How much to charge/

[tmc_31]

LD1, it is a pain to use my old method but, it beat the heck out of walking around a large property with a measuring wheel in the hot sun. The Google Planimeter will make this chore much easier. I still will be walking the properties (or riding on a gas powered raised golf cart) to get an idea of what kind of obstructions might be lying in wait

Again, thanks

Tim

 

[creekbend]

That's just enough information to turn the job down. I think I'll pass and recommend he find someone with swather and baler.

Thanks guys.

I think that is probably a wise decision. If the weeds and grass are fairly tall and haven't been mowed in awhile, there remains the possibility that various unseen problems are concealed in the undergrowth that would cause damage to your Tractor and Equipment. This could most definitely result in costly repairs and become a losing proposition in the long run. Just a thought?

 

[bcp]

The only thing I dont like is that it uses google. Google IMO is by far the worst of the 3 aerial satellite veiw programs I use. It is always the worst resolution and most outdated. Infact, it shows my property image as it was in 2006-2007. So it is 5+ years outdated.

Check your own area with each photo server for the most recent photos. Weather.com has the oldest for mine.

Bruce

 

[LD1]

Check your own area with each photo server for the most recent photos. Weather.com has the oldest for mine.

Bruce

I figured there would be differences. I wonder what everyone else experiences are. Everything I have looked at around central ohio, weather.com is the clearest and newest.

With weather being the oldest in your area, who is newer? mapquest or google? and who has the better clarity/resolution?

 

[tmc_31]

In my area, Google Earth has the latest imagery. The image of my house is a little over a year old. Also the resolution is as good as any of them. I tried the MapQuest and was not able to zoom in enough for it to be useful.

I have been using Google Earth for a long time. I use it to preview job sites all over the nation. What I have found is that usually the metropolitan areas have the best resolution and the rural areas (unless it is an area of special interest) has the worst. I have seen a marked improvement in general of the resolution all over the US over the years.

In my day job, I install sports lighting equipment for baseball fields, football fields etc. I have found that I can create working drawings from a Google Earth image and that it will be accurate to within a few feet when I finally get to the job site. Before Google Earth I used Terraserver. I had a subscription to it. It was a bit cumbersome to use, and the imagery was not nearly as up to date as what we have available to us now. The Google Planimeter also is a little cumbersome to use although the imagery is very good. I wish Google would include that feature in the Google earth measuring tool.

Tim

 

[Todd727]

Weather.com is just using Bing maps, which is Microsoft Maps, which I believe is still TerraServer.

 

[tmc_31]

I was just at the Google Earth site to make a suggestion that they expand their ruler features to include an area function. Before I sent that request, I checked out Google Earth Pro. Low and behold, the area function is part of the ruler tool in the Pro version. Pretty cool, but a $399.00/yr I think I'll pass. Google Planimeter is looking really good to me now:thumbsup:

Tim

 

[tmc_31]

My apologies walterc, we kind of got a little off topic here. I hope you got all of you questions answered. If not, please chime in!!

Tim

 

[LD1]

Weather.com is just using Bing maps, which is Microsoft Maps, which I believe is still TerraServer.

Not true. At least in my area.

Here is bing of my house. (if you can even make anything out)


It is by far the worst of them. Definatally NOT what weather.com uses as you can clearly see.

 

[Mrfarmertrees]

I've been mowing part time since 1992, back then I used a small 5' mower. Every time I mowed a large tract something would break on the mower or the tractor. The equipment just was not heavy enough to take the beating of the terrain. Kept buying larger equipment until now I have a 90 HP tractor and 15' batwing. Just like several folks have already mentioned I read a lot on the forums about what other contractors are doing (especially FWJ) and have made several changes in my business practices such as general liability, CDL, commercial insurance. Mr TMC_31 had an excellent post on page 3 of this thread.

After my minimum is met, I charge $30+ an acre. I base my estimates on mowing 5 acres an hour. Unless there are a lot of trees I can hit that mark pretty close on most jobs. I don't give discounts unless I mow monthly for the same customer. My reasoning is that I could be doing another job making the money I'd lose money if I charge less. Being insurance poor is very expensive, so far my insurance company doesn't give me any discounts to pass on to my customers. So I would have to charge at least $3K for the job. Most of my jobs are 10 to 30 acres.

Would I do 100 acres with a 5' mower? No way. It's to hard on small equipment, not to mention the toll it does to the body. I couldn't hardly walk for a day after mowing 10 - 12 hours on a small tractor. And more importantly unless I have insurance the risk isn't worth it.

Good luck on your decision.