Is grass cutting a “ skill”

[Truetoself]

If you were to hire someone purely to cut the grass and nothing else, would you expect them to charge the same as a gardener who maintains and improves your garden?
Of course we can do this ourselves if we wver find time to be at home when it co incides with a couple of days of dry weather but struggling to find the time. We have a large twrraced garden so can take quite a few hours to do it all and due to the layout, can’t practically get a ride on mowergarde

If I was employing a gardener to do it I would pay him at his normal rate. But if I was employing an unskilled person (say a local teenager) I'd pay them less.

Yes. Hourly rate is hourly rate, a gardener is a gardener.
Someone doing something you don’t have the time to do is worth it and they can probably do it quicker because they are more skilled.
A good friend is a handy man and gardener and can cut my grass much faster than I can. He also gets rid of the cuttings so I don’t have to do that either.

My thinking is that when you employ a gardener you are paying for their knowledge and expertise. Hence I personally would expect a general gardener more than I would someone to only cut the grass

Well are you proposing to pay a gardener, or a local teenager? If you’re paying a gardener then you pay their hourly rate for as much time as it takes them to do what you want. You might want them to just cut the grass, in which case you’d be better off finding a local youth willing to do it for a bit of extra cash.

There are different people offering these services round here, you wouldn't employ a gardener to cut grass. We have both, ime gardeners with horticultural knowledge are much harder to find and I'd expect them to cost more.

They do charge the same but I agree they certainly aren’t gardeners.

I have had several “mowers” and the sum total of their plant knowledge extends to chop it down and/ or kill it with chemicals.

Despite this lack of knowledge they have all been kind enough to mansplain what I should do with my garden.

I am a very keen gardener but am disabled so have no option but to employ someone to mow my lawns ( I can just about manage the beds etc) otherwise I would not give any of them my business.

The present one has been caught trying to sneak weed spray into my back garden three times despite having been told I don’t want chemicals in my garden.

I now sit on a bench whilst he mows pretending to simply take the air so that I can watch what he does.

Hmm the issue is when I ask for people to cut grass, it is the gardeners who respond. But will rephrase and give another try. My gardener is verg good and will of course cut the grass at his normal rate which I feel is warranted for his knowledge and skill. But grass cutting does not require either so was hoping to pay less. Was wondering what other’s thoughts were

I'm a trained gardener and charge accordingly. I don't cut grass but if I did I'd charge my normal hourly rate.

If I wasn't a trained gardener and just cut grass I'd expect to be paid the going rate for cutting grass and this would be less than the rate for a trained gardener.

Someone who has a van, their own mower that they buy fuel for, insurance and PPE is going to cost more than Ted who uses your mower and does a few lawns (uninsured) for beer money.

If my clients want mowing I recommend them the local chap who does lawns. Does your gardener not have a contact she could recommend?

Cutting the grass is one thing, and anyone could do it.

Mowing a lawn and making it look really good is a lot more skilled. If you want the striped bowling green look with neat edges and not a weed or bald patch to be seen anywhere, you need someone who really knows what they are doing.