It may sound like some sort of emergency service for dealing with gardening disasters but The Garden Doctors are actually much, much more...

A landscaping and garden maintenance company set up in April 2004 by Kathryn and her business partner Simon, who through an act of serendipity, met on a garden design course: "We both had the same ideas about design and the type of business and level of customer service we wished to provide" says Kathryn about their partnership.

"Simon had just finished university and my son was 18 months old, I was a full time mum with a passion for gardening who desperately wanted a career change. We decided to set up a partnership and bring our different strengths together - rather that setting up independently and working in direct competition".

A wise move it has proved to be, after the first year of designing and creating gardens a number of our clients asked them if they could regularly maintain the gardens for them. Even then though Kathryn and Simon resisted the urge to just jump in, they carried out market research and discovered that there was gap in the local market for professional and reliable garden maintenance.

So as Kathryn explains, "We bought a van and equipment and hired our first member of staff."

What happened next is a story of rapid growth that meant they had to; sell the original van, invest in a larger van, buy more professional equipment and employ another full time gardener to keep up with the demand. They are now entering their third year; with 6 fulltime staff; two gardeners, two landscapers plus Kathryn and Simon. This year they have plans to promote their new landscaping division.

The success of Kathryn and Simon’s business isn't just down to finding a niche in the market though; a lot of hard work goes into the business on a daily basis. Kathryn’s day to day roles include; garden design, plant ordering, stock control, customer liaison, administration, bookkeeping, HR, payroll, marketing, wife and of course being a mum. 

Having the right tools to tackle each of these tasks has definitely helped. “After the first initial 12 months it became a struggle to keep up with all the demands on us. As the business grew we realised there were gaps in the current bookkeeping system - it was taking up far too much of our time” says Kathryn, and this is where Barclays Business Manager comes in. 

"I use the QuickBooks Pro application, the beproStaff HR service and the business planning software in Barclays Business Manager regularly.

I use QuickBooks daily, for estimates, invoices, statements, bookkeeping, cash flow projections, VAT reports, online banking, and reconciling my bank statements on a weekly basis. On a monthly basis I check the reports; for example who are my top 10 clients, what are the most popular services.

I’ve used beproStaff service to create job advertisements, letters to potential interviewees, employment contracts, a company handbook & a Health and safety policy. We have also written a new business plan (in half the time of the first one!) which we intend to revisit over time".

Kathryn admits that she wished she had taken on Barclays Business Manager at week one. "I now feel that I’m in control of the finances, having Business Manger is like having our personal small business manager sat on our desk 24/7! If only it could make the tea as well!"

When asked to sum up why Business Manager is important to her, Kathryn responds by saying that it’s far more efficient than the systems she had before, and that it has saved her on average 4-6 hours per week.

"When you start out you are so carefully about not wasting money, but I can honestly say this is something worth investing in."

It isn't just the Business Manager software that has helped Kathryn though, she credits her relationship with Barclays as one of the reasons they are doing so well. "Barclays listened to us, believed in us and have supported us through each development".

And are there are any tricks to making the most out of Barclays Business Manager? "Well, the training course was excellent - a must for any one taking on the package. During the day I discovered so much more about the value of each application. I’ve been using them all regularly since. Also the day was great for meeting other people with small business and having a chat to them", says Kathryn.

You can't help but think that with Kathryn's obvious enthusiasm and passion for her business, the Garden Doctors are going to be on call, a lot.

Business details
Tel: 01282 857189
Web address: www.thegardendoctors.co.uk