Gardener takes my tools and equipment without asking

All of my tools are locked awayAli08. I didn’t think some idiot would try and use a wheelbarrow with a dud wheel. As I said a big section of my ceiling that has fallen in which the builder was looking at was of greater concern.

I don’t mind paying more for a top notch gardener, but if you read my previous post that is not what I want, nor what they want. Why bother with a large unruly garden when you can do some tiny pocket handkerchief easy garden? I just need grass cutting and hedging which these two guys do fine inexperienced as they are.

If they are doing gardening for you then why not use your tools? Unless they have a company van to bring all they need to do the job!
Can't you pop out to the shed, you know when it is not raining, and stick a polite notice to your barrow to say it needs repairs so please do not use!
If you would like them to stop using certain tools, then lock them away somewhere!!
As for cleaners, well I used to be a 'keyhole cleaner' where I'd have keys to customers homes and I'd go to their houses and use their cleaning stuff. If the hoover was full, I'd take the initiative and empty it. If they needed new cloths or more cleaning stuff, I'd leave a note to say so. It wasn't rocket science!
Oh, and I didn't then & nor do I now drive, so carrying around a whole tonne of cleaning supplies and hoover would have been impossible!!!
If you expected the gardeners to come fully equipped you should have told them so, but I expect that would cost you more money!!

It was tipping with rain and I had the builder coming in to give me a quote to repair a fallen ceiling in the dining room,so using my wheelbarrow awaiting repair did not have top priority. It was by chance I noticed the gardeners using it when the builder arrived and wondered why the gardeners hadn’t asked. Most on here don’t think they needed to anyway!

Btw I do not spy on the gardeners. I have nearly an acre of garden and most of the time I can’t see them anyway apart from being busy working. I leave them to get on with it. Tbh I don’t need a gardener but a groundsman to do the grass and cut hedges. I do the weeding and planting etc myself so I don’t want to be paying top rate. I asked these gardeners to clear Ivy and brambles growing on one corner of the tennis court and put them in the wood. It is much easier to pile them on a sheet and carry them that way especially if there are 2 of you, than use a small wonky wheelbarrow over rough terrain dropping half the load on the way and leaving a mess. I leave a ground sheet out for this purpose.

I have another very hard working groundsman who started up last year, but unfortunately can now only come once a month and asks the same rate. He has cut down the wrong thing occasionally but as I was self isolating (during lockdown) I could hardly complain. I was just sorry I couldn’t be outside to teach him. I pay extra for any fuel he uses. He is a gem. The grass, however, grew too quickly to only be cut once a month and was too much for me so I took the other guy on (another start up) for that reason, but now he brings someone he has employed with him. They come once a fortnight. The grass doesn’t need cutting now but if I have them for other simple jobs I can keep them going through the winter as well as my gem guy so I have cover next summer.

I wish I could afford a gardener he could use anything and everything!

My mother in laws gardener's bring their own equipment lawn mowers, shears, secateurs in a van they charge £20 to cut the grass then negotiate any other jobs. I think it's wrong to pay and supply the equipment as well!!

To be honest if I were working in someone's house it would never occur to me to ask before using their hoover or broom.

If I gardened for others (perish the thought!) I would assume that it was all right to use their gardening tools. Admittedly, I am not stupid enough to try to use a wheelbarrow with a dud wheel!

I mean look at it from the garderner's point of view - you are not using the tools, as you are employing him to do your gardening, so why should he not use them?

Tidy up your tool-shed before the gardener comes the next time and lock anything up that you don't want him using.

I don't understand why you haven't just politely said to them when they first arrived that you didn't want them to either use your tools without asking first or pointing out that the wheelbarrow can't be used because it is waiting a repair and why , instead of standing there watching them and getting annoyed, that you haven't called out to them to ask them to stop using the wheelbarrow!
The majority of gardeners will bring their own tools and if they need to use yours, for whatever reason, will ask permission first.
It's all about communication - why would you expect them to be mind readers?

Communication is key, you simply need to let them know the crux of what you’ve posted here !

I think it depends on the company. When we had a lawn company for my parents house, we just expected a lawn company to have their own mowers and edging tools!! You wouldn't expect to have to provide scissors and combs for a mobile hairdresser....

Well said Scones!

Don't let the fear of seeming to be a "curmudgeonly person" stop you speaking up calmly and courteously to your gardener about all this. The fear of 'what others will think' can get in the way of being who we are - of course we learn from others, and take their ideas into account, and want to be acceptable in the society we live in. However in the end this doesn't have to stop us speaking up for ourselves, or on behalf of others. So long as you are reflective and open to learn - be the person you want to be, and say what you need to, in a rational and respectful way.

I wouldn’t mind. I would be glad to have some help! My parent’s gardener used to bring some of his own tools but also used some that were in the garage, he didn’t bring his own electrical items. Worked well for everyone.

User7777

I noticed you stated you have a large garden. How large is it for 15 pounds an hour. I had to pay 40 pounds for my small garden

Did you mean me user7777?
The garden is large and includes raised veg beds and poly tunnel. He comes for a full day 8 hrs, once a month.
We also have someone to do woodland management. He has a chainsaw licence which the gardener doesn’t have. The woodsman charges £16 per hour. It’s just gone up from £15. As I’ve said, I pay for 8 hours and that includes their breaks.

The odd times we use a gardener ( when ill etc) they bring their own tools, but I would have no objection to them using ours.
Maybe they really needed your wheelbarrow that day.

I think it depends if your using a gardening business as described above by Scones or a jobbing gardener
My Dad who was an excellent gardener did this in his retirement he was obviously much cheaper than a business gardener with their own van and tools

Dad used his bike to get around so used his ‘customers’ tools a business with a van would carry their own tools

It’s the same for a cleaner I have been a cleaner when the children were small I used the customers cleaning materials however if I was working for a cleaning company or owned my own cleaning company I would use my own items

I noticed you stated you have a large garden. How large is it for 15 pounds an hour. I had to pay 40 pounds for my small garden

I live in Cornwall and the going rate is £15 an hour. I started to need a gardener early this year, advertised, and saw three. All charged £15 per hour. Extra charge if they took cuttings etc away. I didn’t need any taking away as I compost very thing. All had their own tools.

I do pay the one I set on extra if he uses a lot of fuel. He’s forgotten some tools occasionally so uses ours. On his first day I showed him where the tools were in case he needed them. If I hadn’t have shown him I would have expected him to ask first.

He’s fully insured too.

If you had a cleaner, you’d show them where the hoover etc was so they didn’t have to go hunting for it. Same applies to a gardener. If you are happy for them to use your tools and barrows tell them before hand.

25Avalon

Dh’s tools are not an issue as he puts them away safe. Gardeners here are very difficult to find and they all want £20 per hour. This guy set up in the summer at £15 and I grabbed him to cut the grass as I had no one else. Now he has employed another guy and charges £30 an hour for the 2 of them.

If I have the builders in they don’t use my tools or wheelbarrows so why do gardeners do it?

I was a self employed gardener. Before I retired several years ago I was charging £20 an hour - the going rate. I was insured, ran a van and provided all my own tools. I never borrowed a client's tools for fear of breaking them and mostly because I liked using my own, safe, well-maintained tools.

Good gardeners have packed diaries and don't need to take on work at less than the going rate.

This guy is a lawns man and I think you're right to ask him to just mow in future, but do ask if he has insurance. Cheap often means no insurance. If he's uninsured then when his mower throws a stone through your French doors you're going to be footing the bill yourself or attempting to get him to pay.

All that said, I feel sorry for the chap, working hard there in the pouring rain for 3/4 pay. He probably thought he was being resourceful and that nobody would mind at all if he borrowed a wonky wheelbarrow. He wouldn't have thought he was doing any wrong....especially as he was doing it in full sight of the lady of the house who he could see following his every move from her sitting room window.

Elizabeth27 I didn’t want to say anything until I found out what other GNetters thought. Since most say it is ok for gardeners to use your tools and equipment even without asking then I shall say nothing to him.

They haven’t actually done a very good job today tbh, maybe down to the terrible weather. I’ll just stick to them cutting the grass I guess.

If you don not say anything how can he know it is a problem.

When I started doing my 2 gardening jobs I took all my own tools but both customers said oh no, you don’t have to bring all that But I still take all my small tools and my loppers and broom.

I don’t have a gardener but if I did I would expect them to use my tools and put them back where they got them from same if you have a cleaner

We don't have a gardener but if we did I don't see why they shouldn't use our gardening tools. That's what they're there for, to do our garden. If someone is just starting up a gardening business I imagine it would cost them quite a bit to buy all their own equipment. And you're getting it done for 75% of the going rate!

The thing is I didn’t mention the wheelbarrow as I didn’t think anyone would take it with a flat tyre. When they did I was not peeved enough to go out in the pouring down rain. It was their choice to garden in the rain which a lot of gardeners do to get the money. I wouldn’t have minded if they hadn’t come.

Anyway the general consensus on here seems it is quite reasonable for gardeners to take your tools and equipment and use them without asking, and IABU to mind when they do.

Me too Lucca. Seems very strange. If I had a gardener I would expect he/she to use the tools in situ. Obviously I would expect them not to be removed. If there was a particular tool that I didn’t want used I would put it safely away or ask the gardener not to use it.