’t find the invoice but about half of that was materials and rest was labour

Original poster

PearlHeart3 · 30/07/2020 10:08

@User87471643901065319

£6300 for a full landscape is really cheap! What a stupid comment! You can't judge that based on the info given. You have no idea of the sizes of the paved area, size of the astro-turfed area and no idea how much fencing and screening is involved.

£200 a day between 2 or 3 people is nothing after tax, I wouldn’t do back breaking work for any less.
Read the post properly. The OP has stated it is £200 per contractor per day.

Yep, it's £200 per day, per contractor.

A previous poster mentioned about the level of skill of each contractor and how they may not all be worth £200 per day, but actually I think they're all evenly priced based on the quality of their work they did for me last time and what each one did.

OP posts:

edwinbear · 30/07/2020 10:13

Seems good value to me, I've not had landscaping done but an electrician's day rate in London is c.£250 per day. If I was paid on a daily basis I would be c.£400 pd.

How much do you think someone should be paid for a full day of hard, physical work OP?

Original poster

PearlHeart3 · 30/07/2020 10:15

@edwinbear

Seems good value to me, I've not had landscaping done but an electrician's day rate in London is c.£250 per day. If I was paid on a daily basis I would be c.£400 pd.

How much do you think someone should be paid for a full day of hard, physical work OP?

As much as is reasonable to cover their costs, their time and their profit. I'm not asking if £200 is unreasonable, I'm asking if it's reasonable.

OP posts:

Hilda40 · 30/07/2020 10:34

Artificial turf you say?

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