Bush hogging pricing?

[sjohnson79]

I'm thinking about offering bush hog service in my area. I was wondering how much I should be charging. I assume it's charged my acre? Maybe by time? Even a quote for land conditions. So if anyone does or has paid for bush hog services would you mind sharing the rate?

Thank you.

 

[leonz]

If you were plowing and fitting ground the
per acre charge would be definite for a client.


Pricing for mowing is a bear as its always
case of what the clientel is either accustomed
to paying or is willing to pay and what if anyone
else is or has charged in the past.

The other elephant in the mud is insurance as you
should plan on a 2 million dollar umbrella liability
insurance policy and be able to show it to anyone
who asks as its a good faith item.

The other issue is the brush mower used.


A flail mower will gain you more business as
it is a safer mower period.

It will not throw anything it hits as a rotary
cutter will and it will not leave much material
to rot away.

You should read Iron Horses story about his
first rotary cutter purchase in Australia and the aftermath;
its very scary stuff and it happens a lot all over the USA.


A flailmower is also much more efficient than
a rotary cutter as the entire width of the
flail mower is slicing brush where only
one half of the rotary cutters entire width
(one blade) is cutting at any time.

Brush hogs and the 4 blade stump jumpers
are very low in efficiency as far as mowers
compared to flailmowers.

Your only going to be able to offer a service
if people want it done.

The other issue is anything left in the field
that has been left for years will have many hidden
surprises that will do you a lot of damage.

Iron Horse has a landscape rake mounted on the front
of his work tractor and its saved him a lot of grief
where a loader bucket will simply ride over things as
the boom sinks during use.

The dilema is pricing as anybody with a tractor and
a brush mower will undercut you and the locals
will expect you to charge the same price and if you
cannot do it for that price its a lost cause.

 

[santa2u]

I do a little mowing just to help make the tractor pay for itself as I bought it primarily for my own private use. Most of the time I charge $40 or $45 / acre unless the grass is over knee high, or if there are a lot of obstacles to slow me down, then it is more.

If I think it may work into a repeat job, I might even come off of that a little. I like repeat jobs because I am familiar with the place and don't get any nasty surprises. I have hit stuff like rolls of barbed wire, boards and old wheels. They can take a mower blade out in a hurry. If I am concerned about it, I may set the mower a little higher than normal the first time around. Then, you can see what might be lurking in the grass.

I occasionally run an ad in the local paper or talk to the realtors around town. Very often their clients will be looking for someone to mow their property.

What I like about it is, I can turn down a job if I don't want to do it. However, I seldom do that. That extra few dollars comes in handy.