I got a quote to do a pile of garden maintenance from a franchised Lawnmowing/Garden Maintenace guy. My garden was a mess. The quote was for $1,000. It wasn’t a written, itemised quote. For that amount, I expected a good job. It took two guys 3 hours, and the job was terrible; lots of garden areas were not tidied. Certainly not $1,000 worth, in my opinion.
When I asked the guy he said that they did 2 trips to the tip (5 min drive away), and had to pay overload fees, plus weed poisoning. I told the guys that I wasn’t happy and thought the job wasn’t finished, however he said it was, and pressured me to pay.
Anyway, my question is…how is garden maintenence & lawnmowing charged out? I feel like I’ve been ripped off…3 hours for 2 people for $1,000 is an equivalent hourly rate of $166/hour. Can anyone shed some light on this for me please.
@nellycoo Find out the price of dumping a load at your tip .Subtract it and see the figure you come out with . Sounds like an overcharge for labour to me .
Hi @nellycoo, I’d be surprised if they had any logical way of bidding the job. Maybe they think about x hours @ $y / hr plus fees plus a “negotiating” margin. For a largish job of around $1000, I’d be looking at getting three quotes. Like you, I have had fixed price quotes for garden work and my expieriences led me to ask the individual, after the quote, is how many people will be on site and for how long. If they are evasive with thier answer cross them off the list. In short, yes I did think you paid too much, but next time, hopefully, you’ll have enough information before committing to ensure you get the job you paid for. Good luck.
Hi nellycoo - I’ve 35 years experience in the industry and (without hearing their side of the story) that is very rude to say the least. For 2 blokes (including 1 qualified horticulturist), a truck/trailer & gardening equipment, for $1K you should get ~ 5hrs work imo.
In that I’ve allowed chainsaws, ride-on mower and hedge trimmer/hand tools. Not sure what your local landfill fees would be but I would be comfortable with $200/hr for the above.
As was mentioned, always get at least 3 quotes. Social media is a useful research tool as well.
Skills are important. I know unqualified people who are good but generally at least a Cert II is a minimum unless it’s just rubbish removal.
