Post Hole Digging Pricing

[RobD70]

I am getting a new land pride 3 point post hole digger to add to my collection of implements and plan to do some work on the side with it to. How do you guys charge for doing post holes? Is it by the hour or by the hole? I am getting 9" and 12" augers, along with the hydraulic down pressure kit. I am in central Wisconsin.

Thanks

Rob

 

[whistlepig]

Fence contractors charge by the foot. Labor and materials. I priced this once and went into sever sticker shock. I built my own. I would charge by the hour. You don't know how much rock you are going to hit when digging. Spud bar slow and no fun. You can give them a rough estimate based on what you considerable reasonable digging ground. But put the onus on the buyer of the service. If it takes that many hours then they are going to pay that many hours. And that is not unreasonable to ask at all.

 

[smstonypoint]

I think pricing practices differ by locale. Iowa State's Custom Rate Survey (https://store.extension.iastate.edu/Product/fm1698-pdf) shows pricing by the hole -- with an average of $3.80 and a range of $2.50 to $5.00.

Steve

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I am getting a new land pride 3 point post hole digger to add to my collection of implements and plan to do some work on the side with it to. How do you guys charge for doing post holes? Is it by the hour or by the hole? I am getting 9" and 12" augers, along with the hydraulic down pressure kit. I am in central Wisconsin.

Thanks

Rob

If you are going to be doing this for $$$, you might want to think about getting a hydraulic side link. That will make it easy to plumb up the auger before you begin drilling.

 

[whistlepig]

We used to live on a hill that was on an old river bed. So much rock that when the post hole was cleared of rock there was no dirt to back fill the post hole. I spent countless hours with a sledge hammer and a spud bar chiseling out rock there. Where we live now is prime farm ground with soft loamy ground. I can dig a post hole in a few minutes here. A post hole here is far different than a post hole there.

 

[RobD70]

I think pricing practices differ by locale. Iowa State's Custom Rate Survey (https://store.extension.iastate.edu/Product/fm1698-pdf) shows pricing by the hole -- with an average of $3.80 and a range of $2.50 to $5.00.

Steve

$2.50 - $5.00 a hole? wow,,,,,that sure is cheap. I cant see it even being worth hauling the tractor and post hole digger then unloading it and drilling a few holes being worth it for that. Or is there like a base price then so much per hole? I normally charge $70-$80/hr for tractor work and was wondering if it would work out just charging hourly. I know soil can change alot around here. Some spots can be nice sandy or light soil to a heavier clay laden soil to that clay with lots of rocks. So where it is easy going one spot, its a pain in the *** the next. I just want to figure out something that will make me some money and be fair to the customer.

 

[smstonypoint]

$2.50 - $5.00 a hole? wow,,,,,that sure is cheap. I cant see it even being worth hauling the tractor and post hole digger then unloading it and drilling a few holes being worth it for that. Or is there like a base price then so much per hole? I normally charge $70-$80/hr for tractor work and was wondering if it would work out just charging hourly. I know soil can change alot around here. Some spots can be nice sandy or light soil to a heavier clay laden soil to that clay with lots of rocks. So where it is easy going one spot, its a pain in the *** the next. I just want to figure out something that will make me some money and be fair to the customer.

The Iowa State survey doesn't give any info on minimum and/or transport charges.

A "fair price" to you would cover your ownership and operating costs (including your labor rate) as well as providing a profit as a reward for your management and risks. On the other hand, customers may have a different idea of what is "fair."

Steve

 

[whistlepig]

For tractor work there is a minimum charge for loading up and the hauling of the equipment. That's a given. If you charge $70.00-$80.00 hourly your rate would be determined on how many post holes that you think your equipment can dig in an hour. Nobody can set that rate except you. It is your equipment and your pace. You would be the only one to know.

 

[bdog]

I would not think you could make money digging post holes with a 3pt digger. I have dug probably in excess of 1000 holes. I hate 3 point hole diggers. To get real production you need one on a loader. I have one on a skid steer and it is so easy to position and it drills fast with the down force. If the locations are marked in advance I could probably drill 200+holes a day with the skid steer. With a 3 point digger in my area I have spent 30 minutes per hole.

You biggest problem is going to be people wanting 4 holes or something like that. On a big job the per hole works good if you can drill them quickly but most of the time you are going to spend more time hooking up your digger, loading tractor, driving there, unloading, loading, driving back, unloading, unhooking than you will actually digging. I don't do any work like that for other people anymore but if I did I would not even show up to do any thing for less than $250.

 

[RobD70]

I would not think you could make money digging post holes with a 3pt digger. I have dug probably in excess of 1000 holes. I hate 3 point hole diggers. To get real production you need one on a loader. I have one on a skid steer and it is so easy to position and it drills fast with the down force. If the locations are marked in advance I could probably drill 200+holes a day with the skid steer. With a 3 point digger in my area I have spent 30 minutes per hole.

You biggest problem is going to be people wanting 4 holes or something like that. On a big job the per hole works good if you can drill them quickly but most of the time you are going to spend more time hooking up your digger, loading tractor, driving there, unloading, loading, driving back, unloading, unhooking than you will actually digging. I don't do any work like that for other people anymore but if I did I would not even show up to do any thing for less than $250.

I understand what your saying. I normally charge $80/hr and no travel charge if its fairly close. I did some reading on the 3 point post hole digger and think money can be made, while I wont get rich off it, I think I can make some. I also got the down pressure kit with this one. I should say ordered it as it has not got here yet. Almost everybody I read about or asked said they would get it. The ones who dont have it wish they got that down pressure kit right away. With the 3 point, you only get the weight of the post hole digger for down pressure and that works in softer soils and not so much in harder, rocky type soil. Basically it is another service I can offer. If I dont make alot with it, then I still have it to use whenever I want.

 

[adventure bob]

If you put your tractor on a trailer and take it off its going to be at least an hour plus gas to and from. So charge your regular hourly rate X 1hr for setup and then I recomend $10/hole. Customers always want the ability to do the total cost calcuilation and the "per hole" cost is a decent marketing tool. $10 hole averages out relatively well for really easy holes and really hard ones. Dollar cost averaging. The only other variable is depth. You may need an extension to hit some depths. If theyre all the same no issue, but if a customer wants some shallow and some really deep then you have to be prepared for that. Without an extension my auger will hit about 30" max.

 

[bdog]

A down pressure kit will definitely help. I have never used one but I wonder how much down force they put and if they can do it through the whole range of motion. Where I am at we have no rocks but the ground can be very hard. On my skid steer I often push down so hard it starts to lift the skid steer.

Another thing you have to worry about is when you get into soft ground you can corkscrew the auger in and get it stuck. My hydralic auger is reversible so it is easy to get out but I have seen 3 point hole diggers get stuck bad to where you couldn't lift them out and had to disconnect and get a huge pipe wrench and try to reverse them out.

Not trying to discourage you just some things to think about.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Someone that knows what they are doing will very rarely if ever cork screw an auger in the ground.

I personally have ground that can be so hard that even with water it would take 2 days to drill an 18" dia hole 36" deep. Put a down pressure kit on the PHD and that 2 days just became less than 3 minutes with no water at all.:thumbsup:

Yes if you want to, you can have a constant down pressure, the systems are set up to do that, most people just don't know it though.

I prefer a 3pt setup, I have a straight line of sight that is less than 8 feet. Out on the front of a loader on a tractor, not a skidsteer, it's much further and if the auger is mounted in the center as it should be to be able to put the stresses on the loader equally, you can't see anything.

Plus with the auger on the loader, you just lost the use of the loader. I can use my loader right along with my 3pt PHD.

Everyone likes a certain thing a certain way, and that's all fine, but it usually is not the only way and may or may not be the best way for a person's own circumstances and conditions.

Just my :2cents:

 

[RobD70]

A down pressure kit will definitely help. I have never used one but I wonder how much down force they put and if they can do it through the whole range of motion. Where I am at we have no rocks but the ground can be very hard. On my skid steer I often push down so hard it starts to lift the skid steer.

Another thing you have to worry about is when you get into soft ground you can corkscrew the auger in and get it stuck. My hydralic auger is reversible so it is easy to get out but I have seen 3 point hole diggers get stuck bad to where you couldn't lift them out and had to disconnect and get a huge pipe wrench and try to reverse them out.

Not trying to discourage you just some things to think about.

From what I have seen, the down pressure kit mounts on the post hole digger itself. It looks like it may have pressure for awhile, then the cylinder would need to be retracted and the auger run to the bottom of the hole, then apply the pressure again. I read it puts about 500 lbs of force down on the auger. I cant imagine how bad it would suck to have to dig your auger out that cork screwed into the ground like that. I believe you can still drill holes with this, without using the down pressure cylinder, so it would be just the weight of the auger. So for soft ground, you drill holes normally, and hard ground use the down pressure kit. I know this is not the perfect setup, but should work well for what I would be doing. If I had a skidsteer, I would go the same route you did. Putting enough down force on the auger to lift the skidsteer is alot. If you cant drill through it doing that, something is wrong. Here is the post hole digger I got.....

PD25 Series Post Hole Diggers | Land Pride

 

[Hiltz]

I am getting a new land pride 3 point post hole digger to add to my collection of implements and plan to do some work on the side with it to. How do you guys charge for doing post holes? Is it by the hour or by the hole? I am getting 9" and 12" augers, along with the hydraulic down pressure kit. I am in central Wisconsin.

Thanks

Rob

I have done jobs drilling post holes and this is how I charged. 10 to 20 holes were $15.00 each hole. 20 to 40 holes were charged $10.00 per hole. more than 40 holes were $5.00 per hole. I did not do a lot of jobs over 40 holes. Mostly these jobs were for backyard decks or small inclosures. For the small jobs it simply wasn't worth the hassle to charge by the hour as around this area its mostly about 6 inches of topsoil and then sand or soft clay. You can drill a lot of holes in soft soil in an hour and charging by that method is not worth it.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

From what I have seen, the down pressure kit mounts on the post hole digger itself. It looks like it may have pressure for awhile, then the cylinder would need to be retracted and the auger run to the bottom of the hole, then apply the pressure again. I read it puts about 500 lbs of force down on the auger. I cant imagine how bad it would suck to have to dig your auger out that cork screwed into the ground like that. I believe you can still drill holes with this, without using the down pressure cylinder, so it would be just the weight of the auger. So for soft ground, you drill holes normally, and hard ground use the down pressure kit. I know this is not the perfect setup, but should work well for what I would be doing. If I had a skidsteer, I would go the same route you did. Putting enough down force on the auger to lift the skidsteer is alot. If you cant drill through it doing that, something is wrong. Here is the post hole digger I got.....

PD25 Series Post Hole Diggers | Land Pride

Yes you can use the PHD as normal with zero use of the down pressure. Not sure why you think that it only works at the top and the bottom,:confused3: it can work through the entire motion from top to bottom.

If you really plan on doing this as a job for hire, you should think about getting ALL the different size augers.

Just another :2cents:

 

[RobD70]

Yes you can use the PHD as normal with zero use of the down pressure. Not sure why you think that it only works at the top and the bottom,:confused3: it can work through the entire motion from top to bottom.

If you really plan on doing this as a job for hire, you should think about getting ALL the different size augers.

Just another :2cents:

I am getting a 6" auger to. I will add them as money allows me to. I will have the 6", 9", and 12". I think the 15", 18" and 24" is left. Im thinking it may have to be soft soil for my tractor to turn a 18" or 24" auger into the ground to far.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I am getting a 6" auger to. I will add them as money allows me to. I will have the 6", 9", and 12". I think the 15", 18" and 24" is left. Im thinking it may have to be soft soil for my tractor to turn a 18" or 24" auger into the ground to far.

It won't matter with the down pressure kit, pretty much all the same. Actually for your rig, the hard ground might actually be easier to drill.

 

[tmc_31]

RobD70,

Welcome to the wonderful world of hole drilling. I have a skid steer that I drill holes with (among other things). I have a Bobcat C15 auger drive and 12" and a 36" augers. I also have extensions to get me down to 10' or so.

Usually I charge by the hour for my skidsteer and I have a 3 hour minimum. A couple of months ago a fellow asked me to dig 4-12"X48" holes in his back yard. I told him what my rate structure was and he was fine with that. It took all of about 5 minutes per hole to drill them. It worked out to a little over $50/hole. Of course, what he didn't see was the time it took to load up the skid, the auger drive and auger, drive to his place unload, reload after the job was done, drive back to my house and unload again and store the equipment. Fortunately, he did understand and was happy to pay my price. He hired me a few weeks later to come back and set some trusses for the porch that he was building. We have a foundation drilling contractor here that has the equipment to drill a 9' dia. hole 30' deep and deeper. He would have charged my customer over $1000.00 to drill those 4 little holes. He would have had to to support the investment in his machinery and workforce.

One tidbit I will pass on to you as I have not seen anybody mention it yet. Before you stick that auger in the ground, call for locates (811). You will get calls from people wanting to fence their land along a road (just where the power co, the tele co, the cable co and the water co lay their wires and pipes) and you run a risk of drilling right down through that stuff. Yeah, it takes time to go out, mark it and call for the locates then wait the required time (usually 48 hours), but it beats the heck out of drilling down through a primary power line, a gas line or a fiber line. Those get real expensive real quick. While I prefer to do this myself, I occasionally will allow the customer to mark the holes and call 811. When the customer does it, I require that he show me the report.

Tim

 

[MtnViewRanch]

One tidbit I will pass on to you as I have not seen anybody mention it yet. Before you stick that auger in the ground, call for locates (811). You will get calls from people wanting to fence their land along a road (just where the power co, the tele co, the cable co and the water co lay their wires and pipes) and you run a risk of drilling right down through that stuff. Yeah, it takes time to go out, mark it and call for the locates then wait the required time (usually 48 hours), but it beats the heck out of drilling down through a primary power line, a gas line or a fiber line. Those get real expensive real quick. While I prefer to do this myself, I occasionally will allow the customer to mark the holes and call 811. When the customer does it, I require that he show me the report.

Tim

ABSOLUTELY :thumbsup: