The Sell
“You’re drastically undercharging” my mate says; “there’s blokes out there charging twice that who mow grass and hack badly at shrubs!”
They’re right of course. The official PGG professional gardeners wage brackets have me well below what I should be asking for. There is no official professional recommended wage listing for Ireland, that I can find, merely a number of independent surveys that list wages from anything between €55k a year to €18k! However. Is there more to self-employed hort wages than meets the eye? I think so. Possibly driven by my sex, my age and my imposter syndrome.
I am currently charging the most I’ve ever earned and shat my pants quoting it! It’s a flat rate, I’m not charging more for garden/planting plans/documents/etc. Here’s why. I’m not driven by money. I’ve never had it and as a result have built my life around a fairly frugal dynamic. I don’t travel, I don’t go on holiday, I don’t often buy new clothes, I’m not interested in buying new shit, I live mostly within a twenty mile radius. I occasionally go for a pint or buy a nice ice-cream. The only thing I want money for is for seeing my kid/grandkid once a year and doing something nice. If my rent ever changes I’ll be fucked and at that point will have to up my charges, which will probably lead to me not having work and ending up on the dole anyway.
And there is the line. I know a lot of people argue it’s “not a thing”, BUT, if a self-employed gardener who is an almost fifty year old woman rocks up to price a job and a fifty year old man comes round and they’re both charging the same, the fifty year old bloke will be taken on. He will be seen as being at the peak of his knowledge and ability even if the woman has an excellent CV, the bloke will have 80 percent of the woman’s knowledge but that will be overlooked. A fifty year old woman in manual work is, even subconsciously, seen as a liability; coming to the end of her physical capability, will probably be hard to work with, will end up costing the business, will injure quickly, won’t have the same stamina… blah blah blah… As a result the only way a female self-employed gardener can employ themselves is to under-cut the blokes. Because, the bottom line speaks more powerfully than a CV.
So. I’ve priced myself at a point where I feel confident it will give me a chance to be considered. The jobs I take on are nice jobs, I’m choosey, they’re rewarding and creative and give me a chance to actually flex my skill, to play, to feel like I have some agency. I have prioritised job satisfaction over financial gain. Yes I’m more than likely underselling myself but really, we’ll all be dead soon and I can’t be arsed clamouring for some bullshit capitalistic fantasy! We could always do with “more money”… but right now, just about enough will do.
