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Gardening

How much should you pay a gardener?

(112 Posts)
DaisyL Mon 01-Aug-22 19:50:23

Has anyone got any ideas about how much I should pay a gardener? I've had someone for years helping and he has now retired but I think that he was being paid well below the going rate. What do people think is a reasonable hourly rate?

Twig14 Wed 03-Aug-22 14:55:18

I pay our gardener £40 per visit but he cuts three lawns trims bushes n generally keeps it tidy. Our original gardener retired but recommended someone. It had been raining but just cut lawns actuslly two of them all done very fast and wanted £60 far too much. Our current gardener actuslly is a massive help n very knowledgeable bout plants.

pregpaws3 Wed 03-Aug-22 14:03:07

I live on a 21 acre estate and we employ 2 full time gardeners. Additionally we have tree surgeons visit and felling 25 trees and pollarding others this year cost £ £ 100.000.

kittylester Wed 03-Aug-22 13:50:38

Iam, not only is our gardener young and enthusiastic, she learnt it all from a grandad - best of both worlds.

We had a gardener once who talked to the plants - it seemed to terrify them. We had another who kept a supply of sherry tucked away in the back of the shed.

Our garden here is a small paved one with no grass to cut but a fair few pots.

naughtynanny Wed 03-Aug-22 13:47:18

If this is going to be just a man who can, someone from your village who is doing odd jobs, then for a general tidy up, maybe grass cutting, £15.00 per hour in cash. If something more specialist, by a company or business, then I guess they tell you how much!

2420mags Wed 03-Aug-22 13:30:22

when l retired we had our garden,that had been neglected for 30+ years, totally renovated and it cost more than what we paid for our house back in the day. My mobility is reduced so can't do what l want. The landscaper also does regular maintenance and two men come for 2 hours once a fortnight and that cost £200 a month. They do everything including planting and tree maintenance. l live in Wiltshire. Like everyone else finding gardeners, as opposed to handyman / grass cutter, is very difficult.

Harmonypuss Wed 03-Aug-22 13:29:06

A lot of this comes down to geography. You'll obviously pay more in the south than three Midlands and the North, so realistically, oh, and I'm only talking about the UK, so it would be helpful to have an idea of where you are.
I'm in Birmingham and my ex is a gardener who charges £15/hr although sometimes he'll charge based on the job of there's a particularly big job that needs doing.

Macerena Wed 03-Aug-22 13:22:33

I broke my shoulder a few weeks ago. Whilst in hospital they discovered I have hypotension a condition which causes my blood pressure to drop by 30 to 40 units when I stand up. The GP is reluctant to prescribe anything because it could send my blood pressure too high and I could have a stroke or too low and I could have another fall. Has anyone had experience of this? I would very much appreciate any suggestions.

Julia9TC Wed 03-Aug-22 12:42:24

I am a member of a tiny gardening co-operative company, founded in 2010; I mainly do the admin and payroll. We all work part-time, as and when the work is there. We charge £18 per worker per hour. We have our own tools and encourage our customers to compost their waste. We can also install greenhouses, replace fencing and do other small garden construction jobs.

Nannatwiglet Wed 03-Aug-22 12:42:24

I live in West Yorkshire. My gardener charges £18 an hour…cuts large area of grass at front of house & smaller area at the back, tidies up hedges &weeds if necessary. He also does light DIY work…Has erected two garden fences in past year.

My sister - who lives in the Kingston upon Thames area- pays her gardener £25 per hour.

As mentioned before, gardeners are like hens teeth!

Ilikeflowers Wed 03-Aug-22 12:38:38

grin

elleks Wed 03-Aug-22 12:31:55

Chestnut ; I wouldn't worry too much about the buddleia. My now deceased DH was a gardener for the council for years, and used to prune ours back to about a foot tall every autumn. It grew back to about 8 feet tall every time.

Juicylucy Wed 03-Aug-22 12:24:43

£15.00 an hour if all you need is garden maintenance…..£25 per hour if it’s trained gardener with experience, that’s the going rate here in Hertfordshire.

Kikibee Wed 03-Aug-22 12:13:27

I pay £15 per hour for a retired man to do my garden , he is 84 and fit as a fiddle!

SillyNanny321 Wed 03-Aug-22 12:08:22

Fingers not working properly, have no idea what busges are but meant bushes! Sorry all Lol!!

SillyNanny321 Wed 03-Aug-22 12:06:27

In East Anglia & now pay my brilliant Gardener £15 per hour. He has been caring for my gardens, small back & front, for many years now. Would be lost without him. When he started all those years ago he charged £10 but had to increase lately as everything has gone up. He takes care of a very big Twisted Willow & some bushes & shrubs in front & 2 trees & 3 large busges in the back as well as cutting the grass. He is a STAR!! Not everyone is as lucky with their Gardeners & he does have a waiting list.

Merryweather Wed 03-Aug-22 11:57:54

I deployed a pair if rabbits at the start of the season to keep the grass trim and tidy. To be daur they gave done a fairly good job. It's a bit longing the odd spot. They don't clear up after themselves though. They have a tendency to nibble things they aren't supposed to either. Still, its their first year. They were only twenty pounds each. Bargain!

rowyn Wed 03-Aug-22 11:54:17

Re gardeners, are any of these people charging just £15 per hour in the Berkshire area, like me? I pay a window cleaner £20, who is here for about 10 minutes.

Baggytrazza I'm with you. Have 2 massive conifers (much taller than the house) and some smaller ones plus a laburnum in a not very big garden ( house is a semi). I reckon it would cost thousands to just have the tops lopped, exacerbated by the fact that they would have to take all the debris through my rather full garage to reach the front of the house. Every time I think I may have enough spare cash to get estimates, something else pops up - and the trees keep growing.

Grandmakath Wed 03-Aug-22 11:54:06

It is difficult to find a gardener who knows about plants, and can weed borders. £20 per hour pays for a strong young 'gardener' to mow lawns, trim hedges, and spray weedkiller on pathways. I have to look after borders myself, but it is very hard digging up and dividing perennials so I am slowly replacing with shrubs and rose bushes, and just using a hoe regularly. One problem is that we have huge trees nearby so have mini forests growing in borders and they are so hard to dig out.

GrammyGrammy Wed 03-Aug-22 11:51:54

DaisyL

Has anyone got any ideas about how much I should pay a gardener? I've had someone for years helping and he has now retired but I think that he was being paid well below the going rate. What do people think is a reasonable hourly rate?

How much per hour were you paying him? Hopefully you will work out the difference between what you were paying him for all those years and say £14 per hour and go and give him a lump sum for what you didn't pay him, as a retirement gift. Then your conscience can be clear on that matter at least. I pay £15 per hour but give £5 extra overall for petrol costs.

Venus Wed 03-Aug-22 11:50:33

I pay £115 a month and live in north London where rates are high. That's cheap by all accounts. I don't think he stays the hour but pleased to get anyone. Best to enquire in the winter months when gardeners haven't that much work . . . unless they have gone to Barbados on the money earned during the summer!

Annaram1 Wed 03-Aug-22 11:49:20

I pay my gardener £100 for the day. 9 am to 5 pm, I always pay cash.

Alfiefreddy1 Wed 03-Aug-22 11:41:52

I have a young gardener and I pay him £15 per hour. He brings his own hand mower ( his petrol) and uses the ride on mower for the larger areas( our petrol).

Bijou Wed 03-Aug-22 11:38:27

My gardener only asked for £10 an hour but I give him £15.
It depends on where you live.

Nightsky2 Wed 03-Aug-22 11:38:20

babcha

Always annoys me that gardeners (usully male) get paid so much more than cleaners per hours when (unless special expertise required) they are both doing a manual job. Another case of inequality of pay for similar work?
(But f gardeners are like hens teeth then maybe the market palce speaks!)

Not always. I pay the gardner £18 an hour and the cleaner £17.50.

sweetcakes Wed 03-Aug-22 11:35:20

Mil pays £21 per hour to cut the grass front and back and she begrudges every penny of it even telling them she has no money ?