Pictures from a skid steer mowing contractor

[2manyrocks]

The results look good to me. I was just curious what your cutter looked like to get those results.

What you are doing looks as good as what a guy did for my neighbor with a very expensive drum mulcher, imo.

 

[DaBear3428]

Can't shred cactus. That just makes more of it. It's like potatoes. A little piece will grow a whole new plant. I've been fighting that battle for years, but I've made head way on most of the front. The brushy area is too thick to get the tractor in to dig them out or spray. And way too many Rattle snakes to go traipsing in there on foot.

i use my grapple and push them into a pile then burn when burn ban is over, it works very well, i come back every few months and take out any pop ups. grapple takes care of the brushy area at the same time.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Another little job this morning, this customer purchased this house and 10 acres from an estate of an elderly lady who had just let the property get away from her, there is a lot more to do but I was able to get them some relief up around the house area so it can at least be seen from the roadway and they have a little room to maneuver around now, there is a lot more to be done here whenever I can get around to it, they want me to come back as soon as possible but I have already committed to several other jobs that I have to get to first.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

This morning's little job building up a road with limerock so the customer and his family can get into their property , they have been getting stuck but that is over with, only problem with this job was they had the limerock delivered about 300 yards from where it needed to be spread, but I did this job by the hour so it wasn't really a problem.

 

[bunchgrass]

I agree 100% when I used to give a per hr rate the next question would always be how many hrs will it take. If you go over they're upset and if you do it faster you get paid less! A fixed per project $ is what customers want and it benefits you as long as you're good as estimating how long something will take.

The trouble with the per job charge leaves no flexibility when the job ends up being way more complicated and difficult than you originally had expected when you bid.

 

[LD1]

The trouble with the per job charge leaves no flexibility when the job ends up being way more complicated and difficult than you originally had expected when you bid.

Thats where you get good at estimating and learn from your mistakes.
Mowing.....everything can usually be seen. Sure, you may hit a tire in a field or wrap up wire that takes a little time to dig out.....but general conditions and difficulty usually arent hard to see.

Now doing excavating is a different story. But such things exist in a contract like private utility exemptions and rock clauses, etc.

If you are a contractor and have been in business more than a few years.....per-job bidding is the only way to go.

You go hourly.....customer has no idea how to budget. OR if you tell them you are expecting it to take "about 6 hours".....you for damn sure dont want to go over that or deal with a customer questioning you. Saying "I though you said it would only take 6 hours"....

OR if you come in under hours.....when they were expecting 6, you are leaving money on the table/

OR.....expect them to watch you like a hawk, squabble over minutes....or question why they are paying you to stop and clean the radiator, or fuel machine, etc.

Flat rate.....good, bad, or indifferent everyone knows at the end of the day how much money is expected to change hands.

 

[Rustyiron]

Lineman you meant 3 blades right?
How does your Kubota do in this heat? Are you running high flow on that cutter?
Looks like a real nice job and if you don't need a disc mulcher (your results are great) why bother just for bigger stuff now and then.
Stay cool my friend, I'm pissin and moaning here at low 80's!

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Lineman you meant 3 blades right?
How does your Kubota do in this heat? Are you running high flow on that cutter?
Looks like a real nice job and if you don't need a disc mulcher (your results are great) why bother just for bigger stuff now and then.
Stay cool my friend, I'm pissin and moaning here at low 80's!

Yes sir it is 3 blades sandwiched between two 3/8" blade carriers, and yes most of the time I run the cutter on high flow in thick brush and low flow in grass and thin brush. As far as the heat goes I haven't had any trouble with it running to warm, but I do blow the radiator out at least every other day. I am sticking with my brush cutter until I see the need to do something different but so far the people that hire me have been happy with what the final results are and most weeks I am as busy as I want to be. You stay cool as well, I think were in for another couple of months of this hot weather.

 

[bunchgrass]

.expect them to watch you like a hawk, squabble over minutes....or question why they are paying you to stop and clean the radiator, or fuel machine, etc.

Has NEVER happened to me. Ever.

 

[Fixastuff]

Yes sir it is 3 blades sandwiched between two 3/8" blade carriers

Perfect candidate for chain conversion