6 August 2021

Landscaper wanted!

| jesse
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We paid $80 an hour for a chap with a Dingo machine to rip out some shrubs. Not an onerous task by any means. Cost $400. Not bad money for 5 hours work. We asked if he could come back to take out some more, but he never came back or even contacted us after I left a message on his mobile.

Second guy – recommended on The Riot Act – came, had a look, told us what he would do, said he’d get back to us, but failed to contact us, even though we asked if he could start this week.

The work needing to be done is on flat ground, easily accessible and we are willing to pay whatever is necessary to complete the job. Probably about 2 days work.

We are easy going, and not demanding. What are we doing wrong?

I’d love to be so well off that I could knock back $80 – $100 an hour.

If you’re also looking for landscaping services, check out our recently updated article on the best landscapers in Canberra.

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schmeah said :

CanberraMum said :

Is anyone else tired about the dodgy tradies hurting the reputations and livelihoods of the good ones?? I was offered a $600 discount to pay cash the other day, which really pissed me off. Not least cause some-one offering to drop the GST is still wrong, it should be 40% (GST and Company Tax) – but because it just rips off the honest businesses doing the right thing. Fortunately it was the first of my three quotes anyway, and it was still exorbitant…so I gave the tradie whose quote I did (and who was quick, clean and honest) accept an additional carton of beer! and I have a warranty 🙂

You managed to get multiple quotes .. Christ, when we had a water related emergency I called every plumber listed on the Northside; they either didn’t answer, didn’t return phone calls or told me they couldn’t do it. One plumber mob got back to me and came around that same day and gave us a quote to do some substantial work .. we spent all the next week chasing other plumbers to get an alternative quote but it was just impossible .. messages always went unanswered and given the urgency of the situation options were limited. We just went with the first/only mob – who were excellent, efficient and very thorough .. other tradies lost out on a few of $K (or we got robbed .. ).

Actually, we only managed to get one quote (from Bernie) and we were so desperate we grabbed him. The price was reasonable, they cleaned the site carefully before leaving and even asked us if we had any rubbish we wanted taking to the dump with their load of rubble.

CanberraMum said :

Is anyone else tired about the dodgy tradies hurting the reputations and livelihoods of the good ones?? I was offered a $600 discount to pay cash the other day, which really pissed me off. Not least cause some-one offering to drop the GST is still wrong, it should be 40% (GST and Company Tax) – but because it just rips off the honest businesses doing the right thing. Fortunately it was the first of my three quotes anyway, and it was still exorbitant…so I gave the tradie whose quote I did (and who was quick, clean and honest) accept an additional carton of beer! and I have a warranty 🙂

You managed to get multiple quotes .. Christ, when we had a water related emergency I called every plumber listed on the Northside; they either didn’t answer, didn’t return phone calls or told me they couldn’t do it. One plumber mob got back to me and came around that same day and gave us a quote to do some substantial work .. we spent all the next week chasing other plumbers to get an alternative quote but it was just impossible .. messages always went unanswered and given the urgency of the situation options were limited. We just went with the first/only mob – who were excellent, efficient and very thorough .. other tradies lost out on a few of $K (or we got robbed .. ).

Thankyou PLANDSCAPE! Landscaping completed at last. Finally, after several people, including one of the tradies mentioned in a reply on the Riotact failed to give a quote after promising to get back to us, we have had the landscaping done by an expert.
What a fantastic company PLANDSCAPE is. The boss – Bernie Whalan, who has an Industrial Design degree – is a friendly, super efficient guy with 3 excellent employees. Bernie sent us a quote within 12 hours and started work the next day. The semi-circular compressed granite drive, the courtyard paving, the 2 retaining walls etc were completed within a week. My partner and I, both worked in the engineering, architectural field and we were both impressed by the quality of advice and the workmanship.
Plandscape phone number is 0407275223, or plandscape.com.au

Is anyone else tired about the dodgy tradies hurting the reputations and livelihoods of the good ones?? I was offered a $600 discount to pay cash the other day, which really pissed me off. Not least cause some-one offering to drop the GST is still wrong, it should be 40% (GST and Company Tax) – but because it just rips off the honest businesses doing the right thing. Fortunately it was the first of my three quotes anyway, and it was still exorbitant…so I gave the tradie whose quote I did (and who was quick, clean and honest) accept an additional carton of beer! and I have a warranty 🙂

Madam Cholet3:28 pm 25 Sep 12

screaming banshee said :

Cost $400. Not bad money for 5 hours work.

Feel free to put yourself through the necessary operator and licensing courses, purchase a truck and dingo, register a business and abn, obtain the correct insurances, spend a sufficient amount on advertising and then sit back and wait for those hundred dollar bills to roll on in.

Just make sure you can afford to pay off the equipment, keep them fuelled and maintained, keep the insurances up to date, pay the mortgage and feed the family…hell, I reckon you could probably do all that for 20 bucks an hour so you could charge $80 and walk away with $60 for every hour you work. Make sure you put some of that away though for the occasions when the equipment breaks down, or the weather keeps you from working. You’ll probably want to save a little for a holiday too, no such thing as annual leave when you work for yourself, you cant rely on the dollars coming in unless you are putting in the effort.

You too could be that well off if you are prepared to put all of your personal possessions (not to mention your marriage) on the line, start your own business and work your arse off.

Geez, one customer is not responsible entirely for the tradie’s holiday, savings etc etc. And I would suggest that the tradie did negotiate or state the rate that he would do the work for before he started.

Obviously I’m not aware of this poor tradie’s individual circumstances, i.e. wife and dog left home, kids no help at all and only his banjo for company on those freezing winter evenings when he has to make a choice between heating the house and buying a loaf of stale bread, but I earn about $47 an hour and out of that pay everything I need to including my own insurances, super, income tax, mortgage, vets bills, doctors bills, investment property expenses & mortgage and still have some left over, I think that $80 an hour is about right.

cynical_rendering said :

screaming banshee said :

Cost $400. Not bad money for 5 hours work.

Feel free to put yourself through the necessary operator and licensing courses, purchase a truck and dingo, register a business and abn, obtain the correct insurances, spend a sufficient amount on advertising and then sit back and wait for those hundred dollar bills to roll on in.

Just make sure you can afford to pay off the equipment, keep them fuelled and maintained, keep the insurances up to date, pay the mortgage and feed the family…hell, I reckon you could probably do all that for 20 bucks an hour so you could charge $80 and walk away with $60 for every hour you work. Make sure you put some of that away though for the occasions when the equipment breaks down, or the weather keeps you from working. You’ll probably want to save a little for a holiday too, no such thing as annual leave when you work for yourself, you cant rely on the dollars coming in unless you are putting in the effort.

You too could be that well off if you are prepared to put all of your personal possessions (not to mention your marriage) on the line, start your own business and work your arse off.

Funny that tradesmen neglect to mention these overheads when there at the pub loudly stating: “mate, I make 100 grand a year more than any public servant or uni graduate”

LOL

Then again do you really believe most stuff you hear ppl boasting about when they are drunk?

cynical_rendering10:17 am 25 Sep 12

screaming banshee said :

Cost $400. Not bad money for 5 hours work.

Feel free to put yourself through the necessary operator and licensing courses, purchase a truck and dingo, register a business and abn, obtain the correct insurances, spend a sufficient amount on advertising and then sit back and wait for those hundred dollar bills to roll on in.

Just make sure you can afford to pay off the equipment, keep them fuelled and maintained, keep the insurances up to date, pay the mortgage and feed the family…hell, I reckon you could probably do all that for 20 bucks an hour so you could charge $80 and walk away with $60 for every hour you work. Make sure you put some of that away though for the occasions when the equipment breaks down, or the weather keeps you from working. You’ll probably want to save a little for a holiday too, no such thing as annual leave when you work for yourself, you cant rely on the dollars coming in unless you are putting in the effort.

You too could be that well off if you are prepared to put all of your personal possessions (not to mention your marriage) on the line, start your own business and work your arse off.

Funny that tradesmen neglect to mention these overheads when there at the pub loudly stating: “mate, I make 100 grand a year more than any public servant or uni graduate”

Gungahlin Al said :

jesse said :

cross said :

Holden Caulfield said :

Most of them are selfish pricks.

+1

Maybe try someone like Tradeworks where they get multiple quotes on your behalf if a tradie did not turn up it would reflect badly on them , or I,ve heard good things about the Grey Army at http://www.greyarmy.com.au

Thanks for the info. I didn’t know about Tradeworks. Sounds like a great idea. I will also contact Grey Army.

My 76 year old partner wanted to hire a machine and do the work himself, but he was convinced by “she who must be obeyed” that it would probably be better to employ an expert.

Re the ads in the paper : We had a great job of tiling ( on our porches) by a nice chap called Csiske, who advertised in the Chronic. You can be lucky sometimes. 🙂

I was also going to suggest the DIY route, but you do get tossed around a fair bit on a Dingo (especially when learning to use it), so at 76 (no offence) it may be stressing on more frail bones somewhat.

The other thing about dingoes is that you basically hold the throttle handles with thumbs and first two fingers, and use the pinkies and ring fingers to push and pull the controls for the loader and bucket at the same time as you are moving. These are fingers that otherwise get used for next to nothing, so after a day of maximising your rental investment, you can count on having essentially unusable hands for the next 2-3 days! (Speaking from experience…) Painful – and you need to factor that down time into your work schedule!

Goodness. That is awful. My partner’s poor old hands are shot (arthritis) from his job, so he would have found it impossible.

CoffinRX2 said :

Adrian from Renew Landscaping 0415 508 244

Thank you. Will give him a call today.

Mordd said :

screaming banshee said :

Cost $400. Not bad money for 5 hours work.

Feel free to put yourself through the necessary operator and licensing courses, purchase a truck and dingo, register a business and abn, obtain the correct insurances, spend a sufficient amount on advertising and then sit back and wait for those hundred dollar bills to roll on in.

Just make sure you can afford to pay off the equipment, keep them fuelled and maintained, keep the insurances up to date, pay the mortgage and feed the family…hell, I reckon you could probably do all that for 20 bucks an hour so you could charge $80 and walk away with $60 for every hour you work. Make sure you put some of that away though for the occasions when the equipment breaks down, or the weather keeps you from working. You’ll probably want to save a little for a holiday too, no such thing as annual leave when you work for yourself, you cant rely on the dollars coming in unless you are putting in the effort.

You too could be that well off if you are prepared to put all of your personal possessions (not to mention your marriage) on the line, start your own business and work your arse off.

Ok while amusing to read and im sure quite accurate, the OP wasn’t suggesting that they were overpaying the tradies, just that they thought the amount they were offering was fair for the work involved, which it seems to be. While I can understand the defensiveness in your comment, if you actually are a tradie and not just an internet back seat driver, then maybe referencing them to yourself or a friend you know would have been more productive all round than the rant you posted, just saying.

Thank you. 🙂

Gungahlin Al said :

jesse said :

cross said :

Holden Caulfield said :

Most of them are selfish pricks.

+1

Maybe try someone like Tradeworks where they get multiple quotes on your behalf if a tradie did not turn up it would reflect badly on them , or I,ve heard good things about the Grey Army at http://www.greyarmy.com.au

Thanks for the info. I didn’t know about Tradeworks. Sounds like a great idea. I will also contact Grey Army.

My 76 year old partner wanted to hire a machine and do the work himself, but he was convinced by “she who must be obeyed” that it would probably be better to employ an expert.

Re the ads in the paper : We had a great job of tiling ( on our porches) by a nice chap called Csiske, who advertised in the Chronic. You can be lucky sometimes. 🙂

I was also going to suggest the DIY route, but you do get tossed around a fair bit on a Dingo (especially when learning to use it), so at 76 (no offence) it may be stressing on more frail bones somewhat.

The other thing about dingoes is that you basically hold the throttle handles with thumbs and first two fingers, and use the pinkies and ring fingers to push and pull the controls for the loader and bucket at the same time as you are moving. These are fingers that otherwise get used for next to nothing, so after a day of maximising your rental investment, you can count on having essentially unusable hands for the next 2-3 days! (Speaking from experience…) Painful – and you need to factor that down time into your work schedule!

screaming banshee said :

Cost $400. Not bad money for 5 hours work.

Feel free to put yourself through the necessary operator and licensing courses, purchase a truck and dingo, register a business and abn, obtain the correct insurances, spend a sufficient amount on advertising and then sit back and wait for those hundred dollar bills to roll on in.

Just make sure you can afford to pay off the equipment, keep them fuelled and maintained, keep the insurances up to date, pay the mortgage and feed the family…hell, I reckon you could probably do all that for 20 bucks an hour so you could charge $80 and walk away with $60 for every hour you work. Make sure you put some of that away though for the occasions when the equipment breaks down, or the weather keeps you from working. You’ll probably want to save a little for a holiday too, no such thing as annual leave when you work for yourself, you cant rely on the dollars coming in unless you are putting in the effort.

You too could be that well off if you are prepared to put all of your personal possessions (not to mention your marriage) on the line, start your own business and work your arse off.

Hi, We understand everything you mention. The tradie worked very hard and we were very impressed. In fact, my husband, who Is getting frailer,after a lifetime of working 2 jobs, helped load the dead greenery on the trailer, moved many metres of big pavers and we regularly asked the chap if he wanted coffee etc. The fact that he didn’t come back after saying that he would was disappointing. As I said, we are willing to pay whatever it takes to get the job done.

Matthewjbrownau said :

is a dingo machine required for the job? If not, I might be able to do it – I have just finished studying and am doing casual work here and there. This is of course, dependent on the conditions of the job – e.g. the length of time it will likely take/ level of difficulty/ rate of pay.

Cheers

Thanks , it does require a dingo or bobcat to get the roots out. We have been living here for 15 years and really should have attacked them earlier. Good luck with your endeavours.

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd6:51 am 25 Sep 12

screaming banshee said :

Cost $400. Not bad money for 5 hours work.

Feel free to put yourself through the necessary operator and licensing courses, purchase a truck and dingo, register a business and abn, obtain the correct insurances, spend a sufficient amount on advertising and then sit back and wait for those hundred dollar bills to roll on in.

Just make sure you can afford to pay off the equipment, keep them fuelled and maintained, keep the insurances up to date, pay the mortgage and feed the family…hell, I reckon you could probably do all that for 20 bucks an hour so you could charge $80 and walk away with $60 for every hour you work. Make sure you put some of that away though for the occasions when the equipment breaks down, or the weather keeps you from working. You’ll probably want to save a little for a holiday too, no such thing as annual leave when you work for yourself, you cant rely on the dollars coming in unless you are putting in the effort.

You too could be that well off if you are prepared to put all of your personal possessions (not to mention your marriage) on the line, start your own business and work your arse off.

Yeah it always gross when people whine about reasonable prices from tradies. This is Canberra though so you get used to it.

screaming banshee said :

Cost $400. Not bad money for 5 hours work.

Feel free to put yourself through the necessary operator and licensing courses, purchase a truck and dingo, register a business and abn, obtain the correct insurances, spend a sufficient amount on advertising and then sit back and wait for those hundred dollar bills to roll on in.

Just make sure you can afford to pay off the equipment, keep them fuelled and maintained, keep the insurances up to date, pay the mortgage and feed the family…hell, I reckon you could probably do all that for 20 bucks an hour so you could charge $80 and walk away with $60 for every hour you work. Make sure you put some of that away though for the occasions when the equipment breaks down, or the weather keeps you from working. You’ll probably want to save a little for a holiday too, no such thing as annual leave when you work for yourself, you cant rely on the dollars coming in unless you are putting in the effort.

You too could be that well off if you are prepared to put all of your personal possessions (not to mention your marriage) on the line, start your own business and work your arse off.

Ok while amusing to read and im sure quite accurate, the OP wasn’t suggesting that they were overpaying the tradies, just that they thought the amount they were offering was fair for the work involved, which it seems to be. While I can understand the defensiveness in your comment, if you actually are a tradie and not just an internet back seat driver, then maybe referencing them to yourself or a friend you know would have been more productive all round than the rant you posted, just saying.

Adrian from Renew Landscaping 0415 508 244

Dingos are a warrigal.

screaming banshee9:12 pm 24 Sep 12

Cost $400. Not bad money for 5 hours work.

Feel free to put yourself through the necessary operator and licensing courses, purchase a truck and dingo, register a business and abn, obtain the correct insurances, spend a sufficient amount on advertising and then sit back and wait for those hundred dollar bills to roll on in.

Just make sure you can afford to pay off the equipment, keep them fuelled and maintained, keep the insurances up to date, pay the mortgage and feed the family…hell, I reckon you could probably do all that for 20 bucks an hour so you could charge $80 and walk away with $60 for every hour you work. Make sure you put some of that away though for the occasions when the equipment breaks down, or the weather keeps you from working. You’ll probably want to save a little for a holiday too, no such thing as annual leave when you work for yourself, you cant rely on the dollars coming in unless you are putting in the effort.

You too could be that well off if you are prepared to put all of your personal possessions (not to mention your marriage) on the line, start your own business and work your arse off.

Try Mark from Mow and Behold – 0406 227 772. handy, reliable and straight up

Gungahlin Al8:15 pm 24 Sep 12

jesse said :

cross said :

Holden Caulfield said :

Most of them are selfish pricks.

+1

Maybe try someone like Tradeworks where they get multiple quotes on your behalf if a tradie did not turn up it would reflect badly on them , or I,ve heard good things about the Grey Army at http://www.greyarmy.com.au

Thanks for the info. I didn’t know about Tradeworks. Sounds like a great idea. I will also contact Grey Army.

My 76 year old partner wanted to hire a machine and do the work himself, but he was convinced by “she who must be obeyed” that it would probably be better to employ an expert.

Re the ads in the paper : We had a great job of tiling ( on our porches) by a nice chap called Csiske, who advertised in the Chronic. You can be lucky sometimes. 🙂

I was also going to suggest the DIY route, but you do get tossed around a fair bit on a Dingo (especially when learning to use it), so at 76 (no offence) it may be stressing on more frail bones somewhat.

The other thing about dingoes is that you basically hold the throttle handles with thumbs and first two fingers, and use the pinkies and ring fingers to push and pull the controls for the loader and bucket at the same time as you are moving. These are fingers that otherwise get used for next to nothing, so after a day of maximising your rental investment, you can count on having essentially unusable hands for the next 2-3 days! (Speaking from experience…) Painful – and you need to factor that down time into your work schedule!

cross said :

Holden Caulfield said :

Most of them are selfish pricks.

+1

Maybe try someone like Tradeworks where they get multiple quotes on your behalf if a tradie did not turn up it would reflect badly on them , or I,ve heard good things about the Grey Army at http://www.greyarmy.com.au

Thanks for the info. I didn’t know about Tradeworks. Sounds like a great idea. I will also contact Grey Army.

My 76 year old partner wanted to hire a machine and do the work himself, but he was convinced by “she who must be obeyed” that it would probably be better to employ an expert.

Re the ads in the paper : We had a great job of tiling ( on our porches) by a nice chap called Csiske, who advertised in the Chronic. You can be lucky sometimes. 🙂

Matthewjbrownau5:57 pm 24 Sep 12

is a dingo machine required for the job? If not, I might be able to do it – I have just finished studying and am doing casual work here and there. This is of course, dependent on the conditions of the job – e.g. the length of time it will likely take/ level of difficulty/ rate of pay.

Cheers

Holden Caulfield said :

Most of them are selfish pricks.

+1

Maybe try someone like Tradeworks where they get multiple quotes on your behalf if a tradie did not turn up it would reflect badly on them , or I,ve heard good things about the Grey Army at http://www.greyarmy.com.au

neanderthalsis4:25 pm 24 Sep 12

Have you considered the DIY option? Hire a ute, hire a dingo and go for it yourself. Unless you’re talking about deforestation on an Amazonian scale it should be a relatively easy job.

Holden Caulfield3:13 pm 24 Sep 12

“We are easy going, and not demanding. What are we doing wrong?”

Dealing with tradies. Good ones are a dime a dozen. Most of them are selfish pricks.

I’m not bitter or anything.

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