Gardeners, why so spendy?

LCG-xyz

LCG-xyz

LCG-xyz

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5 Jul 2016
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572
So I've got a physical condition which I won't bore you with here but what it means is that I'm no longer able to do my own gardening and haven't been able to for a couple of years.

It used to take me half an hour to trim a bush outside my house and tidy it all up.

That bush hasn't been touched for a year so it's gone a bit mental, plus there's a couple of buddleias which are equally going crazy and it's embarrassing so I've asked for a couple of quotes.

The job is, cut three bushes down to the root (with a chainsaw) and take it down the 'recycling centre'.

I reckon 2 guys could do that in an hour or two.

What do you reckon the quotes were?

I know these people have overheads and a quiet winter but I was definitely surprised at the amounts.
 
Going by the trees at the bottom of my garden where I got quoted 3 to 4k Im going to say £800.
 
Easily a few hundred up to maybe £500-£600 ish.

As someone who used to be a tree surgeon but also did a fair amount of domestic garden work, I know the liability insurance costs for this kind of work and it's eye watering. These costs are of course passed onto the customer.
 
They'll probably charge you £40 for the work, then another £30 for having to wait for you to come home, then try for another £20 to teach you a lesson or something.
 
We had some kind of tree trimmed right back from nearly 30ft tall down to around 6ft, all dragged from the back of the house to the front, thrown into a chipper and removed. They also chainsawed three massive rosebushes from the front of the house down to ground level and loaded them up with poison, all for £180 and a few cups of tea. Remember, if you don't give these guys enough tea and biscuits, the price goes up.
 
I'm just trying to find out the actual cost of disposing of garden waste at the recycling centre. Price per KG, I've seen on other sites (trying to google) that it's like £5 for the first 80kg. Btw, the tip is literally 2/3 mins away.

One of you is in the right ball park, some over, some I'd be happy to pay.

None of the bushes are over 9ft I reckon.

Maybe it's the tip fees pushing things over the edge but as hourly rate it seems insane.
 
re disposal costs.

If they're doing it properly they'll likely be paying commercial rates for the disposal which can be a lot higher than non commercial ones, for example around here it costs nothing to get rid of most waste types including "garden" at the residential tip, but if you're working as a business you're not allowed to use that one and have to pay by weight at the commercial tip which is a lot further out (and if you're foolish enough to try and get rid of it at the residential tip and are found out they'll ban you entirely and possibly take it further).

I'm going to guess the cost will vary a lot depending on where you are in the country.
 
Look around a bit more IMO - my parents had a couple of people quoting in the upper 1000s (completely ridiculous for the work to be done) then a 3rd guy was around £1000 and has a really good reputation. (My dad insisted on doing it himself though).

Werewolf said:
(and if you're foolish enough to try and get rid of it at the residential tip and are found out they'll ban you entirely and possibly take it further).
Click to expand...

Yeah bit of a pain owning a pickup which would be useful to dump trips but at the very least most places want it registered first and in some cases charge for a permit and it comes under a lot of scrutiny versus someone with a car as to what I'm doing.
 
I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought that this could be a good way to get rid of a body ;)

I forgot to say, when my work was done, there were four blokes and they were here for about three hours in total, that's trimming the tree right back, destroying the roses and tidying up. All for £180.

 
Ok, so I spoke to the recycling centre, I pretended I was starting a gardening business and wanted to get an idea of costs involved. A commercial license is basically £50/year, then it's £26 per half tonne. There's no way these three bushes weigh half a tonne is there?

Anyways, the first quote was £380 and the second was £400. This is work that'll take less than 2 hours and the tip is two minutes away.

I don't like feeling ripped off especially when this is something I could have done myself a few years ago, it's just frustrating I guess.
 
Feek said:
I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought that this could be a good way to get rid of a body ;)

I forgot to say, when my work was done, there were four blokes and they were here for about three hours in total, that's trimming the tree right back, destroying the roses and tidying up. All for £180.

Click to expand...

People have met their fate in similar machines on numerous occasions over the past few decades, truly gruesome, truly must be one of the worst ways to go. Makes me feel sick to think about it...

In any case, not a good way to get rid of a body, makes a heck of a load of mess...
 
LCG-xyz said:
Ok, so I spoke to the recycling centre, I pretended I was starting a gardening business and wanted to get an idea of costs involved. A commercial license is basically £50/year, then it's £26 per half tonne. There's no way these three bushes weigh half a tonne is there?

Anyways, the first quote was £380 and the second was £400. This is work that'll take less than 2 hours and the tip is two minutes away.

I don't like feeling ripped off especially when this is something I could have done myself a few years ago, it's just frustrating I guess.
Click to expand...


I have found in my old age that I can't do what I used to be able to do and in last 10yrs living here I have had to have loads of jobs done - The costs shocked me but over time you get to realise that everything costs more than you think. - In the end I just rang the nearest tradesman and got them to do it - it's quite alarming when you see how quick your saving disappear.
 
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