Garden maintenance cost blew my mind.

[Boleynforsoup]

I had a gardener round to quote for trimming some hedges back from my back gate that overhang from the property behind, weeding the patio and jet washing it. Taking all garden waste with them He’s said half a days work for a couple of them max. He’s just emailed me the quote: £750!!! My flabber is truly gasted…. Is this really the going rate?! 5 years ago without the jet washing I paid someone £45!!!

I also had this shock 🤣 I thought I’d pay £100 max. But ended up £300 (one man). Also pay grass cutting / weeding every other month for £80. I thought I’d get that done for £20 🤣

Or better still hire the equipment!

Massive price. We run a drainage firm, and when we quote repairs etc it works out around that per day (perhaps a littleore), for 2 guys. They'll turn up in £60k's worth of drainage van, perhaps with a £20k digger etc etc etc.

So that for half a day for some trimming and pruning? Mega bucks!

That’s a monumental amount of cash.

I may change careers!

That is absolutely ridiculous. It’s unskilled work 0.5 x 2, so one days work, the labour should be max £200 (which is still £25 an hour, way above any other salary with no qualifications necessary).

Obvo more on top for your van, insurance, jet washer, time to quote etc but that should be about £100, so £300 would be a reasonable quote

Could be a F-off quote (quote high for a job they don't want to do so if the quote is accepted at least you are getting paid a ton to do it). I would get some more quotes to get a better idea if the going rate in your area.

we pay £100 once per year to have our trees and shrubs cut back - about 2 hours of work. He fills our green waste bin and then takes away at least 2/3 dumpy bags. We have a pressure washer and do the patio ourselves.
£750 seems incredibly expensive.

Absolutely agree with this. Get the right tools, go to YouTube to find how to do it, and DIY is so so much easier than you think. If you think about it, it isn’t the top table kids going in to these professions, so I’m not sure why we’re so scared of it!

Our gardener is £40/hr. He can generally get everything into the gardening waste bin but occasionally needs to use the council recycling bit for which he does have a licence.
What the OP has been quoted is rather a lot and I’m presuming she is paying for the water supply for the jet washer too.

Omg I just looked at Amazon - a jet washer is only £100!!! Defo diy

Taking the piss...

Insane. I paid £120 back in January to do a general tidy of my garden before my house went on the market. That included mowing my (fairly sizable) lawn, cutting back 3 hedges, jet washing my patio and drive and taking all the waste away. There was 2 of them.

Well who's paying him similar?

Go back and ask how much per hour if you pay for time and materials. Then see what that comes out at. If you go with that though, you would want to be there while they do the job as you dont know yet if they are efficient at working or will take a break every 10 mins.

Do it yourself . We were fed up off people not turning up so we just did it our self . It tools weeks of hard graft but was worth it

It's free to dispose of garden waste in most councils, even as a business.

Do you think he maybe is pricing himself out of the market as he doesn’t want to do it?

Do you have a "library of things" near you? Just like borrowing books but for household equipment. Usually a small fee but you could do it yourself that way

£750 seems excessive we paid £350 to have three trees trimmed down to just stump, we’re south west and not cheap area

I'm waiting for a garden chap tonight to quote for a tidy up and plant.

Hahaha I don’t suppose you happen to live in the south east?! It appears I’m still in the market for a reasonably priced gardener

This is the problem. It’s the enshittification of everything. When technical skills used to be more valued, you’d know someone who could help you with this and offer you mates’ rates, which is just a way of saying “I’m willing to remove some of the cost, to my own personal detriment, because you already respect my skills and are my friend.” Unfortunately, people may be three degrees removed from their gardener, so he’s definitely not going to do you a favour. 😂

You need to get a gardener recommendation from someone (if this WAS a recommendation, then the cost is the oil crisis and we’ll start to see it everywhere - it would hit small businesses who are less insulated first and will hit major retail and then supermarket level soon). If you have any professional skill, consider doing some of the bill as trade. It’s the only way society is going to start functioning again, is if we get logical about helping each other with costs none of us can afford to pay.

I can’t trim back the hedge myself as it’s just too dense and high. I am so afraid of heights a ladder out of the question.

Half a day for two workers is one day of work. This means their daily rate is £750. I would challenge them as you should not be paying more than £250, plus tip trip with waste, even round here in very expensive Hertford.