Many moons ago I started doing a basic gardening service, it was slightly doomed from the start as the lawnmower wouldn’t fit in the boot of the Ford orion, so had to buy a tow bar and trailer which I couldn’t get the hang of reversing
It was mainly basic because I know nothing about gardening
It just involved cutting the grass, stimming, and edging if I felt flush and had the time
What with cv19, I’m guessing many people don’t want electric cables and what not going through the house, so thinking of getting a motor mower and strimmer, these will be 2nd hand ready for next summer
I missed out on a stihl strimmer for £50 a while back, but any suggestions for a reliable mower and strimmer appreciated, ideally under £200 for the pair.Ill probably buy them in the winter as they will be cheaper
My back is fucked, so this could possibly one of my shittiest ideas for sometime
My elderly mother has a gardener - she got him from the local authority “care and repair” service - they give lists of approved trades.
We have used a number of the approved trades between us and they’ve all been good. Try and get on such a list if one exists with your local authority perhaps.
bets of luck with this, a friend of mine makes a decent living from this - his charges are low and he gets lots of recommendations - in his mid 70’s and still going strong and hasn’t advertised for 20 years (he is defo basic, more hacker than gardener so lawns and hedges mostly)
he is all petrol gear, not a fan of batteries as need charging and defo not a plug in fan as restricts when he comes and goes (as well as your covid point)
He drops a card into any garden he thinks is easy to do and looks unkempt whenever he loses a client and generally he doesnt have to drop more than 5 cards to get 1 customer. doing it this way he cuts down his mileage between jobs
Previous bloke we had answered this decription and would work ruff’n’ready for £10 an hour all day long. Sciatica forced him to retire, and his replacement isn’t a lot more skilled, spends altogether longer leaning on implements than I’m enamoured with and charges £20 an hour…
Stu can do worse than follow this, but mind yer feckin back, and do as above: find the small gardens - biguns like ours are a killer.
Honda for the mower, and any brushcutter with a Kawasaki engine.
Yes, i would only get involved in small gardens
I started to build up an OK round where the neighbours would pop out and ask to do theirs
This is what I’ll intend to do is card the small semi detached type streets where I can walk the mower to a few houses. Ideally the older folk as they usually supply home made cake, and China tea cups with a saucer
Charge a tenner an hour, and then find a keen teenager who is willing to do the work for you at a rate of 4 quid per hour. Dock them one quid per hour for use of equipment, and another 50p per litre fuel for the mower. Then expand across the country.
Get a ladder and a hedge cutter, old folks don’t like being up ladders, half my mothers street uses the same bloke for their hedges - Bloke charges £30 an hr. I met him, he was in no way a gardener.
Please to put a full colour pic of your lawn on your flyer - This is a must as most folks can’t begin to envisage perfection.
Please take Patch on all jobs and upload footage of his frisky antics to a blog titled “Fuck the neighborhood” or simply 'Patch"
Turn up to all jobs with a smoker / pizza oven and a lounge chair and make good use of the glorious garden spaces you attend. When confronted, the correct answer is “That’s £25 mate”
Repeat business…In the dead of night dig up some astro football pitches. Roll out over customers lawns then pop back five days later in the middle of the night and take it back. When you are called to return look at the customer dead in the eye and say “What the fuck have you done?”
The Fuck? You have a legitimate excuse to own a ride-on mower at the very least, ideally some kind of tractor, and all you do is keep buying woodworking tools!!!
