The question
One of the top searches on Landscape Juice is 'what does a gardener charge' (or variations thereof i.e. what does a gardener/gardening cost?).
Another top search is 'what does landscaping cost' or 'what does a landscaper charge?
The answer
There isn't a definitive answer. Every gardener or landscaper comes with their own special set of skills, experience and approach to the job.
Many people will be self taught and worked in their respective niche for a lifetime and some may have taken a fast-track route via a trade education. Every single person, bar none, will be at a totally different stage of professional development so it is therefore, impossible to set any kind of national standard for pricing.
Trade guidelines
It's fair and true to say that manufacturers run schemes that have, over time, allowed contractors to produce their own guidelines for the cost of laying specific materials.
What can never be factored in is the level of intricacy, challenges of access to a garden, waste removal, loading out times etc.
Some gardeners will charge per hour worked whilst others prefer to set a price based on the task.
But every garden is also different. For example a gardener wheeling a tonne of manure to the end of a one hundred foot garden will take twice as long as a gardener wheeling the same quantity to the bottom of a fifty foot garden.
Factor in slopes, soil conditions underfoot and even weather conditions on the take work takes place and again the cost and the amount of work achieved can vary enormously.
You may also find this thread started by gardener Anthony Toop on our professional network of interest:
Done a quote last weekend for a potential new client, regular fortnightly maintenance with lawns to be sorted and generally improvements all round, new borders and plants, veg patch, shrubs removed etc.Nice job, only they thought my rates were a bit high, any how, explained I run a full time business with all the associated running costs, professional tools, tax, insurance etc plus of course my knowledge in to the bargain. They said they understood and appeared quite keen, they had a few other people coming to give quotes but i felt i had a good chance of winning the work.
Had a call today and he explained that although i appeared to be the most knowledgeable person, and that having discussed with other tradesmen, the going rate was closer to £15 an hour but they would be happy to pay a little more and was i able to drop my price. Now i had already explained initially that my price was per visit not a set hourly rate and also included spot treatment of weeds as necessary. But as with most people they had calculated the rate from my quoted 1.5 hr approx price per visit.
After explaining i have plenty of clients happy to pay my rates and that i didnt need to drop my price just to secure his work, he decided to go elsewhere.
This was a nice big house, new car, fairly large garden and i got the impression he ran his own business, but they were definately of the opinion that although they wanted the garden to look great 'its only gardening' and is therefore low value! AArrrggghhhhh so do it your bloody self! I had told him during the initial visit, that you get what you pay for and i hope they do!!..
Read all of the responses to this thread.
I've written a series of articles that may help you with your decision making:
- Hiring a professional landscaper, garden designer or gardener
- What does landscaping cost?
- What does a gardener charge?
I think the best bet is to go by recommendation. See if you can have a look at some of the other gardens they maintain. If it looks good it may be worth paying extra.
Posted by: Les | Feb 21, 2012 at 01:49 PM