Would you pay £35 per hour for a gardener

[Puppytrashedmysofa]

Hope you don't mind just like to know if this viable for me to charge in the expanded ulez zone.I currently charge £25 per hour with most customers now in the expanded zone with a few outside.I may have to buy a new vehicle aswell.
The majority of my customers are women or agencies.

No, I wouldn’t pay that. I would pay £25 but £35 is too much for me to justify it.

Depends on their skills/qualifications and what it is I want them to do. If it's something that I really care about and don't trust anyone else to do then maybe, but not for bug standard lawn mowing etc. To you take away waste?

No, £35 is too high.

(and it would be a one off, not a regular thing. I couldn't afford £35 on a regular basis)

Also if the ULEZ charge is £17.50 a day why do you need to charge an extra £10 per hour? It would be pretty much covered if you charged an extra £2 an hour and worked a standard 8 hour day.

I'm not sure you can justify this from the Ulez charge- that's £12.50 a day so doesn't necessitate a price increase of £10 an hour.

It's a big increase. You might have more luck keeping clients if you go for £30.

I pay £40 per visit for my gardener. It's supposedly 2 hours but he's normally done within the hour so, effectively, yes I would.

It's £12.50. £17.50 is only if you pay late.

It depends what you do.

Do you mow lawns/trim hedges - ie unskilled labour? If so, then the salary should reflect that (obvo you need to include your vehicle/equipment/insurance/time getting to job/everything else to work it out)

Or do you plant and have a degree and quantity of knowledge and experience that should incur a higher value?

No I wouldn't £35 is a heck of a lot of money for a gardener and the increase of £10 per hour would likely put a lot of your current clients off. Increasing your rate by a few pounds would cover the cost.

Unfortunately because of travel between jobs I can only manage six hours

Even less reason for OP to charge an extra £10 an hour then.

Yes I would and have paid £30-40 (Central London here). But unfair as it is, taking into account pricing psychology, it might be hard to justify a £10 increase.. I'd raise my rates to max £30 citing ULEZ and COL, keep that as a loyalty fee for old customers, and charge new customers a £35 rate. Obviously have to ensure your presentation and service is commensurate.

I wouldn’t no, that’s too expensive

So 6 hours of an extra £2 an hour pretty much covers the £12.50 charge.

No but I’m not in London

Which means you would hope to charge a total of £60 extra per day to cover a ULEZ charge of £12.50 per day?

It seems too big a jump. I would feel you were using ULEZ as cover for a price hike which would damage the customer relationship.

Thanks.A few have already accepted the charge but tend to be my long term customers and the agency I work for.The refusals tend to be outside the zone which is unfortunate because is less travelling time for me.

When is the last time you increased your rates?

I would pay it. I think it's a fair wage for a self employed person who doesn't work the full 8 hours a day due to travel etc. Particularly with expenses of their own, equipment, petrol etc to pay out of that.

That's a big hike. £30 would have covered the charge and meant you didn't lose clients....

I'd not pay £35 ph for gardener trimming back a hedge and mowing the lawn. What qualifications do you have?

I think I will probably have to buy a new vehicle though as mine is an old diesel.Maybe £30 would be more viable but some have already accepted so would be unfair.

Thanks last increase was five years ago.

I’m sure the ones who have accepted will be happy when you tell them it’s actually only going to be £30ph!
I wouldn’t pay that no. As someone said what are your qualifications though as if you’ve got a degree, won competitions etc you may be able to

If you reason for the increase is ulez, I think it’s fine to charge a premium to those clients affected only. It should only be the money you’re paying out though