Garden tidying

[Binky]

I am thinking of paying someone to cut my lawn and prune back hedges and get rid of dead leaves from my garden. I do not need anyone qualified, just with a lot of stamina. Any ideas on what this would cost me an hour? Do any of you employ gardeners or handypeople?

Thanks

[Simeon]

Try the local youths, one of them would probably be grateful for the extra cash. Mc Donalds pay �4.25 an hour for under 18s so any where between �4 and �5 would be fair.

[rugeleyboy]

i am in the gardening business and know people who do this kind of thing!

i know of 1 chap who charges �15 per hour,but my god do you get your moneys worth out of him!!

perhaps its worth looking for a local handyman or something along them lines?

[Thunderbird+]

I'm in this game too, most guys I know charge �8.00 an hour, some �10.00 That seems fair to me. If you pay peanuts, you get monkies.

[Toureman]

We have a local gardener that charges �8 an hour and works hard but that is the problem, if they don't work hard you will loose money!

It is best to say what you want doing and say I will pay you so much for doing it.

[rugeleyboy]

yes, thats a good idea, get quotes of a couple of people?

ps...i am wondering if i have got the �15 per hour right??

[gessoo]

About �10 per hour seems to be the average. If it's just tidying up etc. I would think a local youth as Simeon suggests would be the best idea.

[carrust]

Beware of employing local youths.A friend of mine did that,and he had an accident with the mower,& ended up getting sued.If your local youths are anything like mine they will want �10/hr for very little work! I'd employ a gardener.

[frazerd]

The gamble you take is that if unqualified people start to cut back and 'prune' without a clue - you may end up with a total mess. And you are still left with weeds instead of plants. Trust me I KNOW! And paid for it in repair work afterwards.

So this year I hired a VAT registered garden maintenance company (there's a first!) who sent 3 people for 3 days and they pruned trees, bushes and shrubs, weeded and tidied a 90 ft garden, all for about �10 per hour.

So do be careful if you have any precious plants and trees!

[Binky]

Thanks guys. No, there are no precious plants or trees, just a lot of overgrown bushes and a mad lawn!

It sounds like �9 per hour would be a fair price to pay.