TierramadreLandscape.com

I am a 45 year-old guy with a lot of gardening experience from taking care of my own lawn/garden, but no formal landscaping training. Last spring I started doing lawn/garden help (trimming, mulching, etc - no mowing) for people at $15 per hour. I work alone, do fine work, use all my own tools - hand tools, no power tools. However, I work at my own pace, dress casually, don't have a truck with company logo or anything... so I don't know if I can get away with claiming to be a "professional landscaper." My niece's husband just told me that he would expect someone to to charge $20 to $25 per hour. I don't want to price myself out of getting jobs. But I also don't like the idea of being taken advantage of. Most people who hire help for this are upper middle class at least. Should I charge more? If I do raise my rate, what's a polite way to inform customers?
(to April) Well, I agree "being taken advantage of" sounds like victim mentality. What I should have said is that I don't like the idea of selling myself short. It does seem like some customers act like they're sort of licking their chops and ask if I can do other things too, like paint their garage, clean their porch, etc. I'm afraid I seriously undersold myself thinking that any high school kid can weed a rose garden... but in fact, it's amazing to find out what seemingly ordinary tasks people are not able or willing to do neatly and efficiently.
(to emerson) Thanks for your advice! I'm not sure, however, if you understand my situation. I am not a trained landscaper - I'm an artist - musician - teacher... This August I leave for a two year contract working at an international school overseas. The reason I don't like to do mowing is that if I want to go on a road trip or go hiking for a few days, I'm not locked into mowing people's lawns. I don't sit on my can all winter - I'm usually teaching children with learning disabilities. Landscaping is really a moonlighting job for me. So you see, I'm not going to get a degree, hire staff, advertise, buy a big truck, etc. I don't want to deal with anything more than "small fry" level work. Therefore, I leave the big jobs and the bidding and so on to pros like yourself. That said, do you, with your considerable experience, have any thoughts about niche work for individuals like me?

What are you thinking? Don't you realize that it cost you a lot to stay in business? Consider the off months when you are sitting on your can. Consider your vehicle expense. Consider your dreams. You are no where near where you need to be as far as price. I started in the business just like you did. You first need to establish that you are a professional. Don't wait. Take some classes. Read a lot of magazines your customers read. In other words, "Know the lingo." Once you have established that you are a professional you must charge professional prices. Consider how much it cost to hire a plumber. In my area it costs $85 per hour. Why would you want to make 1/5 of that?

Whatever you do don't take on jobs like painting or jobs distracting you from your professionalism in landscaping. Your customers will view you as nothing if you do everything. They know that to be a professional you must dedicate your life to your craft. You can still have a life, a family or anything, but don't sell yourself short.

Next step. Charge by the job. Once you get your feet wet you can see a profitable job from a mile off. There is nothing wrong with being profitable. Your customers expect you to be profitable so you can continue to serve them at a high level.

When I bid landscape jobs we look at charging $1400 per day for three guys. This sounds like a lot, but we have quality people working for us, driving new vehicles, and we have advertising, overhead, and then down time. The people who work for us show up every day and we promise a lot to our customers and we always deliver.
The customers call everyday and we always have work. -And we charge them the entire time we serve them.

Good luck I help this helps you

2007-03-25 13:27:54 by uncle

www.jc-landscaping.com Great Professional Landscape Ideas for a Formal Garden. Landscape Consulting done at a residential property in Miami, South ...