Gardening Prices! Why!

[Lumpy]

And a person looked down at a product and asked ‘why’. A huge thunderous voice replied ‘why not’

Anything fashionable has its price hiked.

[Atta]

"Made from durable Northern European Redwood
Made in UK by experts
10-year structural guarantee
FSC® Certified"

Made in the UK - means you are paying £8/hr wages (plus costs on top - call that £16/hr), and decent health and safety for the workers etc etc.
10 year guarantee - that will up your material and construction costs (and shipping and storage) as it will be much more solid and much heavier.
FSC Certified - costs money to have (you pay for the symbol), costs money to maintain paper trail, costs money by preventing you buying cheaper timber etc.
Northern European Redwood - how much of that is grown? how long does it take to mature? these will put the prices up vs cheapo undesignated pine.

We've got a pond in the back garden, we have a fence round it. The fence is held up by posts (2"x1" and 2"x4") - the only post that is failing is the new one. New cheap wood is cheaper than old cheap wood was, because it grows faster and has less woodiness as a result. In many locations it doesn't matter.

An interesting exercise would be to buy one of these cheaper planters, fill it full and put big plants in it, leave it outside and see how long it lasts for.

How wood can grow faster?than same wood? (Pine wood for example grows faster than oak ) but how you can make same pine grow faster.?

[Jungle Jane]

The £299 one has the same wood & guarantee but it’s not painted,so are they charging £200 for the paint? Could be because they know what factory the paints from

[bikermike]

How wood can grow faster?than same wood? (Pine wood for example grows faster than oak ) but how you can make same pine grow faster.?

hence why I said "new cheap wood" - I assume it's probably a different species of softwood. But have a look at the cheap wood in [DIY store of choice], and take a piece of wood from say 20 years ago, and look at the difference.

Re paint, don't know, but untreated is several hours less work, no paint to keep in stock, etc.

[Nannysally99]

Wow GG, those prices are really expensive!
But people with money will pay anything won’t they
I’m lucky, my son in law makes them, generally with wood scrounged on building sites
I have three of his, my daughter has nineteen between her patio and garden.
They are beautifully crafted and finished.
He’s in the wrong job I think lol

[Cadalot]

I needed a new door for a brick shed and in the end I bought decking and made the door myself saved a fortune and its likely to outlast me.

[SarrissUK]

There's so much fashion in gardening! Not much on these forums, but I joined a gardening group on Facebook where the members were dying to outshine each other with what brand of tools they had, down to the secateurs. It went quiet when I said I'd used my £3 secateurs from Asda for two or three years now and they're as good as new.

Some people define their personal worth and value to society by how well they've done for themselves. It's amazing how much people prefer to show how much they can SPEND, so that it's easy for others to see how much they're worth. Money in the bank isn't so visible is it?

I don't mind buying something that is expensive, if I know I get good quality, and I do. But more often I shop around and find something for less money and almost always just as good quality. But very, very rarely is it fashion

[Scarlet]

Hmm, I'm coming from a different angle....yes some of these prices are inflated. But, have you included the cost of the shop upkeep/ paying the staff salaries/ electric/business tax/ advertising/ computers/software/ vat on top? sorry the list goes on. It all has to be included.

Some people can do a good DIY job at home. There's others that can't - they would often prefer to go and do something that enables them to pay someone else to do something that they would hate spending time on.

I make cakes and couldn't do it if there were people that wouldn't pay a reasonable hourly rate.
You can buy a cake off the shelf in @sda for £15. I couldn't make a cake in an 4 hours! Especially "special cakes" they can take 2 or 3 days. I hate the emails that come in and say..."I want a cake that serves 60 people with some decoration suitable for a gardener with some flowers and something like a shed and tools modelled - not too expensive" " You can make a cake at home for a tenner, stick it on a plate and cover it in buttercream, yes it's a cake and it probably tastes good.... but you often pay for what you get.

[Scarlet]

There's so much fashion in gardening! Not much on these forums, but I joined a gardening group on Facebook where the members were dying to outshine each other with what brand of tools they had, down to the secateurs. It went quiet when I said I'd used my £3 secateurs from Asda for two or three years now and they're as good as new

Sorry....Felcos for me. I think I paid something around £40. Nearly 20 years ago. They are fabulous, and I would buy another pair in a heartbeat if I lost them.

[rary]

Like gardening girl has pointed out she thinks the cost is too high and surprise surprise I agree with her, irispective what price is put on goods it is relevant to what companies can screw out of the customer, as an example if you go to other country's you can purchase a lot of goods cheaper than what is charged in Britain, and yes I know some things might be more expensive, but compare the different prices between aldi and lidl and the British owned companies

[veggiechicken]

Have any of you ever paid what you know is silly money for something but have done it anyway for ease or speed or whatever other reason?

I've spent "silly money" on things when I really like them - and if I like them, the money isn't "silly". Its only "silly" if you buy things you don't want.
I'm happy to pay more for craftmanship and individuality and I'd rather buy fewer things of good quality than lots of cheap tat.
As ever, each to their own!

[nickdub]

I don't think you can really say X is expensive in abstract - for people with a lot of money and not much time X might be cheap enough, for other people not.

In the end it comes down to do you want something enough to pay the money someone-else is selling it for ?

Personally I quite like making things, so have loads of tools, I'm also very mean and old-fashioned - so I gather up free materials and build my own sheds - they probably cost quite a bit in the end still, but will last at least 50 years, may be more - so unless I break a few world records, I shan't need to re-do them :-)

[Scarlet]

I'm rubbish at DIY, mostly cos I don't enjoy it
But I needed a bench for my metalwork. All the jewellery benches online are pricey and look flimsy...so I've been looking out for something that I could use as an alternative that was solid and also had storage.

I finally found a £20 desk on a local buy and sell forum..half painted in pink. It cost me another £20 for some extra wood to make the top higher. I then had to buy in food and beer and had to cook my brother dinner to make up my design I'm not sure I had a bargain at the end
But I love it!

[Babru]

£500 seems a heck of a price for a wooden planter. If it was made of stone and would last forever I could see the point.

Re secateurs, I seem to lose mine so often I would be scared to pay £40. There must be a stash of my secateurs somewhere, all piled up with the missing teaspoons and socks.

[bario1]

^^ The thing is, once you've paid £40 for them, you make sure you don't lose them! ^^