First Job

[Industrial Toys]

Last year I priced a job I didn't want, high. Got it anyway, and then still managed to loose my shirt! I did manage to get some new grey hair though.

Jobs like the post mentions are good for fun, good will and experience. Often, a good opportunity to find out what your equipment will and will not do. As long as your expenses are covered, but that can be hard to determine with unknown aspects of wear and tear.

 

[PILOON]

Funny thing is that no matter the size of equipment other than fuel , costs of operation are fairly similar (or should be).
Operator still gets same wages, parts still cost the same as does insurance.\
The smaller the equipment the easier it is to break.

The above being said then the price spread would not be more than $10-$20/ per hour.

 

[two_bit_score]

I was guessing $800. So since this is my neighbor and we are on good terms. I've cut ATV's trails on his property and his son rides the trails on their land and mine. $400 is what I was thinking.

I am no professional and am limited by my machine, if I had and a little track hoe it would look a lot better than what I am able to do. I'm not HAND digging, I'll move as much as I can and make sure the water goes where we want it to go. Once he gets more gravel I will come back and spread that too.

I did some work today on it, about 7 hours worth. Got a little bit left to do on the top section and just need to cut the ditch on the lower section.

If it wasn't so expensive to get into I would love to start a small business with a small track hoe and my tractor doing odd jobs. Like what I am doing now, garden prep, drainage issues. Just little stuff that large companies over price because they don't want to do them. My truck isn't able to pull my tractor and I don't have a trailer to haul it anyways.

They always say, find something you love and won't work a day in your life. I love operating equipment, but WAY to expensive to get into that business!

You should go ahead and start with an actual determination of your expenses for your tractor. I set up a system where I determined my cost for operating my JD 110 BH was $65 per hour. That is how much I charge myself for anything I do with my BH. Labor of $35 per hour if I am charging labor as an operator and that makes it an even $100. Every 1/10 hour on the BH is charged to something.

TBS

 

[12Bravo]

Finished the job today with only one accident. My phone fell out of the towel that was holding it, next to my seat and I ran the darn thing over! Ugh.....There goes $100 to get it replaced, glad I have insurance on the phone!

 

[Industrial Toys]

Job sites are hard on phones!

Curious, if in Texas a 110 is worth $100.00/hr with operator, what a good size excavator is worth an hour. Here you can get a good size hoe for just over a hundred bucks (CDN)! Maybe float charges if it''s a small job.

 

[Sprinklerman]

Funny thing is that no matter the size of equipment other than fuel , costs of operation are fairly similar (or should be).
Operator still gets same wages, parts still cost the same as does insurance.\
The smaller the equipment the easier it is to break.

The above being said then the price spread would not be more than $10-$20/ per hour.

This is so true .