Hours charged for tractor work

[RidgeTopWVA]

When using a tractor to do work for other people and charging by the hour my understanding is the hours are measured by the hour meter on the equipment versus the wrist watch.
What say you ?

 

[grsthegreat]

when you rent equipment, its by the hour meter. when i work its by my watch, as thats how i have always done work. but i dont see why it matters, an hour is an hour. with me, i take a screenshot of clock on phone when i start, and when i end.

 

[LouNY]

It will often depend on if you are being charged travel time, unloading time, time unplugging from FOD that you left in an area.
Too many variables.
If I'm doing something I'm charging hourly for my travel time is included.

 

[RjCorazza]

I go by my watch (phone stopwatch) upon arrival, and travel is separate and by the mile. If I take a break, or chat about non job related stuff I pause the stopwatch.

 

[RidgeTopWVA]

It is local work so there is no travel time , is the hour meter as accurate as the watch on a minute by minute basis ? I only want to charge them when the machine is actually being used if that is a normal way of figuring a bill , I want to be fair with my customer and myself.

 

[edgarrian]

Renting a machine yes but not doing work for people. When im on a job thats hourly. Say I arrive at 7am and leave at 4pm. Thats what the customer would get charged for. Not the hours on the machine. There are times you may have to re-evaulate what your doing. Possibly do some hand work. Or whatever makes you get off the machine. Just b/c its not running doesn't mean you should not be getting paid. Now if I bid a job. Then it doesn't really matter. The only thing that matters is if the owner is happy and i get paid. Typically bid jobs are better paying

 

[paulsharvey]

It is local work so there is no travel time , is the hour meter as accurate as the watch on a minute by minute basis ? I only want to charge them when the machine is actually being used if that is a normal way of figuring a bill , I want to be fair with my customer and myself.

Don't short yourself either. That 'unbilled' time needs to be billed somehow. Depending on the type of work you might have to lay out, picking up, moving stuff, that won't show on the machine, but needs to be paid. I would basically start the billable hours when you arrive on site; and stop it when you have finished loading machine; or walking with owner to confirm your done.

If you show up at 730Am, and leave at 4pm, and took a few minutes to eat a sandwich and refuel, I'd charge them 8 hours, even if machine shows 6 hours of working time.

Either is fine; you just have to make the numbers work. Anything less then 15 minutes, I wouldn't even count, so peeing by truck door, getting a drink, ect; but at the same time; you finish at 4:12pm, I wouldn't try to charge 8.25 hours.

With all that said; as a customer, I would expect an hourly contractor to show up ready to work; not fueling, greasing, sipping his coffee, playing on phone, ect.

 

[RidgeTopWVA]

You guys are already a big help , I am going to have to rethink things , I have been to lenient

 

[paulsharvey]

You guys are already a big help , I am going to have to rethink things , I have been to lenient

It's fine if you like to bill that way for simplicity sake, but just pad that number to account for the other stuff.

 

[RidgeTopWVA]

It's fine if you like to bill that way for simplicity sake, but just pad that number to account for the other stuff.

I am with you show up on time have all of the prep work on the machine etc done before you get to the job site and give them an honest days work..

 

[sea2summit]

You guys are already a big help , I am going to have to rethink things , I have been to lenient

You also don’t have insurance.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

I go by my watch (phone stopwatch) upon arrival, and travel is separate and by the mile. If I take a break, or chat about non job related stuff I pause the stopwatch.

I would charge for downtime.
Figured if the customer wants to keep stopping me to ask questions or beak-off I am going to charge him.
Heck should probably charge double for the added aggregation.

 

[scootr]

So long as you are there with the machine and you are being productive it is billable time. If you are mowing and the home owners twine or wire is wrapped around the mower removing it is billable so long as you can do it in an efficient manner. If you are mowing and you have to move a bunch of chit out of the way it's billable time.

 

[newbury]

It is local work so there is no travel time , is the hour meter as accurate as the watch on a minute by minute basis ? I only want to charge them when the machine is actually being used if that is a normal way of figuring a bill , I want to be fair with my customer and myself.

Just make sure how the hour meter on the equipment runs.
For example some tractors only count hours at full PTO speed.

 

[paulsharvey]

Just make sure how the hour meter on the equipment runs.
For example some tractors only count hours at full PTO speed.

I was going to say the same thing, but didn't want to bring it up, as I don't know that some of the newer stuff does. Heck, is it 1 hour at 540E PtoRpms, or 1 hour at 540 Pto rpms...

 

[ptsg]

I was going to say the same thing, but didn't want to bring it up, as I don't know that some of the newer stuff does. Heck, is it 1 hour at 540E PtoRpms, or 1 hour at 540 Pto rpms...

Tractors with digital hour meter, get a signal from the alternator just to know that the engine is running to start counting and then use it's own built in timer to count the hours. So RPMs won't really matter in that case.

 

[ddbackhoe]

It is local work so there is no travel time , is the hour meter as accurate as the watch on a minute by minute basis ? I only want to charge them when the machine is actually being used if that is a normal way of figuring a bill , I want to be fair with my customer and myself.

I disagree, there is always travel time and maintenance time. Whether you load and unload vs roading, it still takes time. Lubing and fueling still take time. Prep work, ie changing attachments, takes time. Billable vs non-billable isnt really the question. The question becomes at what rate to bill. When you calculated your ”billable“ time how did you arrive at that figure?
Let’s say youre charging $100/hour. Is that 75 for the tractor + implements ( I would charge more for say a rototiller than a grader) and 25 for operator?
Then I would charge the 25/hour for lube, fuel, prep time. Truck and trailer arent free either, they need to be accounted for somehow.

Just FYI, I prefer to flat rate a bid rather than hourly. If I guesstimate wrong and it takes longer, my fault. If you get done earlier, you can always tell the customer they owe you less (that always makes them happy). In my experience, the less you tell a customer about your business, the better. After all, its not up to them to decide that your tractor and stuff is worth 75 and your time is worth 25.

 

[BleedingOrange]

Is your work cash jobs, or a legit business ? That would make a difference on how the billing is done.

 

[Tinhack]

I would do meter time once you arrive at the job but include maintenance time as well. If you're mowing, maintenance time would include stopping to clear chaff from the radiator or from the cutter as necessary. Maybe use meter time plus half an hour or so for that. As mentioned, you could have travel time and expenses there as well as setup, loading and unloading. This might vary by job location and equipment needed. Clock time and/or milage may be a separate charge for that if you are trailering the rig.

And don't think of charges based on your time alone. Charges are generally based on the equipment factors--Depreciation, maintenance and fuel. The operator is usually included in hourly charges.

 

[scootr]

So many things effect the rate. Maintenance and repair has to be figured into the running cost. The size of the machine and the efficiency at which the operator can use the machine make a difference is how much work the customer will get for that hour rate too.
The hourly fee is best for those of us that are non-pro like myself. I did the same job for 2 neighbors who had very different soil and terrain. A professional may have seen the job would take twice as long at the second neighbor due to these differences. I was glad to be working by the hour.
My buddy says he charges neighbors $75 an hour. I think that is a little low.
Set your rate high enough to cover your real costs.