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.

I've had a few outside accepting price increase, tend to be bigger properties, large gardens that need alot of maintenance to keep perfect.

Yes. It sounds cheap to me. The cheapest we could find 3 years ago here was €85+vat where we live. Plus they charge extra for each power tool used if their own!

That’s brilliant!
I need to increase the charge of adverts in a mag so I’ve done incremental like the other poster suggested.
But if I was happy with your service I would definitely pay more just for convenience.
I’m not London based anymore but have a gardener and it’s wonderful that the grass just gets cut and all the rest tidied - worth their weight in gold!

Why not charge £35 inside ULEZ and £30 outside

Thanks but it's complicated.But let me say if you leave your well tended garden for two weeks without a gardener in this weather and you don't have friends or family to help out.Sure you could get a local one that's not busy. Good luck with that.I think it's worth the extra to get someone who you can trust which is very important aswell as other things.

I think that’s a really good idea-it doesn’t penalise people who live outside of the area who the OP presumably wants to retain as they are closer to her.

I’m not sure why people ask questions on Mumsnet…….. who then agree with everyone who agrees with them and disagrees with anyone who disagrees with them. Surely they’ve already made their mind up and no need to post the question 🤷🏼‍♀️

No I wouldn’t pay £35.

No that's too much

Charge a premium to those within the zone

I pay £25/hour in an outer London borough. They don’t take waste away though, I pay for two big garden waste bins which are emptied by the local authority. I’d pay slightly more (£28?£30?) but £35 would be too high for me to go for a weekly service. I might do though for a less regular service, and I’d imagine agencies or tenants associations or similar might do too.

Yes but considering I will have to buy a new van because of Sadiq Kahn changing the goalposts on old diesels in the future isn't it fair that customers should help with the cost of a compliant van.I could run mine for another ten years no problem. I have worked for some over twenty years , always been reliable ,not hacked plants back at the wrong time of year , saving customers money by sourcing cheaper plants and planting correctly,I could go on and on.I know it's not their fault but couldn't they contribute to the cost of an extra minimum four grand plus.

I was just putting feelers out there to help with my decision.

No way. £25 is extortionate

It would have to something amazing for £35 per hour. Garden Design? Chelsea Flow Show Winner?

I've worked for garden designers. I think they charge a bit more than that😉

I don’t think that ULEZ is related to the price of your services, and I wouldn’t accept a price rise based on that, but…I would pay £35 for the right person that does a good job in the garden.
I would not hire someone for a cash in hand job no matter how cheap is, though.

@Puppytrashedmysofa its not Sadiq Khan, he’s doing what the Tories compelled him to do. I don’t know if your proposed £35 ph is too much, we usually get a quote for the job rather than per hour.

Hard to say but you've already made the change so I guess see how it goes? If you still get business then you'll have your answer. I think in London there will probably be people willing to pay it.

No i wouldn't to be honest.

We’re in London, Tube Zone 4. We pay our gardener £27.60 ph (incl. VAT) for two hours every other week. We have a bigger than average established garden and driveway. Our gardener advises re. the removal of trees and plants and sources replacements if required. They charge more for jet washing the driveway and patio and for attaching hose pipe reels to external walls. We pay the council to take the garden waste away every two weeks.

Hi yes I've stuck to my guns and most of my customers have been willing to pay.I have explained that i'll have to buy a new van.I know for a fact how hard it is to get a good independent ,reliable, gardener and many have stated that fact in the past aswell as new customers I've taken on lately.
I have relented with a few of my older customers because I'm not interested in causing financial difficulty and some still think there are £15 gardeners out there with all the kit and so on and so on , so with these I've stayed at £25.
I'm glad I started this thread it has helped alot , hopefully others too.