Bees for hire? Looking for some advise

[Curly green finger's]

If you include time to travel to the site and return, that fee is not enough, unless you're generous enough to travel for nothing.

I charge £25 for travel daily ontop of my hourly rate for this area .
40 mile round trip

 

[ericbeaumont]

master beekeeper

No such thing exists, really. We're all permanent apprentices.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

No such thing exists, really. We're all permanent apprentices.

ah but some have a sustificit!
And a badge!!

 

[Newbeeneil]

If you include time to travel to the site and return, that fee is not enough, unless you're generous enough to travel for nothing.

I feel that getting paid £35/hr for driving around nice country lanes is adequate for my hobby.

 

[ericbeaumont]

I feel that getting paid £35/hr for driving around nice country lanes is adequate for my hobby.

How much is left for the bee work?

 

[Newbeeneil]

How much is left for the bee work?

Enough for a hobby.

 

[Erichalfbee]

hourly rate for this area .

Which is? Help the chap out.

 

[Peter Mason]

Hi something new to me here so wondering if anyone is familiar with this system or can offer any advise costings, what to charge etc.
So a person near where I live and keep my bees has approached our BBKA branch and I’ve been asked to contact them.
Basically he said he was looking to hire up to 10 hives to place on his land, pay someone to look after them, extract, jar and give him the honey. He said he had a company (not named) lined up to provide this service but it has fallen through (didn’t say why it had fallen through).
This is something I could do but have no idea what to charge. It seems (and I may be doing a dis-justice) that he has no interest in doing anything with the bees himself but wants the honey as cheap as possible?
So my thought (for when I meet him)
Cost of hire per hive & colony ?
Cost of travel to and from location ?
Cost per hour for inspections etc ?
How long to do a thorough inspection ?
Cost of jars ?
Cost of electric and use of extractor ?
Cost per hour extracting, jarring etc ?
OR
Do the work and sell him the honey at a discount that covers my costs and some.
Any advice appreciated

Surely the response to this is simple and straightforward.
The beekeeper does all the hard work and some else gets all the honey. Hourly pay does not work because the honey would be sold at a rate in excess of what the beekeeper was paid. I think that is the bottom line

 

[Curly green finger's]

Which is? Help the chap out.

£25 per hour

 

[Wingy]

Well here’s an update
Prior to posting here looking for advice I had said (via email contact) options were
1) I place the hives and do the work then sell him whatever honey is harvested at a reasonable rate.
2) for my time I would look for £10/hour on a basis of 30minutes on each hive every 5-7 days. Plus travel, hive & colony hire, jars, electric & extractor use, time for extracting & jarring. He was to take out PLI and sign a contract for my indemnity.
He has never responded
I have since done some research
The site is an industrial site with various companies based there. It’s a concrete jungle surrounded by grass fields with hedgerows. I know bees are resourceful but the area does not look the best.
The person in question seems to have involvement with everything on the site and managing director of numerous companies. Still have no idea what he wants to achieve but if for no other reason other than lack of communication I’m going to leave this one

 

[Newbeeneil]

Well here’s an update
Prior to posting here looking for advice I had said (via email contact) options were
1) I place the hives and do the work then sell him whatever honey is harvested at a reasonable rate.
2) for my time I would look for £10/hour on a basis of 30minutes on each hive every 5-7 days. Plus travel, hive & colony hire, jars, electric & extractor use, time for extracting & jarring. He was to take out PLI and sign a contract for my indemnity.
He has never responded
I have since done some research
The site is an industrial site with various companies based there. It’s a concrete jungle surrounded by grass fields with hedgerows. I know bees are resourceful but the area does not look the best.
The person in question seems to have involvement with everything on the site and managing director of numerous companies. Still have no idea what he wants to achieve but if for no other reason other than lack of communication I’m going to leave this one

I would say you were underselling yourself at £10 anyway so if he’s shunned you at those rates I would leave well alone.

 

[ericbeaumont]

Still have no idea what he wants to achieve

Many businesses or organisations of this sort don't, beyond gaining green credibility or with a vague aim to help 'save the bees'. Even worse, some of ours have no idea what to do with the honey.

If this scheme disappears then so be it, but a few projects like this can improve your income and their knowledge, and other ways to earn - extraction demo, training staff to take up beekeeping - can be interesting. Would need paperwork in order, and you may not have the time.

Agree with Neil: £10 is way too low and the MD may have seen you as unprofessional or inexperienced. If you give a high figure they either pay it without question, try and knock it back, or decline. In this case, a £30-40 rate may have got you the job.

 

[Anduril]

£10 per hour is below the national living wage. The reasonable rate for selling the honey would've had to be wholesale price anyway & I'd say he hasn't come back to you due to PLI & indemnity.

 

[madasafish]

I used to refuse to get out of bed for less than £500/day....

 

[Wilco]

I used to refuse to get out of bed for less than £500/day....

I'd be bedbound.

 

[JamezF]

I'd be bedbound.

So it's not all bad?

James

 

[Hull Bees]

I wouldn't go near it. I doubt the guy will know how much work managing 10 hives actually is or that the number will significantly increase with swarm control measures requiring more equipment and work.
I've spoken to a firm who operate this kind of scheme a few times before, Plan Bee, and came away with the impression they didn't appreciate how much work was involved or their apiaries must be losing a lot of swarms.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I wouldn't go near it. I doubt the guy will know how much work managing 10 hives actually is or that the number will significantly increase with swarm control measures requiring more equipment and work.
I've spoken to a firm who operate this kind of scheme a few times before, Plan Bee, and came away with the impression they didn't appreciate how much work was involved or their apiaries must be losing a lot of swarms.

I took over from a Plan Bee installation when the client said they seemed to have abandoned the site and he didn’t feel they were value for money. (I was charging almost twice the amount but he loved knowing I was there weekly and giving him monthly updates)
I found out subsequently that the PlanBee keeper had a vast area to look after.

 

[Anduril]

I took over from a Plan Bee installation when the client said they seemed to have abandoned the site and he didn’t feel they were value for money. (I was charging almost twice the amount but he loved knowing I was there weekly and giving him monthly updates)
I found out subsequently that the PlanBee keeper had a vast area to look after.

Just looked at them at Companies House, 12 officers and 10 resignations.

 

[Moobee]

This should get a few responses
£20 per hour for a novice beekeeper.
£35 per hour for a Master beekeeper.

A novice might take twice as long to inspect a hive though....