Good acct wants me to be their "personal gardener"...pricing??

[GarPA]

one of my better customers ( I do all the landscaping & maintenance work at both his businesses and everything at his home except for mowing (neighbor kid with a Deere does it...that was the arrangement b4 i got involved so its fine with me)...their residence is gorgeous and requires about 8 hours a month of "gardening"(feed that annuals, snip a few plants, dead head, tweak here tweak there)Wife has bad hips and cant bend over at all... My hidden billable rates vary anywhere between 35$ and $55 per hour depending on a job and the equipment involved. Their home is only a half block from mine...no truck involved travel time etc. So on one hand I'm thinking $35 an hour to pour a little MirGrow on some annuals, snip a twig here and there seems a bit pricey given I will do this work when I have a free hour or 2 each week...In no way do I low ball...infact my prices are a bit higher than most others, but the quality work cannot be beat ...I'll bet you'll tell me my time is worth no less than "x" regardless of who the customer is but on this one I'm having trouble with that theory ..I'd appreciate your 2 cents on this one..thanks

[geogunn]

it sounds to me that if you have the time, $35/hr should be ok based on your situation.

try to garden when you can't be mowing.

go for it.

GEO

[Dennis E.]

I've had a couple like that in years past. They turned out to be a real PITA.
It evolved from throwing a little fertilizer and doing some pruning into the "you are my personal gardner and you will obey me and grant me my every wish" situation. The money was good but when it got to the point of wanting to dominate my time I got out.
Proceed with caution.;)

[David Haggerty]

$35-$55 depending on what's involved seems OK.
You don't want to price it so low you resent going over there.
It doesn't sound like they want the cheapest gardener, sounds like they want the best one.
The actual hours you bill won't be that much. You'll be thinking about it more than the time you spend working on it.

Dave