Brush hogging what to charge per hour?

[Eagleview]

Please don't take this the wrong way but , you have only a portion of what i listed as real costs , including insurance and your down too $14 before tax . The kid at Macca's with the paper hat on his head gets that . As for insurance , i think people should check the opperators details which i offer my clients . So many things can go wrong , a spark from a blade hitting a stone can cause a wildfire resulting in millions of dollars damage and possible loss of life . A thrown object can cause serious damage , injury and possible loss of life . Running over a Telecomunications hat can cause downtime of internet services , shut down ATM's ,TAB's etc and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in claims , $14 wont cover it . In Australia 10 million dollars public liability insurance is the minimum , i have 20 million .

 

[EddieWalker]

I do allot of work for a local real estate company on homes they are listing. It's everything from painting to major repairs and sometimes, even mowing. For bushhog type mowing, I charge $50 an hour plus transport. I'll do it on a Saturday or Sunday, so that's a big plus for them and easy money for me.

35hp Centruy 4x4 tractor and 6ft Landpride Rotary Cutter.

Eddie

 

[john_bud]

. 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.)

1.6 / 2.25 = 0.71 gal per hour.

So, you are obviously using a very small machine. From your profile you have a 4' cutter. Effective cut is about 42" per pass.

It would take you about 5.9 hours to cut 10 acres and cost $206 at your rates.

A 80 hp tractor with a 15' bat wing charging $100/hr would take 1.4 hours and cost $140 bucks. Both cases ignore transport charges, turn around times (many more for the smaller tractor), obstacles, etc.


This is from a quick excel calculation and assumes 4 mph cut speed in both cases. In reality the smaller tractor will often cut slower.

 

[Rowdius]

Please don't take this the wrong way but , you have only a portion of what i listed as real costs , including insurance and your down too $14 before tax . The kid at Macca's with the paper hat on his head gets that . As for insurance , i think people should check the opperators details which i offer my clients . So many things can go wrong , a spark from a blade hitting a stone can cause a wildfire resulting in millions of dollars damage and possible loss of life . A thrown object can cause serious damage , injury and possible loss of life . Running over a Telecomunications hat can cause downtime of internet services , shut down ATM's ,TAB's etc and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in claims , $14 wont cover it . In Australia 10 million dollars public liability insurance is the minimum , i have 20 million .

No, the price I quoted you is if I was still using the insurance and paying for ads with the current level of work. In fact this is what I said:

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.)

So, right now, since I am not paying for the insurance or the ads, I'm making about $17 an hour. You also have to realize the payscales are different here as well. The minumn wage here is below $7 an hour (though it is about to go up to something like $7.15.) If I wanted to I could hire on as an equipment operator running anything from trackhoes to dozers here and make less than $15 an hour, or in some cheap company's cases $10 an hour... with no health insurance or retirement.

And, I agree with you on the insurance question as well. Not having it is a very big gamble. When I upgraded from my other tractor to this one I thought I would slow down or stop working off farm because of fuel prices, dropped the insurance... but ended up not dropping the the work. If I keep up doing this, or if I add more work then I'll probably pick up my insurance again.

I didn't think you were trying to single me out or anything with your comments, I just wanted to point out that everywhere is different.

 

[Rowdius]

1.6 / 2.25 = 0.71 gal per hour.

So, you are obviously using a very small machine. From your profile you have a 4' cutter. Effective cut is about 42" per pass.

It would take you about 5.9 hours to cut 10 acres and cost $206 at your rates.

A 80 hp tractor with a 15' bat wing charging $100/hr would take 1.4 hours and cost $140 bucks. Both cases ignore transport charges, turn around times (many more for the smaller tractor), obstacles, etc.


This is from a quick excel calculation and assumes 4 mph cut speed in both cases. In reality the smaller tractor will often cut slower.

Yup, I use a 4ft mower on some jobs and then my 5ft mower for slightly bigger jobs, but I do not tackle many or any jobs ten acres in size. My niche market are the small places that the bigger guys can't get into, I don't/can't compete on big lots with people running 80-125 hp machines, but I can get in and mow under and around trees, between junk, or clean it up with the loader. When I got the five foot deck I had considered a six foot; My kioti has pulled one okay, but I'm already getting close to needing to upgrade the trailer, and it would make it that much harder to get into those tight places. I guess I could drop the 4' into the bed of the truck and carry it along, but...

Though lately more of my jobs have been dirt work instead of shredding. Did three gravel driveways last month, two of which sprang from the job I did on the first one. It was a tight little place that the owner had had other people turn down the job. Some of his friends saw how it looked afterwards, and chipped in together to pay for more gravel. If I had a old dump truck small enough for my tractor load... See, it is just too easy to get too big!

 

[Eagleview]

No, the price I quoted you is if I was still using the insurance and paying for ads with the current level of work. In fact this is what I said:

Sorry , i miss read what you said .

 

[kthompson]

I am going into the brush hogging buisness im from south carolina and was wondering what i should charge by the hour? i was thinkin a $200 dollar first hour fee and a $100 dollars every hour after that how does that sound? need some help deciding on what to charge

If you don't mind my asking, are you located near Conway SC? Your business names hits my memory. Met a man who did some of this type work for signs I think and the business names seems to fit.

 

[john_bud]

My niche market are the small places that the bigger guys can't get into, I don't/can't compete on big lots with people running 80-125 hp machines, but I can get in and mow under and around trees, between junk, or clean it up with the loader.

Sounds to me like you know your niche pretty well.

I just used your numbers and easy size like 10 acres to show the comparison. Not saying you are or should start tackling big fields. That's not in your identified market.

The comparison was meant to be helpful to the original poster to better understand how price per hour and job prices are a function of the equipment size. The better he understands that, the easier he can explain it to the customers and maybe get more $$.

jb

 

[Rowdius]

Sounds to me like you know your niche pretty well.

I just used your numbers and easy size like 10 acres to show the comparison. Not saying you are or should start tackling big fields. That's not in your identified market.

The comparison was meant to be helpful to the original poster to better understand how price per hour and job prices are a function of the equipment size. The better he understands that, the easier he can explain it to the customers and maybe get more $$.

jb

No worries, I understand. The arrangement has to be fair for both the customer and the operator or one won't be able to afford the jobs and the other won't be able to afford to do the jobs.

Of course, trying to figure where that middle ground is at in not easy at all.

 

[palmetto brush control]

Well I think ima charge 60 an hour for brush hogging and lot clearing but idk if I should charge like 1.25 a mile transport fee or 200 the first hour so I can still make money on real small jobs any suggestions?