Brush hogging what to charge per hour?

[AlanB]

I'll tell you what I struggle with in these discussions. It would seem that the price should be based on:

Price of tractor divided by life expectancy of tractor = $/hr cost of tractor
Price of maintenance divided by hours between maint = $/hr cost of maint
Price of mower divided by life expectancy of mower = $/hr cost of mower
Price of mower maintenance divided by hours between maint = $/hr cost of mwr maint
Price of tank of fuel divided by hours of operation on a tank = $/hr cost of fuel
All above same for truck and trailer = $/hr cost of transportation
Annual price for insurance divided by hours worked in a year = $/hr insurance cost

Sum of above would be fixed cost. I think that it will vary significantly based on the equipment that you use.

Now, take the market price for the jobs in your area. The difference is going to be what you need to decide if you can live with. Out of that difference you have to both earn a living and save for catastrophic losses that wouldn't be included in typical "maintenance." My dad once ran over an old box springs hidden in a field (only the metal remained). That became my mental image of catastrophic loss. It took a lot of time and material to get the bushhog back in order after that.


Now, I guess that is all pretty obvious. The hard thing to me is to estimate those life expectancies. I think some discussions with dealers and mechanics would be a good place to start.

All that too considered, you have to decide if you are in the game or not.

You also need to realize that you are not going to want to be far from the "going rate"

Too cheap and the other guys know something you dont, too expensive and you will not get work.

Although after you analyze it all well, and realize that what the market will bear, is not enough to equal your costs.. Welcome to the glorius world of the small businessman.

 

[have_blue]

I'll tell you what I struggle with in these discussions. It would seem that the price should be based on:

Price of tractor divided by life expectancy of tractor = $/hr cost of tractor
Price of maintenance divided by hours between maint = $/hr cost of maint
Price of mower divided by life expectancy of mower = $/hr cost of mower
Price of mower maintenance divided by hours between maint = $/hr cost of mwr maint
Price of tank of fuel divided by hours of operation on a tank = $/hr cost of fuel
All above same for truck and trailer = $/hr cost of transportation
Annual price for insurance divided by hours worked in a year = $/hr insurance cost

Sum of above would be fixed cost. I think that it will vary significantly based on the equipment that you use.

Well, yea, but somewhere in there your salary should be figured in. What's it worth for you to sit on a rough, noisy, hot tractor for an hour. I'm going to say $30 per hour for me, plus 1 dollar per hour per HP for the tractor.

 

[MarkV]

I am sure it is different everywhere but you would never get $100 per hr with a 6' mower here. There are actually many in the area that will mow for $25 per hr. Of course it is old equipment, brakes down often and they are not very dependable. That does not seem to matter to the owners as long as the pasture gets mowed once a year.

MarkV

 

[have_blue]

I am sure it is different everywhere but you would never get $100 per hr with a 6' mower here.
MarkV

My price would come to 30+46=$76 an hour for me and my 6 foot rig. To be honest, very few prople around here would pay even that, much less $100. And to be more honest, I'm glad, beause I couldn't turn it down.

 

[MotorSeven]

I do a little here & there. 40 horse w/6 foot hog. Depending on the job/distance to travel i charge $35-45 an hr. Most in this area charge less than $65 an hr, $100 is too much in my county. Heck i can hire a dozer w/competent operator for $50hr! I guess it all depends on where you are & the demand factor.

RD

 

[Rowdius]

I always look at the job before I quote a price, and then in my head I shoot for about $35 an hour for my 34hp machine. Right now I'm stuck with a 4' shredder, so try to quote a fair price for that as well. Of course, I have guessed wrong and it took eight hours instead of two, and had to eat those jobs.

I've backed away from the tractor work for hire, meaning that I do not actively try to sell myself, but I'm always getting someone one wanting to hire me to do something. The first part of this month I finished up a $400 job when the guy next door asked me to quote him a price to move a pile of dirt and smooth his driveway up. That extra $60 job paid my overhead for the day, which was really nice. Either way, most months my tractor makes it own payment.

 

[Eagleview]

I have a $100K 100hp 4X4 tractor with a hydraulic grapple and 8' flail mower . I pick up all the junk with the grapple and put it in a pile . I take great pride in what i do . When i tell them i charge $100 per hour they tell me i'm too dear , they can get it done for $60 ph . I say yes and he has a $2K 45hp tractor , a $500 5' slasher , no rego or insurance , will mow around everything , will take 3 times as long and leave the place looking like crap and if he hurts himself or someone else you will loose your house . But all they hear is the $60 price . But once ive been on a job they never get anyone else and often theres a carton of beer waiting for me at the end of the day and a smile . What i'm saying is you must prove yourself and your tractor to be worth the top $ , it's a long road but word of mouth will keep you in work long after the cheapies have dissapeared . Go around to all the real estate places and make yourself known . If your going to be working close to buildings and people buy a flail mower as car/house windows are just sport to a rotary slasher .

 

[CCWKen]

Yikes! Some of you guys would be pricing yourself out of the market around here. It's generally by the acre and depends on trees--More trees, higher price. I sure wouldn't pay someone $100/hr. Might get some Yahoo cuttin' in creeper gear. Going rate around here is $30-35 per acre + transit. You can rent a tractor and cutter for about $160/day (8hrs. meter time). I can also get a day-laborer for around $50 to drive it all day. Less if he's unskilled.

You and your tractor may be valuable but you're not THAT valuable.

I suggest you check with your local rental merchants. Price their rental fee for a day and give yourself a fair wage on top of that. Their rates include all overhead.

 

[Eagleview]

Anyone working for $30-$35 has not yet worked out it is costing him that much and more to do the job . Fuel , oil , grease , blades , tyres , wear and tear , damage caused by junk lying in the grass that was not supposed to be there , interest on loans , registration , insurance , depreciation , yellow pages adds , newspaper adds , buisness cards , telephone bills , TAX , and oh yeah something left over to put in the bank as we don't just do it for fun , we want to be able to feed our kids and not have to work till were 90 . (By the way , a carton of beer is $38 )

 

[Rowdius]

Anyone working for $30-$35 has not yet worked out it is costing him that much and more to do the job . Fuel , oil , grease , blades , tyres , wear and tear , damage caused by junk lying in the grass that was not supposed to be there , interest on loans , registration , insurance , depreciation , yellow pages adds , newspaper adds , buisness cards , telephone bills , TAX , and oh yeah something left over to put in the bank as we don't just do it for fun , we want to be able to feed our kids and not have to work till were 90 . (By the way , a carton of beer is $38 )

Actually, I have, and I do make a profit on $35 an hour, but it helps that the custom tractor work is only part of the income here. While it might not sound tractor related to mention the goat and eggs sales, I'd not be doing them so efficently without the tractor. But for straight custom tractor work costs:

Running one hour on my meter costs me:
$1.60 in diesel (This is from my new bulk load I bought at $2.25 gallon, this figure was quite higher a few months ago.)
$1.95 in filters/oil (doing serivce my self. The actual price is $0.95 an hour, but I throw an extra dollar an hour into the kitty to cover things like hoses or tires that may get torn up down the road. No, if I manage to run off a cliff this will not cover the costs.)
$0.00 for advertising. I no longer run ads in the paper, because I am getting enough work to suit me at the moment. When I was, the ad was costing about $50 a month, which with the amount of work I average worked out to about $1.50 an hour
$13.25 for the tractor loan/interest based on the average amount of work I do a month.

Since I'm no longer actively seeking work with the tractor, I'm not paying for insurance. Yes, that is a big, big, big gamble, and if I start taking any more work I'll probably sign back up. It is also part of the reason I am very picky about the jobs I take. If I was still keeping insurance it would work out to about $2.20 an hour for the amount of work I'm doing off farm now.

So, I would be making about $14 before tax an hour if I were still running ads and insurance at the current level I am working. (This number would go up of course, if I were doing more work, which would make the cost per hour of the insurance, ads and tractor go down.)

It is a bit harder for me to isolate the costs for the truck and trailer when I am using them for the custom tractor work, since they actually get used more around the farm than for hauling the tractor, but then again, since I am accounting for the full cost of the tractor on the custom farm work, it probably more than balances out.

Is all of this much money at all? No. But then again, I've made a lot less than $14 a hour running someone else's tractor on someone else's schedule; so as a side job to go with my "real" job and the farm income, it works.