New Member Starting a Tractor Business

[WesternSC]

Hey all! Long time reader first time poster here. I am starting a tractor service for my local area (Santa Cruz County CA) and am in the process of gathering equipment and inquiring about insurance, Licences, Ect. I have worked for a guy in the past doing mowing for fire prevention and made him alot of money so I decided to strike out on my own. So some questions for guys who do this as a business, What insurance provider did you go with?(liability only or full coverage?) Do you bid by the job or bill by the hour? How do you bill the customer once work is complete? My Tractor is an 06 kubota L4400 that I just bought with 150 hours that came with a brand new gearmore 6' tiller for 14,250. Im currently looking for a flail mower, box scraper, dump trailer, and down the road when I can afford it a FEL. My plan is to be able to offer Mowing, Tilling, Grading, Aggregate delivery, and general property clearing. Does this sound like a solid business plan?

Lots of questions Thanks for any help,

Chris

 

[beenthere]

:welcome:

Wish you well. Customers will be the key, and very satisfied customers will grow your business.

Insurance should cover what you can't cover out of your own pocket. Not sure what "full coverage" adds to liability. I'd not do any investment in equipment until learning more about the insurance cost, availability and other permits.

My suggestion, start small and don't try to be a catch-all for every customer's needs. Get just the basic equipment for the least popular, dirtiest jobs that you think you can handle in the short run. Build with more equipment as the money comes back to you (i.e. don't borrow money)s.
Cover yourself with a written contract for the services you provide and get paid at the end of the job. Don't add jobs until the first one is paid for.
Looks like you have the truck, trailer and Kub now.

 

[dmay]

:welcome:

Wish you well. Customers will be the key, and very satisfied customers will grow your business.

I agree, wish you well and will add - right now you have a tractor and tiller, so test your business plan and go find somone that needs something tilled and is willing to pay you.

 

[nickel plate]

Perfect timing for a tiller as there is a lot of garden areas in SC county. Stop by the senior centers and advertize your skills-I would bet there are plenty of them who love to vegetable garden but just can't any more do the inital soil preparation.

 

[jenkinsph]

I bid all of my jobs for a set price for surface work and never work by the hour. Reason being customers know how big a check to write and can agree or dissagree before the project starts. I will say the more experience you get the better idea you will have of what is involved. If I have to stop and check the equipment or take a phone call there is no concern about whether the customer thinks he is being charged for time he isn't getting, all in all it just eliminates problems.

If digging in unknow ground, you should consider a rock clause, as this may require additional heavy equipment and hammers.

 

[WesternSC]

Wow great advice guys thanks! That makes sense about bidding instead of hourly and thats the way Ill go. Has anybody found that having a hydraulic dump trailer is a good money maker for delivering aggregates and grading driveways?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[bc realtor]

Glad to see you taking the leap. As for a trailer or dump truck , I would go for the dump truck guy with the gravel business to start with. It is a large expence that would be best spent on the flail mower or other attachments. trucking is very much a cyote market .
Once again, Great luck on the start up:thumbsup:

 

[LD1]

Yep, definatally bid by the job and NOT by the hour.

But once you get good, you can accuratly estimate how long a job will take you. And you will also know how much per hour you will need to cover your expenses. Once you know these two things, it makes the bidding a lot easier.

But you still wont want to bid by the hour for several reasons. First, If you tell a customer $100 per hour, if they dont flip out, tehy will as "well how long do you think it will take?" If you give them an estimate and you go over....? And if they dont flip out or question the above, at the end of the job, they may question things like that 10 minute refuel and waater break you took, or say that you were taking your time, etc.

By bidding a TOTAL for the entire job, if they agree to it, and you satisfactorly do the job, it doesn't matter how long it takes, there should be no beef.

I cant really answer the insurance question. Find out what your state "requires". And then look at the places you will likely be servicing. Are you targeting average homes, or milti-million dollar houses?

As far as attachments, I know it will be an expensive purchase NOW, but you really need a FEL on that tractor. That will expand your abilities tremendously and you efficency on the other jobs like grading as well.

 

[Dead Horse]

A tractor without a loader is like a bull, with out............. er......... ah..........um.......... "Things".

Really.

Get the loader, first.

 

[Snaker]

A business can be very simple or extremely complex. It can be broken into 3 parts.

1. Providing the product/service that your selling.
Thats the easiest one. Its based on what you already know.

2. Management. This is the one that varies most. Assumed name, Type of business (Sole owner, partnership, LLC, Corporation, etc). Sales tax (that can get crazy), certifications, employee's, If you work outside of your state, etc.
Check with your state. I know MN offers a lot of help in these area's. I relied alot on their "Guide to Starting A Small Business". There may be seminars that you can attend. Insurance, your present agent may offer business insurance. They should be able to set you up based on your description of what you do.
I recommend Quick Books Pro. You can makeup a pretend co. and play. Once you get the hang of it, it can be very helpful. If you have a tax accoutant selected, it might be wise to coordinate your system with theirs.
Very important, allot time to take care of business every day or it can get away from you very quickly.
Get one of those big plasic file crates just for startup and make a file folder for every aspect you can think of. If it does'nt apply, move it to the back, if it does, keep on tackling it.
3. Marketing. Sales might be most important of all. I am certainly no salesman. I had no idea of the time and effort required to get work. I think most people believe they can offer up a service they think is important and the phone will start ringing off the hook. It doesn't.

Go for it and Good Luck.