Buying Advice anyone looked at how much per hour it costs to own a cut?

[smstonypoint]

And if one could be fortunate enough to spend several of those hours per week mowing for someone else in the summer months at around $20/hr the cost could be a wash or even better.

Depending on your tractor/mower, you may cover your total equipment cost, but you would have a very low return to your labor.

Steve

 

[fatnfur]

Wow, some very insightful replys! Especially interesting to me is that after 2000 hours, the cost advantage begins to decline dramatically, which really helps me understand what to look for/ expect in a used tractor

 

[smstonypoint]

Wow, some very insightful replys! Especially interesting to me is that after 2000 hours, the cost advantage begins to decline dramatically, which really helps me understand what to look for/ expect in a used tractor

The 2,000 hour figure was mentioned with respect to a road grader. That value may not applicable to tractors. See Table 3 in https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/crops/html/a3-29.html for estimates of how repair costs vary with tractor hours.

Steve

 

[King of the Road]

I have a Kioti DK50 and I use it sometimes for my business(I own 50% of the business).

I charge the business $25 per hour for the hours used(per the hour meter). That is wet(including fuel).

As an example, this week we used the tractor 7 hours over a 4 day period. So it cost the business $175.

Had we rented a skidsteer, it would have cost about $275 per day with attachments.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I have a Kioti DK50 and I use it sometimes for my business(I own 50% of the business).

I charge the business $25 per hour for the hours used(per the hour meter). That is wet(including fuel).

As an example, this week we used the tractor 7 hours over a 4 day period. So it cost the business $175.

Had we rented a skidsteer, it would have cost about $275 per day with attachments.

Who pays the repair cost if the business tears something up on the tractor?

 

[RobertBrown]

Food for thought.....

How would you calculate the cost of doing the work that was done with the tractor....without the tractor?
How much would it cost to pay someone else to grade the driveway, dig the trench, or carry that tree trunk to the woods?
How many projects that have improved the value of your property, would you have passed on had you not had the machine to make it feasible?
The latent value should be washed out with the hard costs to determine the "real" value of the machine.

 

[chim]

Depending on your tractor/mower, you may cover your total equipment cost, but you would have a very low return to your labor.

Steve

Very true. Years ago I restored a Camaro for 50 cents an hour.

 

[California]

That's a significant weakness in some small-business plans.

If you go into business for yourself you should make reasonable wages for yourself PLUS some return as an investor in a business. It's a mistake to set rates so low that you only earn wages and nothing more.

 

[ovrszd]

Very true. Years ago I restored a Camaro for 50 cents an hour.

I learned that lesson a long time ago as well. Other than the personal satisfaction of doing the work yourself, it's WAYYYYY cheaper to buy a restored Camaro than build one.

 

[brain55]

That's a significant weakness in some small-business plans.

If you go into business for yourself you should make reasonable wages for yourself PLUS some return as an investor in a business. It's a mistake to set rates so low that you only earn wages and nothing more.

Not to mention being aware of the non-billable time you spend working too.