Bees for hire? Looking for some advise

[Wingy]

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

 

[The Poot]

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

My advice would be to steer clear of it. What do you think the relationship would be like if, for whatever reason, the honey crop is poor, or insufficient to meet his aspirations?

 

[Anduril]

I would steer clear, Otherwise how many weeks per hive. Hives remain your property along with access. Hire of supers as well because you will make a loss yourself, each super per hive could be used by you with honey for you to sell which are now being diverted into this enterprise. Queen replacements to add on, sugar for autumn feed and treatment. Your salary and travel per mile. Basically you get no real benefit and I can see why the others pulled out.
I cannot remember a website I used where people asked for hives to be placed on their land, which was only 1 jar of honey per hive, you did get some who wanted to be beekeepers and used you to see what it was like. Just found it, a website called urban bees.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Hi wingy that’s interesting @Newbeeneil might be able to help.
Is it local ?I was going to set up hives on a fruit farm but after trying to work out the cost hourly rate £25 and travel costs etc it wasn’t viable.

Is it a farm are they planting crops to aid honey crops ?
wits a hard one to work out and there isn’t really any benefits to you .

 

[Wingy]

Hi wingy that’s interesting @Newbeeneil might be able to help.
Is it local ?I was going to set up hives on a fruit farm but after trying to work out the cost hourly rate £25 and travel costs etc it wasn’t viable.

Is it a farm are they planting crops to aid honey crops ?
wits a hard one to work out and there isn’t really any benefits to you .

The area in question is reasonably local to me, approx 5 miles away. It is an industrial estate but surrounded by greenery, woodland and gardens (I would have to have a prior look to see what the forage opportunities are to sustain 10 hives)

I do have an agreement with a local farmer where I place about 15-20 hives on OSR at various locations he then lets me over winter them at his home farm site where they are secure. He gets the pollination service and half dozen jars of honey.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hi wingy that’s interesting @Newbeeneil might be able to help

it's not an unfamiliar scenario, loads of people engage in similar schemes - you just need some advice on pricing , letting the 'client' know exactly what to expect, setting the ground rules and recording a formal agreement between you both.

 

[Newbeeneil]

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

I have a spreadsheet with all that info priced if you want to pm me. It will be the most expensive honey he’ll ever have tho.

 

[Wingy]

I have a spreadsheet with all that info priced if you want to pm me. It will be the most expensive honey he’ll ever have tho.

PM sent thanks

 

[Anduril]

It will be the most expensive honey he’ll ever have tho.

As expected

 

[Curly green finger's]

I have a spreadsheet with all that info priced if you want to pm me. It will be the most expensive honey he’ll ever have tho.

That’s why I left the fruit farm it worked out to be to expensive.

 

[Curly green finger's]

it's not an unfamiliar scenario, loads of people engage in similar schemes - you just need some advice on pricing , letting the 'client' know exactly what to expect, setting the ground rules and recording a for4mal agreement between you bot.

Do the bfa have similar schemes prices to charge etc?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

That’s why I left the fruit farm it worked out to be to expensive.

they're supposed to pay you - not vice versa!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Do the bfa have similar schemes prices to charge etc?

not that I know of, although they will advise on/coordinate pollination contracts

 

[ericbeaumont]

hire up to 10 hives to place on his land, pay someone to look after them, extract, jar and give him the honey ... he has no interest in doing anything with the bees himself but wants the honey as cheap as possible

Why does he want such a significant amount of honey? To sell or give away? Seems odd, but maybe he has money to burn or a fantasy.

One year I delivered 10 colonies to a customer, a retired accountant who had bought the grand house to restore & farmland to plant an orchard, and had plans to keep bees; all this to resurrect his Greek boyhood working the family farm.

His PA had bought 10 truly awful Chinese Nationals on Amazon which were filled (partially) with bees when I drove into the field; first thing I saw when I got out was the remains of a swarm in the hedge. 'You should have seen it, it was huge!' he said proudly, as we ran across two fields after it. He had no idea, no training, a couple of farm hands who were just as clueless, but he did have money and a dream. When I left he had 20 colonies and a bit more reality.

Contract rate I charge in London is £45-60/hr to a schedule, which is variable. Others charge a flat rate per colony per year; bottling was £3/jar delivered (before jar prices shot up) and label design can be basic or an earner, depending on your ability.

a website called urban bees

Urban Bees is Brian McCallum & Alison Benjamin and they do good work in London with corporates, with the aim to increase awareness and improve forage. I don't believe they offer back garden hives for a pound of honey; maybe there's more than one Urban Bees?

 

[RogerIvy]

I have a spreadsheet with all that info priced if you want to pm me. It will be the most expensive honey he’ll ever have tho.

Care to share some costs here. I’m wondering how much to pay myself

 

[Newbeeneil]

Care to share some costs here. I’m wondering how much to pay myself

That is one thing I don’t know. I just guess what labour rate I put in the spreadsheet depending how I feel. It varies between £20-35/ hr depending if I like the customer and what they can afford!

 

[Wilco]

Give a couple of options - one for him to buy the kit and pay for you to look after the bees, with a fee for jarring the honey, per jar (fee for this reflecting cost of jars plus the time to extract and jar) . The second if you own and manage the bees but he buys the honey at the rate you specify (the rate you usually charge per jar).

 

[Anduril]

That is one thing I don’t know. I just guess what labour rate I put in the spreadsheet depending how I feel. It varies between £20-35/ hr depending if I like the customer and what they can afford!

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

 

[ericbeaumont]

£35 per hour for a Master beekeeper

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.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

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

I thought that 'master' beekeepers were £35.00 for a bubble pack of three