Need to Make some money with my Tractor.

   / Need to Make some money with my Tractor. #1  

davidseaquist

Silver Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2004
Messages
237
Location
Escondido California
Tractor
2005 Ingersoll Rand Bl370b
I have a 46 hp diesel tractor bobcat / Ingersoll Rand. I do not own a trailer and I am only available to work on weekends. I need to make enough money to make my tractor payment and maintance hopefully more. I have about 250 hrs on the tractor it is a loader backhoe digging debth is 11' I have a 18" and 24" bucket with it. I also have a hydraulic thumb for the backhoe/ grubbing bucket with a grapple, forks with brick backing/ smooth bucket tooth bucket /grapple bucket/ the buckets are 72" wide/ a boom poll/ hydraulic auger with three bits/ road runner box blade and three point hitch adaptor with 72" landscape rake and Rear blade. Thanks for the help David.
 
   / Need to Make some money with my Tractor. #2  
Without a trailer to get your tool to the jobsite, seems like your opportunities are pretty limited. Unless someone in your family is going to pay you to dig on your own land, you really need a trailer. I suppose renting a trailer could just be part of your overhead, but it's going to be hard to price your service competitively...

How are you advertising your services?
 
   / Need to Make some money with my Tractor. #3  
There are lots of little jobs for skid-steers and the implements you mentioned.

As noted above, you aren't going to do anything until you get your Bobcat to the customer's place. You can pick up a decent used 16' trailer for $1000 or find a new one for $1500-2000 to get your moneymaker to the jobsite behind the pick-up truck.

After that, yes, you need to let people know who you are and what you can do. Local paper, American Classifieds, Craig's List, and so on.
 
   / Need to Make some money with my Tractor.
  • Thread Starter
#4  
I can not afford to buy a trailer and pick up at this time. I own a full size van not a pickup. I can only do this on the weekends. I was thinking if the job was up to 5 miles away I could drive the tractor And maby carry one attachment in the bucket. I have a friend who makes a living with his tractor and he said he chargse $ 150.- dollars each way to haul someone's equipment.I have done no advertizing at this time. I will try craig's list. Or maby word of moulth.A neighbor want's to extend her driveway. They offered to pay $ 100.- plus gas. I could do the job for a little money and maby some work of moulth referrals. [ She is my wife's friend.] Or should I charge what it costs to rent a skid steer for the day? Around hear it costs the one day rental/pick up/delivery/ insurance/, and Gas. I don't like working for friends I have had bad experiences mixing business with friendship. I usually loose the friendships. I live in San Diego County what do you think would be fair rates I was thinking 1/2 day minimun [ 4 hrs ] How much per hour ? My tractor is a TLB that weighs 9,500 lbs and is about 20 feet long. I believe I would need a 20' 14,000 gvw trailer as a minimum. David
 
   / Need to Make some money with my Tractor. #5  
How to price your services.

First, you need to understand your costs to operate your machine per hour. Start by figuring out your fuel cost per hour.

Next figure out your fixed costs divided by the number of hours you will likely work. With your working only weekends, optimistically, you will only work about 8 hrs/day x 8 days per month (that's if you could keep yourself booked, and had no travel time) so 64 hours/month. Your monthly fixed costs are your loan payment, insurance payments, etc. Divide this amount by 64 hours and add the fuel costs, and you'll see what you need to charge just to break even. That doesn't include any income for yourself.

We haven't figured maintainence either. You may be able to calculate the costs for required service, but I suspect with a new machine, you don't really have a feel for breakdown frequency and amounts.

Once you have an idea about what you need to make per hour to break even, then you need to compare this with the going market rate for your area. If it's $100/hour and your costs are $40, then you may be able to make this work. If the going rate is $50/hour, then all you can hope to do is offset some of your costs. You may not be able to get the prevailing rate if you don't have the experience, time to do the job immediately, insurance, transportation, etc.

The big variable is how many hours you can actually work. While it may be all rosey if you can work 64 hours, what happens when you only work 6, 10 or 20 hours per month? It will also take time and money to advertise, respond to queries, visit potential customers to provide bids and estimates. All-in-all, making money with your tractor is a lot like work!

Good luck with your venture!
 
   / Need to Make some money with my Tractor. #6  
I saw it mentioned once but, INSURANCE, INSURANCE, INSURANCE!!!
 
   / Need to Make some money with my Tractor. #7  
davidseaquist said:
I can not afford to buy a trailer and pick up at this time.

Honestly, I don't see how you are going to be successful in this venture without a trailer and a means to pull it. The big one is insurance, as previously mentioned.

FYI:
"maybe, mouth, advertising, lose" are the proper spellings.
 
   / Need to Make some money with my Tractor. #8  
Yep, for me fuel is a NOTHING. It's the fixed costs and the INSURANCE.

Why do you want to work for FREE?

Figure out what your costs and wages will be be, then profit. Working for less is not fun........................

Ron
 
   / Need to Make some money with my Tractor. #9  
You have a very nice machine, but it is large and heavy. I hope that full size van is large and powerful enough to drag it around.

On the driveway job, I would take it at the 100$ plus fuel. Very carefully, monitor exactly how much time you are spending on it and what you are doing. (techique). You can use it as a learning experience to determine what it takes to do a driveway. There was a person that posted a driveway renovation service for gravel and charged $0.39 a linear foot for a 10' wide + any needed gravel. That was basically box blading it smooth and to correct grade / crown.

You will be SHOCKED at how much $$$$$$$$ insurance will cost. They are going to have visions of you digging into and destroying fiber optic lines, gas lines, power lines, water lines and sewer lines with each scoop. Insurance companies charge against what they expect the machine can do for damage.

NEVER scoop a teaspoon of dirt until all utilities have been marked. That includes septic...

As you probably don't have insurance now, make up a simple contract that lists the job, the money ($100 + fuel) and states that the person contracting for your service is responsible for having all utilities marked and that they indemnify you anything damaged while digging (excluding your machine).

jb
 
   / Need to Make some money with my Tractor.
  • Thread Starter
#10  
Thanks John sounds like good advice. I will ask them to mark utilities. I do not have insurance at this time. I am not planning to tow with my van. It is not big enough to tow the tractor on a trailer. David
 

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