Mulch Your Way to a Better........anything!

[AlanB]

Man Rutwad, I do not want to put a damper on your enthusiasm, and I like Man toys as much as the next man, but seems to me that you have the cart a bit ahead of the horse here.

Either way, no matter where you have been before, your here now.

I think you need a two pronged approach.

1. Go talk to a good CPA and set up your business, see what your costs are going to be, the obvious one's and then the not so obvious ones (Gas, truck payments etc. are obvious, in my town the annual tax on the percieved value of my equipment not so obvious) Once you know what your expenses are, and you know what you need to make to survive, get a pricing scheme in your head. You have to decide if you are charging by the hour, minute, day, project whatever, then extrapolate that out to what you are going to tell a customer that job will cost. Do not think that you will have 40 hours a week work doing small jobs.

2. with that type of equipment, I would talk with the folks that could use your services. Utility companies, right of way clearing folks, developers, heck, find you someone selling time share lots and offer them a toaster if they will listen to your sales pitch.... Either way, there are certain (and limited) clients that will utilize your type of service. I would also talk with salesmen in the rental places and where you bought your equipment and make sure they had your card. We can do a fair amount of work with our equipment for what it would cost someone to rent the equipment, it costs the customer the same, and they have far less hassle and aggravation hiring us to do it. As it starts coming in, and you are getting offers of work, you need to know the numbers from line 1, to learn line 2 and that is what the market will bear.

Read the thread about $300 for bush hog work. What may fly no problem in one place, would be considered ludicrous in another area. There is some price point that your particular market will bear and if you are well under it, you are taking money out of your own pocket, well over and you will not continue to have enough work.

If you determine that the market will not bear what you determined you must have in item 1, get out, or get busy coming up with other avenues.

Oh, and as a side point, I would not call it mulching. I understand what you are saying, but it will lead to confusion of folks wanting their flowerbeds mulched.

I would advertise it as land clearing.

Good luck, hope it works well for you.

 

[Highbeam]

I have heard them called forestry mowers. Maybe forest grinding, slash busting, or forest clearing. Mulching makes me think of a lawnmower.

 

[EddieWalker]

My neighbor hired a guy with something similar. It wasn't a skid steer, but longer and maybe taller. The cuter in the front looks similar, but I'm not familiar with different brands.

He hired the guy out of the free classifieds paper that comes out every week. Here it's called the "American Classifieds."

It cost $100 an hour for his services with a one day minimum. My neighbor said he would pay $1,000 and wanted the guy to give him ten hours of service, which he did.

He had him clear a hill side that was way too steep for his tractor. He thought it would take the guy all day to do this, but he finished it in half a day. So to keep him busy, he had him cut trails around his land for fourwheeling.

The results were very impressive!!!

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[HomeBrew2]

$120/hr here w/ 4hr min. Guy is local and has a fulltime job elsewhere. I found him by a flyer on the board at the little country store.

 

[rutwad]

Around here I've heard anywhere from $125-$165 and even $185 for small jobs next to existing work. I have been thinking about $140 as my rate, judge the time it takes to do the job, then give a job price. I don't see where giving a large nearby job a better rate than a 4 hr. 50 mile away job would be wrong.

$140/hr sounds high for almost anything. But look at the $150 you spend for the guy to tint your car windows in 90 minutes. Or the 10 min. oil change that charges over $20 for labor alone. Or the 25 minute yard mowing that just cost you $35. So once I figure how fast I can work, I will start giving job prices instead of hourly rates.

This may not be the best business investment, but it is something I definitely enjoy. Lawncare seems to be better. Way less investment, and approx. 1/2 the hourly rate.


Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I agree about the fliers. I've heard of others placing them at intersections, and I never really liked that idea. I would like to leave them at country stores, hunting supply stores, co-ops, etc.

I have also been considering mailing them to some of the real estate companies/land developers in the area. Or would a personal drop-in and quick explanation with a flier and bus. card left behind be better?

 

[AlanB]

I would think that a personal meeting with prospective serious clients and then leaving a card would go a long way.

From others posts here obviously some of the store flyers worked. I have to think that would be sporadic at best.

I think you need to have that hourly rate in your mind, but quote a job price to the customer, particularly if you are doing it for a homeowner or what not. Just as you did in your post talking about lawncare folks, people go, gee, why am I paying him XX per hour to do that, it is more then I make, but in effect they are paying for the equipment etc. Just as if you had two of those running to double your speed, would you charge the same hourly rate?

Anyway, charging hourly would work if you were dealing with someone in the business and they wanted to use you at will. You do need to have a minimum though to cover windhield time and loading and unloading.

Good luck. Need to write down all your expenses and figure out what you must bring in every week to make it fly, then start knocking on doors till you get the business you need.

 

[HomeBrew2]

One point that really got peoples attention in my area was the use of the mulcher for clearing of brush for "fire prevention" ... much more impact than just landscaping or general cleanup use.

 

[tlbuser]

Around here I've heard anywhere from $125-$165 and even $185 for small jobs next to existing work. I have been thinking about $140 as my rate, judge the time it takes to do the job, then give a job price.

Did you hear these prices from reliable sources (ie the people doing the job)?
Locally, $125 / hour would be pretty steep for clearing / clean-up work. And if I can get it done for $85 - 100, why would I pay more (assuming both bids are for equal amounts of time) ? On the consumer end, what would make your services worth that much more? They would still end up with a lot that's been opened up.

Clearing would be misleading terminology also. When I hear that term, it means removal of the existing material whether by cutting and hauling or by chipping and hauling.

 

[rutwad]

Did you hear these prices from reliable sources (ie the people doing the job)?
Locally, $125 / hour would be pretty steep for clearing / clean-up work. And if I can get it done for $85 - 100, why would I pay more (assuming both bids are for equal amounts of time) ? On the consumer end, what would make your services worth that much more? They would still end up with a lot that's been opened up.

Clearing would be misleading terminology also. When I hear that term, it means removal of the existing material whether by cutting and hauling or by chipping and hauling.

I don't believe you will find this service for $85-100 / hour anywhere.

 

[jimmysisson]

How about scouting out a couple of volunteer projects to get some visibility, not more than a couple-three days, for a church or even your local town or county? You'd get to learn the equipment, and the organization would get something for nothing, and you could have job signs or negotiate a place in an organizational circular or newsletter. It's going to be better to be busy than sitting home paying for the truck lettering.
Jim