The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: luckylady on May 29, 2013, 11:56:49 pm
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How much would you expect to be paid as a casual cash in hand odd job man? Bit of labouring, tending veg plot, lugging 'stuff' from A to B, general smallholding maintenance etc
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I'd be looking to be starting at minimum wage for a set number of hours per week with a list of things to work through in my alloted time.
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If it helps my hubby is a gardener - works alone. He started at £10 per hour 2 years ago and now charges £12 per hour. He will also do any other odd jobs that people ask for - like painting, erecting sheds, unlocking toilets (!)
Donna
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Going rate here is £13 /hour
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with the price of fuel//etc etc i would look at £12 per hour,for a 3 hour shift.... if you are getting good amount of hours per day..then £10
if its a case of 1 hour then £15..... you must take into account your fuel bill getting there
i offered to fit a lounge carpet 17 miles away for £50.... the return trip would have cost me £10 (fuel ,tax, insurance )
£10 worth of extras.Gripper, doorbar, ...so £30 would be my labour....i was told they were expecting to pay about £20
charge what your worth.......
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My car is not economical and cost me £25 in fuel a day to go to work a 60 mile round trip, so it also depends on the car and the journey....I pay a fixed rate for any handy man usualy, agree on a price for a days work.....the reason behind that is then we are both happy, they get the job done quickly and I am not paying for tea breaks and they can go home early if necessary..as long as the jobs done well enough, but if you want one on a regular basis it will be hourly rate, I would say depending on how many hours £12 ph....thats my going rate :roflanim:
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This is a really useful thread for us small holders who need the odd helping hand.
However I think this is going to be quite area dependant so maybe everyone could say at least which country they re in if not county
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Interesting to read this. I only work for friends at the moment - so it's not always a proper hourly rate I charge, because I know they can't afford it. They are farmers; their work doesn't pay them £7/hour - they are lucky if they don't have to pay the farm bills from what they earn elsewhere (in fact, I know they do that anyway)... So how could I charge them more, when I can't even do the job as well as they do it themselves?
I tend to charge for effective work, meaning if I think I've not done the work as fast or well as I should, I don't charge for all the hours I've been with them. But it's different if you are not "helping friends", but actually working. (And yes, I have to live on what I earn too. So really, it would be better if I worked not for friends, but for somebody who could afford to pay me...)
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In East Yorkshire backinwellies. Distance to travel is about 2 miles.
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I think if you pay a odd job man £15 per hour you are mad. I am a carpenter and joiner with 30 years experience and charge about £15 depending on the job. I would not pay a odd job man more than £8 - £10. The clue is in the name odd job in other words not qualified or time served in anything.
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ah but that depends on the nature of the odd jobs
if im using all my kit and travelling to you expect to pay 12 per hour plus my travel costs
big jobs the price drops little jobs it goes up.
if you just want some muscle and not my tools then we are at 10 per hour plus travel
all work is done on a fixed price basis though, never quote hourly i quote to finish the job.
If anyone in central Scotland needs anything doing i'm available :excited: :excited: :excited:
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I pay my window cleaner £10 once a month for all my windows and he does it in about 20 minutes so I feel I'm justified in paying him £7 an hour fro the work he does in my garden and he's very happy with that.
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I pay my window cleaner £5 for a monthly visit - double if he is doing inside aswell as outside obviously. He travels 4 miles but does mine and the neighbour I recommended him to on his way to other contracts so no additional mileage incurred.
I couldn't afford to pay the rates some people charge for things, because I don't have any income to speak of now - there are lots of folk claiming what they're worth but they can't get it if I don't have it ::)
A guy with a chainsaw charged me £50 for a day felling and logging, with me doing the dragging and lopping of smaller stuff. The next guy charged me £100 for the tree or £200 for one up by a building because of extra risk. This year my neighbour did it and took 2/3 of the wood as payment, I have less to keep warm but at least the tree is down and I have something to burn without going into debt paying someone what they want to charge me.
Most of what I "pay" for now is on a similar barter system, I can't get enough people to pay me what my training says I'm worth (psychotherapy rate is £45/hour, counselling £35/hour, massage and/or reiki £25-30 for 45 mins just as examples) but it is at least a useful currency if someone needs a massage or wants some eggs or fruit or a veg patch to work themselves or a trailer of manure or in one case I swap free service to my stallion for backing/schooling a young pony, with the grazing swapped like for like til the mare is ready to go home or quite often I take her longer than I get, just out of good will and the fact that when visiting said mare the owner is usually willing to help with a 2 handed job I just can't manage alone.
So in answer to your question, whatever I can afford or offer in lieu of payment.. and if that ain't enough then sadly it won't get done.
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Ina. Farmers are paid vast subsidies from the government every year for just owning land, they concrete their yards and put up buildings with grants, they pay no inheritance tax when they inherit their farms. They are great at pleading poverty, but don't know the meaning of the word. They will be claiming tax relief on your wages so if they are paying you £7 an hour it's probably costing them about £4. Do not feel sorry for them and certainly don't be a charity to them at your own expense.
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if i do a day for a naber or frend £50 can do plumbing electrical land manigment poultrey sheep curier building etc
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stufe
I agree that Ina should charge the going rate.
However your comments on farmers are unnecessary and inflamatory. Some smallholders are entitled to claim subsidies/ grants too.
Please keep this thread on topic.
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Apologies reading back I guess it looks inflammatory, to put things in perspective, on a Thursday night I go out for a drink with my 4 farmer friends. We all take it turns to drive and pick each other up...4 out of 5 weeks I get a lift in nearly new range rovers, discoveries etc. on the 5th week they all moan about my creaking 10 year old passat ! There is much Micky taking (I goad them about my taxes paying for their alloy wheels ). The information in my post comes from my conversations with them, they are all very good business men. I always call time and say we have to go as I have to be bright and breezy to sit in meetings and act intelligent at work in the morning, whilst their biggest worry is wether to feed the sheep or the cows first !
So on topic ; one of them employees a milking man who works every weekday and every other weekend for £10 hour.
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Bloomer I would love to use you and your skills when/ if we move but until we do, we need every penny we can lay our hands on.........
I think the best way forward to to agree on a price between the two of you and as its only 2 miles away it is walking distance or cycle distance so great.
I do different type work but cannot afford to work to far away on basic wage as its pointless...I wish I had enough money to trade in my expensive to run car. :wave:
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If it helps my hubby is a gardener - works alone. He started at £10 per hour 2 years ago and now charges £12 per hour. He will also do any other odd jobs that people ask for - like painting, erecting sheds, unlocking toilets (!)
Donna
We are in South Norfolk
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Ina. Farmers are paid vast subsidies from the government every year for just owning land, they concrete their yards and put up buildings with grants, they pay no inheritance tax when they inherit their farms. They are great at pleading poverty, but don't know the meaning of the word. They will be claiming tax relief on your wages so if they are paying you £7 an hour it's probably costing them about £4. Do not feel sorry for them and certainly don't be a charity to them at your own expense.
You seem to know very little about farmers. Some rich landowners get huge subsidies - but my friends don't belong to that category. I know how they struggle, and how hard they work to make ends meet. One of them doesn't get any subsidies, the other gets very little. Both have to go out and work off farm just to pay the bills. And they are not exceptions!
Ignorance like yours makes me very, very angry. Have you actually worked on farms? How many farmers do you know personally?
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Its funny as I grew up in a farming area in Leicestershire, my ex husband dad was a farmer, also lots of my friends were also farmers and so boys I dated and still know, relations now are all farmers and none are that wealthy, they all work hard and have to save every penny incase stuff the farm goes tits up....they are only rich when dead....then they are farmers but not maybe the ones you mean who would be the massive land owners with big estates etc, whole different ball game....
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Farmers poor. Pull the other one. I'm surrounded by farms all full of lovely shine tractors and masses of new gadgets to make their life easier. These are not big farms but money never seems to be a problem.
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My mum always told me to marry a farmers son, I did, he IS wealthy but he is a plumber :innocent: , his dad left money and so did another relation but while alive they lived a very frugle life.....I think things are like you say shygirl, divided like in other walks of life...rich and poor!!
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Shiny new machinery that never gets paid for, they keep upgrading to keep in warranty which helps keep mechanical bills down and goes against there income to keep tax bills down. I come from a big farming family, we also have many farming friends and also in our business we work for many farmers from council holders upto very large estates. All of these struggle for money, most work incredibly long, hard hours for very little reward. If they want to go on holiday it costs twice as much as they have to pay others to work for them whilst away. Believe me you would not want there overdrafts!
The only 'rich' farmers I know have money invested elsewhere which brings in an income.
Isn't there a saying that goes something like......don't judge a man til you've walked a mile in his shoes?
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I live in a big house now and lived in a big house with a big car before and still have nothing..but am happy........I think a lot of peole look rich with all the trappings but its all owed to the bank, I at least have no doubts and I am not a farme :innocent:
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actually the richest landowner around here is a very highly paid london doctor. he owns alot of land in our area and down south.
i have a contractor friend who went out and bought shiny new tractors and a posh balers to replace his other perfectly fine machinery, now he cant make his repayments on his loan and has put his farm up for sale.
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Most farmer get new machines on credit, including cars and pick-ups. They lerch from crisis to crisis financilly and it's only the SFP and what they rear to sell that keeps then afloat. Bad farmers go under, good farmers float.
As for home much and hour you would pay a person to help you out.
I pay the guy that helps me £12,50 an hour and he earns it. But ask yourself what would you charge?
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Thanks at least to CF for dragging back to topic......
Stufes explanation for the previous post seem to have been either missed or conveniently ignored for the sake of a mudsling :(
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Padge I am easily distracted...sorry...no mud slinging from me just chat...well known for going off at a tangent :innocent: Back on track we usualy agree a price on a job so that way we are all happy!
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If it helps my hubby is a gardener - works alone. He started at £10 per hour 2 years ago and now charges £12 per hour. He will also do any other odd jobs that people ask for - like painting, erecting sheds, unlocking toilets (!)
Donna
We are in South Norfolk
Can your hubby do post and rail fencing? And is 7 miles south of Bury St eds too far?
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I do odd jobs, gardening etc - by the time its gone through the books etc it isn't worth charging less than £15/h.
Would charge more if it was just a small job. Never had anyone quibble at those prices either.
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I guess the price would vary a lot. Depending on age, experience how fast they work an how well the job is done. If they are a good efficient worker who just gets on then £10-£12 per hour cash in hand sounds fair.
Slightly off topic, there does seem to be a market out there for someone who can shear sheep and was willing to travel around just doing small flocks. Loads of people seem to be after someone to shear upto 10 :thinking:
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My neighbours 16yr old son is going to feed my pigs for a 3 &1/2 days whilst i'm otherwise engaged Its only 40mins twice a day and he can walk across the fields to us so i'm going to give him forty quid if thats any help to anyone.
mandy :pig:
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There is a market for small flock shearing, it's just the cost that's the problem, when you start adding it up you end up charging mileage and travel time, set up costs, then cost per sheep, 10 sheep can end up costing £100 upwards depending on where you are very easily and when you consider the cost of getting yourself trained to do it it becomes a bit of a false economy.
I should know, I used to be a shearer till my arms went silly, so I tried exactly that, small flocks, problem is they're so diverse geographically that the costs go through the roof, so unless your local it doesn't make much sense (or insanely rich)
Anyway that's my tuppence worth
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No one has mentioned PAYE and insurance. If someone is self employed they should be paying tax and have their own insurance tailored to their services, that should be covered in the amount they charge.
If you employ someone you insurance should cover them and depending how many hours and how much you pay the you have to do PAYE, which I have looked at and looks more trouble than its worth. So make sure any workers are registered as self employed and pay them for their services.
Anyone who has run a business and eventually starts earning enough to pay a big tax bill has the option of paying the tax or investing in something that is tax deductible as equipment or as an allowable expense. So the choice may be I give the taxman £10,000 or do I buy a nice piece of kit and if the Range Rover is a farm vehicle as can be shown to be used as such a % of its value is tax deductible. If it was a plumber, you buy or lease a nice shiny van.
Most tax offices run work shops to help with you tax returns so if you are making any money from your labours and use your land/home it may be worth finding out what you can use to lower your tax bill. It means you have to fill in a self assessment form but it could be worth it , just save all your bills and decide what you can legally claim for at the end of the year. If you were a childminder you can claim as an expense food supplied, the extra heating needed and a mileage rate for the car, and any professional bodies you have to join. If you consistently make a loss and claim they will class it as a hobby.
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We are in mid Wales. My hubby is a gardener/builder/electrician/plumber/painter/personal shopper! He charges £10 an hour. At the moment he is pretty busy and gets our oldest to help him mow and strim. My oldest son, age 13, gets about £20 a day and he works bloody hard for it.