How much is it worth to brushhog 10 ac?

[JerryG]

The only way to work for friends or relatives is to do it for free. Last fall I did a job for a cousin of mine. It was a bid job that I did for another company. This company sells equipment and normally does the install, but if their men are behind they will contract subs. I had bid on the job as a sub. Everything was spelled out in explicit detail. It was an alarm system that was to be installed connecting five different buildings. The lines had to be to be ungrounded between all the buildings with sensors in each building. These had to be connected at a central control unit in one of the buildings. Nothing I did was right, on time, fast enough, or anywhere close to the way she wanted it. She didn't want to look back at the contract for anything to see what it said. No matter what the contract said, she wanted it different. When I finished, I told her that I would never do another job for a relative for pay again. I did tell her that if she needed anything to let me know and when I had time I might do it for free. There were a lot of hard feelings. We have thankfully put it behind us now. Something like this could very well cause a person to lose a friend.

 

[Grant1]

I mowed 20 acres for a landowner last March. I figured an hour per acre at $50.00 per hour.. By the time I was through it was exactly that. I use a 5ft Woods bushhog. Looked good and the owner was more than pleased to pay it. My machine uses 1 gal diesel per hour. If you are not charging at least $50.00 per hour your giving your labor away.

 

[Gatorboy]

If you are not charging at least $50.00 per hour your giving your labor away.

You should have used a 21" pushmower, you would have made more money. You can't just charge by the hour when you are not using the right tool for the job.

 

[suttles]

Could he just burn it?

Your tractor or life is not worth getting hurt for anybody.

Could he hire a dozer?

sandy

 

[Dargo]

I mowed 20 acres for a landowner last March. I figured an hour per acre at $50.00 per hour.. By the time I was through it was exactly that. I use a 5ft Woods bushhog. Looked good and the owner was more than pleased to pay it. My machine uses 1 gal diesel per hour. If you are not charging at least $50.00 per hour your giving your labor away.

Holy smokes!! I guess if the land was on the side of a mountain or had thousands of obsticles to clear I could see it. Otherwise, in my area, you would be under bid by about everyone around if you tried to charge any more than $250 or so. That's amazing. Half the mowing crews around here ought to head to your area. You are getting 4 to 5 times the amount that is charged around here.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Holy smokes!! I guess if the land was on the side of a mountain or had thousands of obsticles to clear I could see it. Otherwise, in my area, you would be under bid by about everyone around if you tried to charge any more than $250 or so. That's amazing. Half the mowing crews around here ought to head to your area. You are getting 4 to 5 times the amount that is charged around here.

Just got a bid on mowing the acreage wifes clan has in a family trust. I WAS going to buy a new 10' or 12' mower and trailer my tractor there to cut the place and let the trust pay for the mower.

$16.75 an acre X 112 acres.

I can't haul the tractor back and forth for that sort of money.

It pains me to let someone else cut the place, but whatta you gonna do.......

Contractor will use 150 HP tractor and 20' batwing.

 

[Ford960]

It must be nice to mow a bunch of grass or weeds in a nice square or circular pattern!

The mowing that I do is pretty hard as there are trees and saplings in the way. The saplings range from 1" to 4" and I knock them down and cut them up. My Bush Hog 305 really does a number on them. I also run into downed trees that make it hard to get over or around. Sometimes they are rotted and I can chop them up too. Then you ain't lived till you've hit a sleeping bag or a tent buried under the leaves. Tent poles really suck too, as do aluminum chairs, pipes, and the worst...carpet. Don't even get me started on the Yellow Jackets.

The lots are 50'X80' or 60'X100' and it takes me anywhere from 1 to 2 hours for each one. I have to keep a chainsaw handy because I've had the tractor stuck in between trees several times and had to cut down a couple of trees to get it out. I have to work forward and backwards constantly and use a lot of differential braking to get in and around the lots. Also have to stay in the property lines as much as possible.

I get paid a flat rate of $100/lot and since the beginning of June I've done 23 lots.
Did one this morning that was one of the harder ones with downed trees and a downed electric pole plus I found a concrete block foundation with the blades. Took me 2 hours for that one but when I got home I had 3 more lots in my e-mail box, I'll do 2 in the morning. The 3rd has a hold on it till the lot next to it is ready in a day or two and then I'll catch both at once.

My old Ford 960 gets quite a work out and I have trouble bending or breaking the right lower lift arm. I carry 2 spares and when I get back to the house I always have to weld one back together or straighten one. I also pull the blades once a week, check them for cracks, and resharpen them. That's a pretty simple deal with the big impact now.

So that's it, I make between $50 and $100 an hour but I work pretty hard for it.

 

[sandman2234]

That Free work gets expensive from time to time. So far, several pins, two hydraulic steering cylinders (seals getting torn up from trees), one nice rear tire and a lot of green paint.
I have been clearing a piece of property for the church and it is getting more expensive than I expected.
David from jax

 

[Dargo]

That Free work gets expensive from time to time. So far, several pins, two hydraulic steering cylinders (seals getting torn up from trees), one nice rear tire and a lot of green paint.
I have been clearing a piece of property for the church and it is getting more expensive than I expected.
David from jax

Boy, don't I know that! I was hogging a small 6 acre lot for a church and 'found' a 3' section of railroad track hidden in the weeds. That's besides the dozens of large rocks, concrete blocks (they simply exploded when I hit them) and other crap. The railroad track destroyed one of my blades. The church said "sorry", and that they'd forgotten that there may have been some "junk" in the lot.

That pro bono work cost me a couple hundred bucks and about 10 hours of work. Oh well...what can you do?

 

[brandon07]

I charge 35 an hour minimum, with a 3 hour minimum, and 50 bucks to load up and show up depending on how long im going to be there and how far away it is. For family I don't charge to load up or my fuel going there just how many hours the tractor ran at 35 an hour.