Price per acre - bush hogging

   / Price per acre - bush hogging #32  
Farmwithjunk said:
We have flat ground here too.

It may be VERTICAL, but it's flat ;)

Just got off the phone with a rep for a homeowners association with 22 ten acre tracts to be mowed 4 times this summer @ $380 each per cut! All reasonably level, no obstructions, no exposed rock, not the first tree in the way, and payment upon completion.

Wish they were all so nice!

I cheer and applaud you FarmwithJunk. It tickles me no end when I hear stories about those who quietly and consistently go out and do what they love. What is even more thrilling is that they usually make their love into something quite profitable. WOW, ONLY IN AMERICA.
 
   / Price per acre - bush hogging #33  
Farmwithjunk said:
You bought any stamps lately? :eek:


Or sold any scrap iron?

Last time rusy iron was moving this fast it was being melted down for Sherman tanks!

jb
 
   / Price per acre - bush hogging #34  
john_bud said:
Or sold any scrap iron?

Last time rusy iron was moving this fast it was being melted down for Sherman tanks!

jb

No kidding. Yesterday I took a 16' trailer load of scrap iron to the scrap metal place, I expected to get about $50 for it. I almost fell out when they weighed me out and gave me $217.10 for it. But then again, pulling around the corner to the truck stop and filling up with $4 a gallon diesel took some of the joy out of it.
 
   / Price per acre - bush hogging #35  
We charge $85 per hour on small jobs, $75 on more then a 8 hour day, plus travel.
I don't do enough of any one type of mowing to charge by the acre. The jobs varry too much, rough, soft ground, 1/2 of what we do is atv trails for hunting propertys, often on the frost in the spring or fall when the snow is not to deep and the mud holes are frozen.
You not going to get much more then that around here either. There is not the volume of work to pay for high maintenance,high end new ctl skid loaders and grinding equipment in this market.
Ken
 
   / Price per acre - bush hogging #36  
Farmwithjunk said:
You bought any stamps lately? :eek:

Im saving up to by a whole book. I must be gettin old I still remember mailing bills with $.13 STAMPS
 
   / Price per acre - bush hogging #37  
i was considering 40-50/hr with an avg of 1 acre per hr with my TC33 and 5' mower.

remember to look at the acres per hr also.

one guy charging $80/hr but cuts 2 acres/hr is the same as me.

Ill cut "smoke'n deals" for neighbors i dont have to trailer up for.

generally im going for knee high weeds/grass in areas that were previously (or will be again) pasture, in the smaller 1-5 acer sizes that fit my equipment well and the bigger guys dont want to fool with.
 
   / Price per acre - bush hogging #38  
Hey Schmism,

I just noticed that you are outside of STL. Years ago I used to live by the airport and work at the Pfizer plant in East St Louis. (fun place - not!)

jb
 
   / Price per acre - bush hogging #39  
schmism said:
i was considering 40-50/hr with an avg of 1 acre per hr with my TC33 and 5' mower.

.

it simply isn't possible to make money at $50/hour
Your costs are in that range. (before taxes you have never heard of wipe that out too) I've done more than a couple analysis on that, feel free to search for them.
here, I just did it again

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1375097#post1375097

Oh sure, you might think you are making money
til something breaks, or you have to go replace your tractor because it's gotten old and you realize you don't have that money saved up. (you haven't accounted for depreciation)

You simply aren't accounting for everything, much less an actual wage.
 
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   / Price per acre - bush hogging #40  
LoneCowboy said:
it simply isn't possible to make money at $50/hour
Your costs are in that range.

My costs? or your costs?

Ive followed your threads closely Lone....Im understand at how you break down your costs.

I would say the biggest difference between me and you would be our equipment. Yours being brand new (or relatively) with payments.

All of mine is used. My brushhog i use is a $250 jobber off of craigslist. Even if it fell off the back of the trailer and got wadded up in a ball by a passing freight train, replacement cost for a similar unit is of little concern. should something break on the tractor, i dont have to load it up and take 2-3 hrs out of my day to haul it to some craptastic dealer for warenty work. I just buy the $30 hose or ______ part and put it on myself.

Shure my time is worth something, but i spent the same amount of time fixing my tractor as you did running yours back to the stealer to have them work on yours. so IMHO its a wash. (with out all the stealer aggravation)

And at the end of the day, the more you make the more they take. So it might be a wash at the end of the day, so what. What else would i be doing, sitting around reading the newspaper or swat'n flys? Or i could be out enjoying doing what i do.
Im not depending on it for a lively hood. As such it affords me certain freedoms im shure you dont have.
 

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