Help with pricing gardening services!

[nittygrittydirtdigger]

Families!

Someone above said to undercut your competitors, and you may have to do that a couple times to get started, but I would go in the opposite direction: Be one of the best out there, and charge accordingly. Why be Walmart when you have the skills and talent to be Nordstrom's?

 

[Catalina]

Goodness vfem... sorry for the tough times for you and your family!

Might you have community education programs in your area that you could work with?
Our school district, city, and senior center offer such programs. They are always looking for community members who wish to share their talents and teach skills in many areas... sewing, cooking, dancing, basic auto repair... a class in bird watching basics is even offered this spring.

Classes vary in cost... instructors are paid from 12 to 20$ per hour, depending on the subject and instructor fees. You don't have to be a professional or certified teacher. Organic gardening is a popular subject right now... if you have these education programs in your area I would think it would be a class of interest to many.

You may not make a lot just instructing a class or two, but you may be able to find a creative way to use this to help find clients for personal consulting or garden design and construction

Good luck to you, and your family!

I think this is a great idea too. Our local community rec/ed is offering several "gardening" classes this spring. They charge $20 per person for each 2 hour class on things like composting, how to plant seeds, setting up a community plot garden (the city rents these to people), choosing plants for your garden.
Really basic stuff.
They are always advertising for instructors - maybe in your area they are too?

 

[vfem]

Thanks Catalina! I have a community college in the area that I went to, graduated from, even made Dean's List a few times. They offer evening 'fun' courses people can take. Things like Quilting for Beginners, and Painting on Canvas. Its like a 1 month class, 1 night a week for 2 hours. They charge anywhere between $50-$80 for the course... some courses are at multiple locations so you find one in a high school near you, or on their main campus. I contacted them today with the offer of my services if they are thinking of offering the course, or if they already do and need an instructor!

We'll see how that pans out.

So far I'm looking at $20 per visit for the first hour, and $15 per additional. Each visit will come with a list of recommended reading, landscape layout and I'll even take there soil for testing (which I can get done for $5 at my agri. department where they have a set up less then 2 minutes from my house.) So we'll see how this works out if I get any interest, if not... oh well! LOL