Bushhogging rates for John Deere 3055 with Bush Hog 3615 mower?

[carltonc]

How much should charge to cut with John Deere 3055 and Bush Hog 3615 mower?

 

[coobie]

How much should charge to cut with John Deere 3055 and Bush Hog 3615 mower?

Pretty open question,buy the hour,acre?

 

[smstonypoint]

How much should charge to cut with John Deere 3055 and Bush Hog 3615 mower?

What are your hourly ownership and operating costs?

What is your hourly labor rate?

What level of profit do you want as a return for your management and risks?

Steve

 

[joshuabardwell]

First, look on your local Craigslist to see what other people are charging. Lots of times there are people out there who are bush-hogging basically for gas plus beer money. These people aren't covering their travel time/gas, wear and tear on their machine, etc... They are basically losing money every time they do a job, but they don't know it. You can't compete with these people. In a few months, they will be gone, and somebody else will have popped up to take their place.

Start by working out your fixed costs. How much does it cost you per hour to run your tractor. That starts with gas. That's easy. Let's say your tractor needs new fluids and filters every 250 hours. So take the cost of that, divide by 250, and add it onto your hourly cost. You probably should add in some amount to cover repairs. Ask yourself how much a major repair is going to cost and how many hours you're going to run before you hit one. Divide that out and add it onto your hourly cost. If you need to cover a payment, take the number of hours you expect to work, divide that into the payment, and add that to your hourly cost.

Most folks don't charge separate for transport fees, so you will want to figure out your cost per mile to drive to/from a job, and your expected average distance. The IRS rate for mileage is around 55 cents per mile, which is supposed to include gas and wear and tear on the vehicle, but for a towing truck, it may be higher.

If you are doing work on another person's property for money, a lot of people would consider it a good idea to have some kind of liability insurance. If you feel that way, take that cost, divide it into the number of hours you expect to work in a month, and add that to your hourly cost.

Finally, profit. Figure out what you would like to pay yourself per hour and add that onto your hourly cost. Maybe add a few percent to cover your travel time to/from the job. Once you get this number, go back and look on Craigslist and ask yourself if you think you can compete with the other guys out there who are doing it cheaper than you. I'm not saying it's a foregone conclusion, but it's definitely a question that should be considered.

Now that you know your target hourly rate, you can decide how you want to bill. Most folks I have heard say it's a fool's game to bill by the acre, because you never know what you're going to find once you get out into the field. If you have a lot of experience and/or it's a regular customer where you know the field, it might make sense to offer a fixed price, but at least in the beginning, hourly is probably the best way to go.

 

[TomSeller]

How much should charge to cut with John Deere 3055 and Bush Hog 3615 mower?

Good question. Often rates are $50 per hour for a 5' machine. You should be able to do better but you could scare off people if you ask for a higher hourly rate due to your 15' batwing. I would stay away from hourly rates and quote jobs if the field has been mowed regularly unless you have some knowledgeable people calling. Be wary of fields that have not been recently mowed. I hit a fire extinguisher once (shot off like a rocket) and swore off mowing for anyone I did not know. Transport with such a big machine and tractor are the main reasons people hire out the smaller 5 or 6' hogs, they can easily go on a single trailer. I assume you can transport the tractor and batwing? Also, maneuverability and low profile is important to get under branches. I use an orchard tractor with a 6' mower. Your 3055 is tall (I know, I have one with a cab). Open field mowing is about all I could do with it.

 

[jeff9366]

Prior to setting a price, you need to calculate your costs, including ample, ample insurance and a retirement contribution.

 

[toddbailey]

Doing everything buy the book, insurance, taxes, etc i wouldn't leave the yard with a setup like that for less than 100 to 125 an hour door to door, but I would bid all jobs lump sum and wouldn't even mention an hourly fee you may not make your goal on every job but most of them you should.

 

[Piston]

First, look on your local Craigslist to see what other people are charging. Lots of times there are people out there who are bush-hogging basically for gas plus beer money. These people aren't covering their travel time/gas, wear and tear on their machine, etc... They are basically losing money every time they do a job, but they don't know it. You can't compete with these people. In a few months, they will be gone, and somebody else will have popped up to take their place.

Start by working out your fixed costs. How much does it cost you per hour to run your tractor. That starts with gas. That's easy. Let's say your tractor needs new fluids and filters every 250 hours. So take the cost of that, divide by 250, and add it onto your hourly cost. You probably should add in some amount to cover repairs. Ask yourself how much a major repair is going to cost and how many hours you're going to run before you hit one. Divide that out and add it onto your hourly cost. If you need to cover a payment, take the number of hours you expect to work, divide that into the payment, and add that to your hourly cost.

Most folks don't charge separate for transport fees, so you will want to figure out your cost per mile to drive to/from a job, and your expected average distance. The IRS rate for mileage is around 55 cents per mile, which is supposed to include gas and wear and tear on the vehicle, but for a towing truck, it may be higher.

If you are doing work on another person's property for money, a lot of people would consider it a good idea to have some kind of liability insurance. If you feel that way, take that cost, divide it into the number of hours you expect to work in a month, and add that to your hourly cost.

Finally, profit. Figure out what you would like to pay yourself per hour and add that onto your hourly cost. Maybe add a few percent to cover your travel time to/from the job. Once you get this number, go back and look on Craigslist and ask yourself if you think you can compete with the other guys out there who are doing it cheaper than you. I'm not saying it's a foregone conclusion, but it's definitely a question that should be considered.

Now that you know your target hourly rate, you can decide how you want to bill. Most folks I have heard say it's a fool's game to bill by the acre, because you never know what you're going to find once you get out into the field. If you have a lot of experience and/or it's a regular customer where you know the field, it might make sense to offer a fixed price, but at least in the beginning, hourly is probably the best way to go.

Excellent advice! :thumbsup:

I almost always charge by the job, rather than hourly. However, I don't typically mow fields so it's not apples to apples. You really need to have some experience before you can charge by the job though, estimating can be a work of art all in itself! So far it's worked out to be well above my minimum "acceptable" hourly rate......"So far" anyways.

 

[fieldman12]

Everyone here is telling you right. For residential Bush Hogging no one wants to pay anything and there is always a guy with a little 8n ford and a wore out 5' bush hog that will do it for beer money. If you want to make money you need to go to businesses and get the mowing jobs. For an example I do a custom Bush Hogging job (four acres) for $500.00 bucks each time. Now that sounds like good money but remember uncle sam gets his part, it takes 7 hours to mow including travel, there are a bunch of trees to mow around and seems like every time I hit something. I had two pieces of rebar I hit this time in the ground. This is not an easy way by any means to make money because there is always something out there to hit that no one has a clue how it got there. I have done a few bank repo bush hog jobs also.