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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

That £26.50/hour for weeding is insanity?

494 replies

LaBellySausage · 21/02/2021 19:54

I'm looking for someone to come around for 3 hours/week to help with weeding the garden.

I was given a couple of names of local people who do gardening. I expected to pay somewhere between £10-12/hour, perhaps £15/hour if the person was an experienced gardener. I believe minimum wage is £8something but I don't think people can live on that.

The first person wouldn't give a quote til they came to view the garden and then was hesitant to give an hourly rate, preferring to give a rate for 'the job'. It's not a job that can be finished- it's like when I shave my legs the bastards on the other one have started growing back when I start the second. I just want a few weeds less per week. He eventually said £18/hour. I thanked him for his time but said it was a bit more than I had budgeted. The second guy said £26.50/hour!

This is simple weeding. Trowel and hoe provided. £26.50/hour is about £55,000 annually.

I worked jobs like this while in uni at minimum wage. For reference, we live in a very inexpensive part of the country- he would not be weeding Chelsea Flower Show. Both candidates were local so didn't have more than a 5/10 minute drive.

Am I being unreasonable, or is this a crazy rate?

OP posts:
Hothammock · 21/02/2021 21:26

My gardener charged £20 an hour and that was cheap compared to other quotes I had. You don't sound like you actually want a gardener who has overheads of a vehicle, storage and professional equipment plus the expertise of knowing what's a weed or not. Rather you just want a basic labourer on low hourly rate. Maybe look on the odd jobs column in your paper or ask around for someone who is able to offer you a few hours of you provide the tools and point out what is a weed and what should not be touched etc.

PracticingPerson · 21/02/2021 21:26

@PracticingPerson It's not a skilled job

That is irrelevant. If I go to the top stylist at my salon, I pay their rate whether I want a simple cut or a complicated cut.

A self-employed individual sets their own rate. If this person charges £26.50/hour to do 'proper' gardening, they will quote the same for weeding. Because taking the weeding job has to be worth their while not using the time for a gardening job instead.

You ask someone their rate, they quote. You pay, or you don't.

Skilled or not doesn't come in to it.

ichundich · 21/02/2021 21:26

£26 per hour is ridiculous unless they are qualified and experienced gardeners! If it's just some weeding and garden clearance no skill is required really. We used to have a (pretty clueless) guy who charged us £17.50 per hour, which I thought was steep. Then last spring (after he put his kids into private school) he wanted £22. We now get a teenager to do the straightforward stuff for £10 per hour, and I do the rest.

Hollyhead · 21/02/2021 21:27

I would happily pay £20 per hour for an experienced gardener to do gardening. However if I wanted a weeder I'd just put a note in the local shop for an 'odd job' type of person.

VinylDetective · 21/02/2021 21:28

@MiddlesexGirl

Gardening, as pp have pointed out, is seasonal. Gardeners can only work for eight months of the year.

Not true. The only time our gardeners don't come is when it is snowy. Which is also coincidentally when the cleaner doesn't come.

Genuine question - what do they do in the winter? Nothing grows.
doublehalo · 21/02/2021 21:29

OP, if you paid a proper gardener to come on a regular basis by next season you wouldn't have a weed problem.

chomalungma · 21/02/2021 21:29

@ichundich

£26 per hour is ridiculous unless they are qualified and experienced gardeners! If it's just some weeding and garden clearance no skill is required really. We used to have a (pretty clueless) guy who charged us £17.50 per hour, which I thought was steep. Then last spring (after he put his kids into private school) he wanted £22. We now get a teenager to do the straightforward stuff for £10 per hour, and I do the rest.
Always the danger of putting up your price.....
EggscellentEggplant · 21/02/2021 21:29

My husband is a gardener, he won't do a job for less than £20 an hour, he has 15 years experience. Dont forget that out of that money they have got to pay tax and NI, pay into a pension if they want to be able to retire ever, travel to the jobs, pay fuel, insurance, advertise, time visiting to quote for jobs and they don't get paid annual leave or sick leave if self employed. You can't compare it to minimum wage in a job elsewhere. And why the heck should they accept minimum wage? He's got a family to support, if he accepted less money he'd have to find a different job. YABVU

LunaHeather · 21/02/2021 21:30

I was hoping you were in London

I would weed for half that!

I know a not qualified gardener who charges £13-15 per hour. She has work in the winter. I clear mum's garden and there's flowering plants in winter and debris to clear away.

Chicchicchicchiclana · 21/02/2021 21:32

I paid a student (son of a friend) who lives nearby £10 an hour to do digging and weeding for me last summer. I gave him 2 full days work to make it worth his while and gave him really clear instructions on what was a weed and what wasn't, provided all the tools and garden rubbish sacks and was on hand all the time for advice/providing mugs of tea/took care of recyling or taking rubbish to the tip.

If you want a self employed gardener with plant knowledge to come on a regular basis for just a few hours per week or fortnight you're obviously going to have to pay a lot more.

doublehalo · 21/02/2021 21:33

Gardening work is seasonal. Out of the quoted hourly rate must come tax and NI, insurance and all the expenses required to run a business.

There's no holiday pay, no sick pay, no pension.

Anyone doing it for anywhere near minimum wage is not paying tax and doesn't actually have to depend on the money to pay living expenses and mortgage.

Blondeshavemorefun · 21/02/2021 21:33

In the end. The gardener has given you his price

You either accept it or try and find cheaper

JackieWeaverIsTheAuthority · 21/02/2021 21:35

@Dailywalk

Unlike cleaning, your gardener will be working in all weather. However I wouldn’t expect to need to weed as often? Perhaps once a week in the spring and summer but not all year round? You may not need them at all in winter.
Actually you’ve gotten this backwards. Cleaners can work in all weathers because they work indoors- gardeners on the other hand are regularly unable to work due to the weather.
CandyLeBonBon · 21/02/2021 21:37

@LunaHeather

I was hoping you were in London

I would weed for half that!

I know a not qualified gardener who charges £13-15 per hour. She has work in the winter. I clear mum's garden and there's flowering plants in winter and debris to clear away.

Do you already have a 'day' job though? Because if you do, that's why you can afford to charge less.
FreekStar · 21/02/2021 21:38

It's ridiculous isn't it when you get paid more for pulling up a few weeds than I do for being a highly experienced and skilled and trained teaching assistant who is responsible for covering the teaching of classes of primary children, teaching intervention groups, creating displays in school, administering first aid etc. and all the other things that go along with my job!

withmycoffee · 21/02/2021 21:38

If you hire a gardener, you are going to be charged their standard rate. They won't lower the rate for you as why would they take the job when they could take on a gardening job for full rate. Your neurosurgeon analogy makes no sense. The neurosurgeon wouldn't charge you less, they just wouldn't take the job.

Original poster
LaBellySausage · 21/02/2021 21:38

@Covidwedding123 yep, agreed- for FY1 doctors it's even less than that because full time is a 48hr week. It might be more in London (I'm a doctor, but reckon I'm going to take up gardening!)

OP posts:
Norwaydidnthappen · 21/02/2021 21:38

Weeding isn’t skilled work like actual gardening is so I’d personally try finding someone untrained who will be happy to accept less. As a PP said, it’s like asking a hairdresser to brush your hair.

They all have a set hourly rate so you’ll be charged the same for weeding as you would for actual gardening.

Jelly0naplate · 21/02/2021 21:38

We have an experienced gardener who has been with us for 6/7 years he charges us £13 an hour. When he started it was £12 per hour. We have a month in the winter where he doesn't come as not much to do in the garden and he doesn't charge us for those weeks (his decision not to come).

We also offered to pay during the first lockdown if he felt he couldn't come due to shielding or obviously not being able to work from home. (I don't know his medical history!). He carried on throughout.

Couldn't be without him now!

CandyLeBonBon · 21/02/2021 21:39

@Chicchicchicchiclana

I paid a student (son of a friend) who lives nearby £10 an hour to do digging and weeding for me last summer. I gave him 2 full days work to make it worth his while and gave him really clear instructions on what was a weed and what wasn't, provided all the tools and garden rubbish sacks and was on hand all the time for advice/providing mugs of tea/took care of recyling or taking rubbish to the tip.

If you want a self employed gardener with plant knowledge to come on a regular basis for just a few hours per week or fortnight you're obviously going to have to pay a lot more.

And did he declare his income? Did you pay cash? £10/hour is barely above nmw and absolutely not feasible as a chargeable self employed rate. I really wish people on PAYE would understand why the two rates are not comparable
partyatthepalace · 21/02/2021 21:40

Well the going rate is what people will pay, so it is what it is.

If you can’t afford it, try an odd job man or a teenager and give them instructions?

chomalungma · 21/02/2021 21:41

@FreekStar

It's ridiculous isn't it when you get paid more for pulling up a few weeds than I do for being a highly experienced and skilled and trained teaching assistant who is responsible for covering the teaching of classes of primary children, teaching intervention groups, creating displays in school, administering first aid etc. and all the other things that go along with my job!
The thing is - there are plenty of people who do the job of a TA for that pay rate.

If you were running a business, how would you set pay rates?

Why do some jobs have higher salaries than others?

Porridgeoat · 21/02/2021 21:42

I would see if a local teen or mum would come and do it for you for less. As long as they were active and motivated you’d be fine

CandyLeBonBon · 21/02/2021 21:44

@FreekStar

It's ridiculous isn't it when you get paid more for pulling up a few weeds than I do for being a highly experienced and skilled and trained teaching assistant who is responsible for covering the teaching of classes of primary children, teaching intervention groups, creating displays in school, administering first aid etc. and all the other things that go along with my job!
You have job security, your Ni paid, employment rights, training, equipment, insurances, maternity/smp and taxes taken into account with your employed position. If you are self employed, all of that is factored into your hourly rate which is why it's higher than nmw.

What makes you think a Gardener is any less skilled than a TA?

Candodad · 21/02/2021 21:45

What about travel time? What about time lost from other jobs? What about the years of experience regardless of what you are wanting?
Put it this way would you expect to be able to provide a joiner with the materials and her work for £15 an hour? A brickie? Plummer?

No chance.