General Chat

Age UK formerly Age Concern, have just put their charges up from £11 per hour t £15. Thats what is called helping the elderly!!!!!!

I have not had gardeners for a few years. In the UK I always checked references before I employed a gardener in just the s ame way I checked for my business.
I also had a police check for each one.

I never took someone without setting out in writing what the hours were, what the expectation was and added that from time to time additional requests could be discussed.

I seem to recall that the average rate was around £10 to £12 an hour. Itvwas a large garden.

Since moving to Spain we do the garden ourselves and call in peoplevto cut down trees etc as required and this isvdone through the builder we used to make the alterations we have had.


19.12hrs Spain

Well last February last got a gardener to do tidying and pruning ready for spring and to ease burden on OH. It was £90 for the day - about 9 - 4.

OH came in to ask if I wanted the wood anenomes to stay. I said it didn't matter they came up each year like weeds. Niggled me for a day or two and then it dawned they do not usually appear until late March early April - went out and inspected - he had only thrown all my forgetmenots away!

He won't be here again he if cannot recognise them. Got some from son so they can spread themselves about again!

If I could drive I would be out there now offering my services lol, and I'd be very reasonable in comparison it seems, and I do know my plants pretty well ;))

ooh thanks to all who have replied!



This makes interesting reading . I did have someone to cut the grass when my mum was alive ( in wales) but because of the variable results ( lol strimming down my young shrubs wasn't supposed to be on the agenda!) I put the money towards my own mower and then did my neighbours garden also.

I think I would have expected that hourly rate in the south east probably, but not where it was, out of touch obviously lol. As some have said it depends on what is being done, and finding someone who knows the weeds from the plants is difficult sometimes. If I was younger I would offer my services ( well i would whatever age but for a dodgy back now) but I might suggest it to son , it was something he thought about, but has to be the right age to use equipment ( legally). .

I suppose what shocked me most was less the £15 but that he stretched the job to 11 hours :( ...and 11x 15 still doesn't add up to the £250 he asked for, even factoring in taking the weeds etc to tip ( local) :(

I live in North Wales,not too far from Libby,and I pay £10 an hour.I was paying a chap £8 an hour last year,but he was always on his mobile,wasn't reliable,was using my mower etc etc then he let me down after me trying to motivate him into getting a proper job,and gardening in his spare time,but no...he'd rather survive on benefits!
We now have a lady who has given up her job as a nurse practitioner and she is fantastic,brings all her own tools,gets on with it and does twice the work.She comes about 11 a.m.having already done about 3 lawns.We have quite a big garden that I can't manage as I look after OH,and I just leave her to it.On top of that she is travelling about 20 miles from home.
I have a treasure there...and she's a woman...need I say more!

Going back into the garden now to do some anal gardening - on my own!

a young boy comes every school holidays with his lawn mower in hand
he cuts my grass for £3.00
its a very tiny lawn and i can cut it my self in about 3 minutes

but he is one of them kids that gets in trouble often
and i had a word with some of the neighbors
and its our way of keeping him out of bother while he earns some pin money

takes him minutes to cut it and he stays for a chat for a while
and even my butler is quite fond of him now
he turned up yesterday with his pet rabbit on a lead
and stayed a couple of hours
i think he just want somebody to make a bit of a fuss of him
and take an interest and if it keeps him out of bother then so be it

The last time I employed a gardener (he put a card through the letterbox) was in 2006. I was preparing the garden for my eldest daughter's wedding reception and needed a bit of help. He charged £12.50 an hour, but was pretty useless and was scared of going up stepladders! On his third visit, when I asked him to do something which involved using a stepladder, he told me I was an anal gardener, so I told him he was very rude and sacked him! I think he was right, but that's not the point lol!

around here, there was achap who mowed lawns for people who couldnt manage themselves. he took away all the grass cuttings and tidied up. his hourly rate was £12.00 and he did a good job.

i think between 10 and 15 depending on if it was weeding or digging and or mowing. i wouldnt pay more than that.
florence

RR

The gardener round my area charges,,,wait for it.....£60 an hour and they only cut the grass,cut the privet and clear up a bit after themselves..

NO weeding or heavy work..no certificates to say they have done a gardening course.

Married couple do this and they started charging £30 an hour but jumped up to £60 as they said it costs them to use Petrol for the lawnmowere and trimmer for the hedge...lol.
And that was before the prices of petrol went up..

I don't use them..can't afford them.struggle to do my gardening but I can pay myself £60 an hour for doing the garden..

Morning Rose:)

You get what you pay for - if you're paying a gardener in my area under 18 quid an hour you're probably paying for someone who doesn't know their arse from their elbow.

It also depends on what is being supplied - are they supplying tools, machinery, fuels and fertilisers? Also of course is it a bloke or woman on their own or from a tax paying company?

Libby, when I heard what was being paid for the work, weeding and mowing and a bit of pruning a piece of garden not more than 10 x 8 I decided I was in the wrong job lol.

Dianne

I know someone who is in the building trade. Fully qualified, all tickets upto date.... welding, fabricating, railway work, steel erecting etc. The going reates around here (and about 70 miles around) is about £8 per hour. Hundreds of men chasing a few jobs....

If he could tell a dandelion from a rose I would tell him to try gardening. lol

I suppose it is "supply and demand" Rose. Depends what the local rate is and what the work is..... mainteneance or landscaping etc. My in laws pay someone £20 to mow the lawn and a general tidy around... weeding etc. Plus he gets a cup of tea and a sarny thrown in.

Thanks Dianne , that's as much as i would pay really, i think £15 per hour is too much , especially as it's not 'heavy' gardening work.

I would say about £10.00 per hour Rose. That is what my dad's gardener gets.

Dianne xx

for you...what hourly rate do you feel is reasonable? I think someone is being ripped off , because i would never pay that much...but maybe I'm just 'tight' lol.