Has my grandmother been ripped off by gardeners/labourers ?

[longers]

So my 95 year old grandmother just paid two lads to cut down all the overgrown bushes etc in her garden that have accumulated over the past couple of years. Two guys came and did the work which took three hours and charged her £950 for it. To me this is astonishing amounts of money, don’t get me wrong it was a lot of manual labour and the garden was a bit of a jungle and very overgrown but still… it was done in three hours.

Bit of simple maths shows she paid the two men a rate of £158 an hour (each).

Now I’m no expert on this stuff but I’m thinking she has been absolutely rinsed ? Or has manual labour become much better paid than it used to be ?

 

[d34noj]

They'll have to pay for disposal too - but Jesus christ mate that's insane.

 

[WilliamPerry]

3 hours work for 2 people doesn’t justify near a grand , thats criminal

 

[dublinbluenose]

I dont think thats an unusually high amount tbh. Depends on what they did as well, did they take down and trees etc? It'd be a lot for just cutting grass and weeding out but it sounds like it was a bit more than that.

 

[Sarnia Kevin]

Sounds criminal to me. Was it a proper gardening firm, or just some fly-by-nights?

 

[Donegal blue]

Rip off longers, a fella came to my father to cut grass and trim hedges every couple of weeks, basically he stayed an hour and fitted in whatever. Charged my dad 25 quid. Did they take all bushes and shrubbery with them.

 

[Kurt.]

50 quid for cutting the trees
900 on fuel for the strimmer

 

[chicoazul]

So my 95 year old grandmother just paid two lads to cut down all the overgrown bushes etc in her garden that have accumulated over the past couple of years. Two guys came and did the work which took three hours and charged her £950 for it. To me this is astonishing amounts of money, don’t get me wrong it was a lot of manual labour and the garden was a bit of a jungle and very overgrown but still… it was done in three hours.

Bit of simple maths shows she paid the two men a rate of £158 an hour (each).

Now I’m no expert on this stuff but I’m thinking she has been absolutely rinsed ? Or has manual labour become much better paid than it used to be ?

Hello mate aye that’s way too much and makes me fuming when reading it. Your grandmother deserves a lot more respect than being ripped off at her grand old age by snakes. Did she get a card or name of firm?

 

[larbert toffee]

So my 95 year old grandmother just paid two lads to cut down all the overgrown bushes etc in her garden that have accumulated over the past couple of years. Two guys came and did the work which took three hours and charged her £950 for it. To me this is astonishing amounts of money, don’t get me wrong it was a lot of manual labour and the garden was a bit of a jungle and very overgrown but still… it was done in three hours.

Bit of simple maths shows she paid the two men a rate of £158 an hour (each).

Now I’m no expert on this stuff but I’m thinking she has been absolutely rinsed ? Or has manual labour become much better paid than it used to be ?

It's not just hourly labour that's taken into account it's vehicles, machinery, safety equipment, removal of rubbish, landfill charges etc. that all needs to be factored in, if these guys were cold callers though it's more than likely She's been ripped off.
You're more likely to get a fair price by asking a couple of local companies for quotes.

 

[Donegal blue]

50 quid for cutting the trees
900 on fuel for the strimmer

It's getting that way, I paid 94 euros for 80 litres of kerosene yesterday, 6 months ago it was around 43 euros.

 

[Methuselah]

I had my usual guys in to prune trees, shrubs, there was extra work as they couldn't come last year due to lockdown. 4 guys came, took 4 hours = £400.
(and that's Southern rates)

 

[chicoazul]

I had a Ukrainian come and landscape the garden and pick all the worms out of the lawn by hand, worked through the night without moaning. Paid him £7.20 and put a Ukrainian flag on my insta which I showed him every hour and took videos of him saying I’m his best mate, also for insta. STOP THE WAR.

 

[Sarnia Kevin]

I had a Ukrainian come and landscape the garden and pick all the worms out of the lawn by hand, worked through the night without moaning. Paid him £7.20 and put a Ukrainian flag on my insta which I showed him every hour and took videos of him saying I’m his best mate, also for insta. STOP THE WAR.

Why did you have him pick all the worms out though? It will ruin your lawn because it needs the aeration. Looks like you'll have to pay him another £7.20 to put them all back.

 

[john jako]

So my 95 year old grandmother just paid two lads to cut down all the overgrown bushes etc in her garden that have accumulated over the past couple of years. Two guys came and did the work which took three hours and charged her £950 for it. To me this is astonishing amounts of money, don’t get me wrong it was a lot of manual labour and the garden was a bit of a jungle and very overgrown but still… it was done in three hours.

Bit of simple maths shows she paid the two men a rate of £158 an hour (each).

Now I’m no expert on this stuff but I’m thinking she has been absolutely rinsed ? Or has manual labour become much better paid than it used to be ?

If you got a pic of what it was like beforehand then I have a plan.

Go to the my builder website. Post what work she had done/wanted. Put the pics up and get some quotes. You will get a ballpark figure and work out if she’s been robbed.

 

[tommye]

£500 would be a lot nearer the mark.
Makes me sick hearing about gobshites like that. Unfortunately there seems to be very little she can do to get her money back.





@chicoazul any chance of that fellas number? Got a load of labouring needs doing and he sounds perfect.