Need help estimating a job

[weesa20]

My neighbor asked me to excavate an area in front of his house between the road and the sidewalk which is 50 feet long, 5 feet wide and 6 inches deep and replace the clay with some decent soil. I have done this on my own property so I know there are no power or water lines to worry about. The job will include moving the bad soil and discarding it, bringing in new soil at 10 bucks a yard x 2 yards and then prepping the seed bed. I plan to rototill the bad soil to make removal easy. I will need to rent a trailer at ~50 bucks to bring in the soil, but I will also use it for my own use, so I only plan to charge half price. I will be running my GC2300 with tiller and FEL.

Any thoughts on a price?

Thanks

W

 

[dirtworksequip]

Its hard for someone else to estimate a job for you because.... .We don't know how long it will take you. Just figure out how much time you think it will take you. You did the same type work at lyour place so you should have some idea of the time involved.Then figure out what you want an hour for your tractor.Multiply the time X per hour rate.Then add your other cost of soil and the trailer One other important part is how far are you going to have to carry or haul the soil you are removing?
Or you could just tell him you need x amount per hour and the cost is what ever it comes out to time wise.

 

[HTWT]

You need to estimate the time for each activity and your hourly rate.
1. rototilling 1/4-1/2 hr.
2. removing clay 1/2 hr.
3. spreading TS 1/4-1/2 hr.
4. smothing TS (hand rake) 1/2-1 hr.
Who is picking up the rototiller, who is hauling the TS and how far, how much TS can you carry in one load. You need 4.5 to 5 Yd. around 2500 Lb./Yd. I charge $60/Hr. with a $100 minimum. I have a bigger tractor and would take less time, but you need to charge what you feel comfortable with and cover wear and tear on your eequipment.

 

[weesa20]

Thanks guys for your replies...I will probably just tell him 40 bucks and hour plus cost of TS. That is the easiest way I think.

W

 

[bigtiller]

Instead of charging him for the work, ask him if he would mind if you played in his yard for a while. Maybe he would come out to watch and do a little of the hand work with a shovel to help finish the job. The two of you could become good friends over this. And as a pluss, if you messed something up maybe he wouldn't sue you because it was free to him. And if things worked out perfectly there is a good chance he would pay you more money in gratitude than you were thinking of charging.

 

[john_bud]

Along the lines of bigtiller's thoughts; Whatever you think is a good price per hour (40?) write up a contract, by hand is fine. Put your price as $20/hour higher, then at the bottom of the contract put in a "good neighbor" discount. That drops the price by the $20 per hour in exchange for him being a good neighbor and accepting all liability for your hitting underground utilities and other hazards that may occur.

Everybody likes a discount!

jb

 

[weesa20]

Big- If I had seen him out trying to do the work by hand, I would have offered to do it for free with the tractor and expected nothing in return except "good neighbor" type stuff. He has come over three times to ask me to do it in the last two days and everytime he has said he doesn't care what it costs, just give a price and he'll send a check. I think he would feel bad being "obligated" to me if I didn't charge him something. He's an older guy and can't do much in return for me but they ahve enough $$ to cover this job. (Just bought a new Acura and Camry in the same week)

W

 

[gotrocks]

bringing in new soil at 10 bucks a yard x 2 yards

I get 5feet x 50feet x 6 inches deep will be over 4 cu.yards.

 

[randy41]

a little more than 4 1/2

5x50x.5=125/27=4.6+

if the job takes more than an hour or so you should charge him for it at whatever the going rate in your area is. i dont know about you guys but i would feel funny having a neighbor who is not a close friend spend his valuable time doing work for me for nothing. i'm sure your neighbor feels the same way.

 

[RonR]

My situtation is a little different. I live in town, and my neighbors put up with seeing my trailer in the back yard, and my tractor noise and action as I go to "real paying jobs" in my side biz.

So for nearest neighbors, the work for them is FREE if it's doing something simple. I've trenched in a waterline for one neighbor, aererated lawns for 4 neighbors, helped dig up tree roots for another. All FREE. I consider it good will.

If I were in your situation, I'd charge the cost of material, and $100. Call it the "Double Discounted Price". I've done work for other close friends that take up to a half day at that rate. My fear was their neighbors would ask me to do work--especially hearing what I charged them. By refering to it as the Double Discount, I can normal bid other jobs and avoid the "But you only charged Bob $100........."

I would caution that if you do not have liability insurance on your machine, I would NOT charge a dime. I might be wrong, but if I am doing free neighborly work for someone and damage someone or something, I think the courts would look more favorably on me. If I am charging as in running a business and don't have insurance, it's total exposure time! I might be wrong on this, but before I had a commercial liabilty policy, I didn't take my tractor off my property, period! Your mileage may vary.......................

Ron