About James
James is 67, lives in Hoppers Crossing, and has run this business on his own since 2016. No crew, no subcontractors, no rotating cast of strangers. The person who answers the phone is the person who turns up, does the work and loads the trailer. Visits start at $95 and every price is agreed before he starts.
He is not the fastest gardener in Melbourne’s west and does not want to be. He works at the pace of a bloke who intends to do the edges properly, get the weeds out by the root and stack the trailer so nothing blows off on Heaths Road. Jobs are priced for the work rather than the clock, so his pace costs him time. It does not cost you money.
The habit worth knowing about is the simplest one: everything leaves. Clippings, prunings, the pile behind the shed you added to while he was mowing. It goes on the trailer and then it goes to the tip at Wests Road in Werribee. He does not stuff your green bin full and call that removal.
A decade on the same round
The business started in 2016. Ten years on, most of James’ week is regular customers on a fortnightly round through Hoppers Crossing, Werribee and the surrounding suburbs, with clean-ups and one-off jobs fitted in between the regulars.
What you will not find here is a manufactured story. No awards, no franchise badge, no claims about a passion for horticulture stretching back to childhood. James mows lawns, clears gardens and carts green waste, he does it carefully, and he has done it for the same area long enough that a fair few of his jobs come from the neighbours of existing ones.
He works Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 4:30pm, and Saturday mornings until 2pm. Sundays are his.
If James is on a mower when you ring, leave a message. He calls back the same day.
Who this suits, and who it does not
James suits people who want one reliable person, a fixed price and a garden that stays handled. He suits older residents who want someone patient and unhurried around the place, busy households that never see him because the side gate was open, and landlords who need a rental cleared and tidy between tenants.
He is the wrong choice if you need a crew of three to strip a quarter acre by Thursday, or a landscaper to design and build something new. For mowing, maintenance, pruning, clean-ups and carting green waste away, one thorough bloke with a trailer covers it.