Farmwithjunk
Super Member
I've withheld my opinion (to this point) on what I think you should charge for a number of reasons, very least of which is the fact it's almost impossible to tell someone else what they should charge for work in a part of the country that's unfamiliar to the second party....You should know your "local going rates" far better than I would....
That said, here's a few thoughts.
Under normal conditions, in grass/weeds, you should be able to (easily) mow in excess of 2 acres per hour with a 5' mower. In conditions such as you describe, expect less than half that (at best) ----- I mowed 10-3/4 acres of knee-high weeds in 3 hours, 45 minutes yesterday, with a 6' mower/40hp tractor, perfectly flat, clear field, no trees, no ditches, no obstructions. Average over 3-1/2 acres per hr. 5+ mph, and minimal lost time turning.... Same tractor/mower, I mowed a 2-1/2 acre building lot I just bought last week. Rocks, a couple downed trees, steep hillside on about 1/4-acre, all sorts of rain ruts, and weeds over my head. That took 3 hours and had me on the verge of Prozac.....:O If that wasn't my own property, I'd have never agreed to mow it.
The type of mowing you're looking at is hard on equipment, harder on the OPERATOR. (X10 if you're on an open station tractor...) Personally, I wouldn't touch a job like that UNLESS I was charging a PREMIUM price, rather than a discount price. No matter how much "fun" you anticipate, no matter how much you want what will be your biggest job to date, You need to be able to walk away from the pay window at the end of the day with a decent amount of YOUR money left after expenses.
Every time you fire up the tractor, you run a risk of SOMETHING breaking, or an unforeseen expense. Fuel, wear and tear, taxes/insurance (if you are "legal"), ect, take a slice of the pie. Rear tires for a tractor like yours will be in excess of $400 each. Easy to punch holes in 'em when mowing saplings. (BTDT too many times) So you take on THAT responsibility, you need to be rewarded for the effort.
The land owner probably couldn't care any less what his property was mowed with, who does it, or what that person has to go through. His ONLY interest is getting it cut at a price that he likes. Most potential mowing customers have no clue what is involved, nor do they care. And their first thoughts on a "fair price" is usually well UNDER what the job is worth. MOST customers aren't happy unless they get a price that's probably too cheap to begin with.... BUT...The ONLY person that has to be "happy" about the amount of money to change hands when I'm done with a job is ME....
All said and done, around where I live, the "going rate" for bush hogging work that's at the extreme limits of what a conventional tractor w/5'/6' medium duty hog can accomplish is in the neighborhood of $65. The type of work you describe is WORTH more than that, but in a semi-rural area, and with all the competition now days, that's about all it pays....ANOTHER reason why I usually walk away from that sort of job.... In conditions like that, I've been known to add $15 to $20 an hour to "going rate". Long story short, I'd want $80 hr (at least) Customer not willing to pay that much? He's entirely welcome to find someone else.
There are numerous "mowing contractors" around here that work for what I'd best describe as "beer money". I DO NOT/WILL NOT try to compete with them. When I get a customer that wants the sort of prices you'd expect from "beer money mowers", I walk. Not wasting MY time trying to convert them to a more reasonable way of thinking.... Not every phone call is a job I want. I've turned down a couple that would have been among the biggest I've ever been offered. No regrets. (One, the eventual winning bidder, ended up stuck in a ravine and had to hire a 'dozer to come drag him out. He lost his behind on the job!)
You MIGHT make a few bucks on a job of this nature, but eventually, if you keep it up, you'll get the one job that makes you question why you would ever want to do this sort of thing. Remember, when you're pricing work, it's THAT job (the 1 in 1000 big loser) that you're protecting yourself from with EVERY bid you submit.
OK...Final thoughts....I get roughly 1/3rd of the bids I submit. (We stay swamped, so that's enough.) In 3 full season, in some of the worst economic times in memory, we've managed to stay very profitable and very BUSY. So I'm thinking I'm doing SOMETHING right..... IMHO, I wouldn't touch that 15 acres unless I was getting MY price, which based on description, I'd guess to be around $1200. (Were it 15 acres of grass & weeds, you're looking more towards $400 in this area) And even at that price, I'm not exactly licking my chops to get involved in that sort of mowing.
Gotta make money....If I was wanting to break even, I'd stay at home and watch Andy Griffith reruns. If I was content to make just a few bucks an hour, McDonalds offers benefits....
That said, here's a few thoughts.
Under normal conditions, in grass/weeds, you should be able to (easily) mow in excess of 2 acres per hour with a 5' mower. In conditions such as you describe, expect less than half that (at best) ----- I mowed 10-3/4 acres of knee-high weeds in 3 hours, 45 minutes yesterday, with a 6' mower/40hp tractor, perfectly flat, clear field, no trees, no ditches, no obstructions. Average over 3-1/2 acres per hr. 5+ mph, and minimal lost time turning.... Same tractor/mower, I mowed a 2-1/2 acre building lot I just bought last week. Rocks, a couple downed trees, steep hillside on about 1/4-acre, all sorts of rain ruts, and weeds over my head. That took 3 hours and had me on the verge of Prozac.....:O If that wasn't my own property, I'd have never agreed to mow it.
The type of mowing you're looking at is hard on equipment, harder on the OPERATOR. (X10 if you're on an open station tractor...) Personally, I wouldn't touch a job like that UNLESS I was charging a PREMIUM price, rather than a discount price. No matter how much "fun" you anticipate, no matter how much you want what will be your biggest job to date, You need to be able to walk away from the pay window at the end of the day with a decent amount of YOUR money left after expenses.
Every time you fire up the tractor, you run a risk of SOMETHING breaking, or an unforeseen expense. Fuel, wear and tear, taxes/insurance (if you are "legal"), ect, take a slice of the pie. Rear tires for a tractor like yours will be in excess of $400 each. Easy to punch holes in 'em when mowing saplings. (BTDT too many times) So you take on THAT responsibility, you need to be rewarded for the effort.
The land owner probably couldn't care any less what his property was mowed with, who does it, or what that person has to go through. His ONLY interest is getting it cut at a price that he likes. Most potential mowing customers have no clue what is involved, nor do they care. And their first thoughts on a "fair price" is usually well UNDER what the job is worth. MOST customers aren't happy unless they get a price that's probably too cheap to begin with.... BUT...The ONLY person that has to be "happy" about the amount of money to change hands when I'm done with a job is ME....
All said and done, around where I live, the "going rate" for bush hogging work that's at the extreme limits of what a conventional tractor w/5'/6' medium duty hog can accomplish is in the neighborhood of $65. The type of work you describe is WORTH more than that, but in a semi-rural area, and with all the competition now days, that's about all it pays....ANOTHER reason why I usually walk away from that sort of job.... In conditions like that, I've been known to add $15 to $20 an hour to "going rate". Long story short, I'd want $80 hr (at least) Customer not willing to pay that much? He's entirely welcome to find someone else.
There are numerous "mowing contractors" around here that work for what I'd best describe as "beer money". I DO NOT/WILL NOT try to compete with them. When I get a customer that wants the sort of prices you'd expect from "beer money mowers", I walk. Not wasting MY time trying to convert them to a more reasonable way of thinking.... Not every phone call is a job I want. I've turned down a couple that would have been among the biggest I've ever been offered. No regrets. (One, the eventual winning bidder, ended up stuck in a ravine and had to hire a 'dozer to come drag him out. He lost his behind on the job!)
You MIGHT make a few bucks on a job of this nature, but eventually, if you keep it up, you'll get the one job that makes you question why you would ever want to do this sort of thing. Remember, when you're pricing work, it's THAT job (the 1 in 1000 big loser) that you're protecting yourself from with EVERY bid you submit.
OK...Final thoughts....I get roughly 1/3rd of the bids I submit. (We stay swamped, so that's enough.) In 3 full season, in some of the worst economic times in memory, we've managed to stay very profitable and very BUSY. So I'm thinking I'm doing SOMETHING right..... IMHO, I wouldn't touch that 15 acres unless I was getting MY price, which based on description, I'd guess to be around $1200. (Were it 15 acres of grass & weeds, you're looking more towards $400 in this area) And even at that price, I'm not exactly licking my chops to get involved in that sort of mowing.
Gotta make money....If I was wanting to break even, I'd stay at home and watch Andy Griffith reruns. If I was content to make just a few bucks an hour, McDonalds offers benefits....
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