pricing a tilling job

[RonR]

"tell the prospective customer I have no insurance... and leave it up to them..."

Wow Dave!

Can you visualize your nice potential customer sitting in your house, driving your cars, boats, and tractors, spending your 401K and the total value of your house?????

I can almost guarantee you two things. If you use your CUT on your property and something happens, like it burns up, or you richochette a rock through the patio window or off Junior's forehead, your homeowners insurance will most likely cover it.

I can also almost POSITIVELY guarantee you that if you take your CUT off your property, and do work for hire (even if you do it for free probably), and the same loss or injury occurs, your nice homeowner's insurance is going to point to the fine print in your contract and let you know that you are ON YOUR OWN for this one.

Your formerly nice customer/neighbor/friend's lawyer is going to take you to the cleaners. My tractor never left my property until had had both liabilitity coverage and an inland marine coverage (covers loss to my equipment).

Sure insurance is a bite in the behind. But I couldn't sleep nights knowing I was operating my stuff without coverage.............

Best wishes,
Ron

 

[Dave___in___CT]

Thanks for your input...


I know my homeowner's insurance only covers while on my property... and seperate $1 million off-premesis liability policy is $500 per year... but only if the work is not paid for...

Any idea on the cost of $1 million liability insurance if you get paid for the work ? What kinda' policy covers this ?

Thanks...


Dave...

 

[RonR]

I can't tell you the split, but my inland marine (covers loss of equipment due to off or on property from fire, theft, vandalism, etc) and $1M liability insurance is $950 a year.

I had trouble finding it locally (KS), and several when they heard I had a FEL, said "Enough--we can't cover you if you excavate".

I plan to shop some more at the end of the year to see if I can find it cheaper. But also I'm just starting the biz, and several won't cover you till you've been in biz 2+ years (catch22).

Good Luck.
Ron

 

[tawilson]

I don't have the papers in front of me, but I think $2,000,000 worth of insurance was $700. I know the whole policy was $1300, which included $30,000 worth of equipment coverage and snowplowing insurance. I had to go through a couple of agents before I could find one that even sold it. But it wasn't as much as I expected.

 

[avclay]

Does anyone have a standard "hold harmless" agreement they use? Last time I checked for insurance it was $6k! This was with a dump truck. I'll price just a tractor before the season starts but it seems like I'll be working several jobs before I even pay for the insurance!

 

[RonR]

Hah, that's good AVCLAY!

When I applied for a biz license, the city planner called me and wanted to make sure I wouldn't park a paddle scrapper, dozer, and dump truck either on my street or in the front yard.

When I explained the size of my Bota and that all my stuff would easily fit in my garage or in the back yard, he kinda laughed and said ok..... He said they have to make sure people know with the zoning, you can't convert your home into an industrial park........

On your hold harmless document, my guess is any law school could teach a couple semester classes on how to render your hold harmless document invalid, resulting in you being AT FAULT.

With the way our country is right now, I think you want the full backing of a reputable insurance company behind you with their army of attorneys at the ready in case something happens or you blink and do something stupid.

I think that in assessing what to buy or what jobs to perform, one needs to determine both the cost to acquire and INSURE the product. I don't plan to haul or deliver any products, nor deal with any chemicals (that will jack the bill!), nor sell any products, so I don't have to charge/collect/submit sales taxes.

Good luck with your document! (grin)
Ron

 

[8561]

There often seems to be a lot of confusion on insurance and the homowners policy, specifically coverage for using it on premise as opposed to off premise. If you are interested in an explaination the attached link is a pretty good one.
http://www.faia.com/education/edlibrary/mowers.cfm
This coverage analysis is for a standard homeowners (HO3) policy sold by most companies through an independent agent (not a State Farm/Allstate type, theirs are somewhat different in some aspects).
When reading, Section I refers to property coverage (house, personal belongings, etc.), Section II refers to your liability coverage. In virtually all cases, if you are engaging in a business pursuit (money or the like changes hands), then coverage in most cases will not be available. Always check with your own agent/company for specific advice that applies to you and your situation.

 

[caddison]

Daycab, I am in NW Missouri. My minimum for tilling is $15.00. Some gardens can take a little as 10 minutes, takes longer to unload the tractor! Are you going to be trailering your tractor? Scheduling can also help. Lining up more than one job can make tilling much more profitable.....heck there is no profit but it is fun and you can have a tax write off /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif! Sometimes I would unload my tractor at my mothers whom lived in town and would scedule several jobs throughout the day. If the jobs are close you can do alright....my problem is I like to vist and the 10 minute job turns into 30-45....oh well! Nothing like tilling up a nice garden though! I alos have an hourly rate of $35.00 for larger areas and other jobs such as mowing and loader work.

 

[tawilson]

If you did something at a customers home which required him to file a claim with his homeowners policy, I'll bet that insurance company will come after you no matter what kind of agreement you have, and even if it is ironclad, you will still be paying a lawyer to fight it.

 

[Dave___in___CT]

Hi...

Once you get some history of jobs... total time... costs...
...should be able to set a "per square foot" price for tilling... pre-tilled... & new ground breaking...

Will make pricing easier...


Dave...