Rototilling price per hour

[workinonit]

It would take you 2 days to till my garden with that.

 

[bmaverick]

Nobody around me wants to pay for tilling by the hour. They expect to pay the same fee for an established garden and a virgin plot. If you could get $100/garden plot I think you'd be doing well. I cannot get that with a much larger setup.

So true. The homesteads around me are within a 15min putt-putt ride from my place to theirs on the tractor. The establish gardens work great. The owners toss on all kinds of compost from early fall till the early Spring. My job isn't to dig deep into their soil, it's the grind the compost into the first 4 inches of soil. I always do a double pass at a minimum. The cinder blocks are set aside or added depending on the depth needed. The 6ft King Kutter with the front ganged notched discs do all the work really. No need for PTO rotary tiller with tines. The rear gang has the smooth discs. They do all the cleanup as if the soil was rotary tilled. So, yeah, $50 is my going rate for several feet to about the 1/8th acre, maybe almost 1/2 acre.

With food prices being so high, I keep encouraging them to enlarge their gardens at no additional costs. Just why do I do this? Well, all of us tend to be either green, brown or black thumbs at gardening, at times some things down the road will do better than the other direction. At harvest time we then barter a bunch.

My compact tractor is just the right side for everyone. Not super tiny like the OPs machine, yet no super huge and heavy to compress the soil down. Those with a Ford 8N in size and power can understand this easily.

My neighbor has a nice Ford 1500 2-cly diesel. He does have a disc harrow, but it's a mere single gang 4ft type. It's mostly used in his pastures. It's like the OPs machine to a degree. Just not stout enough. Maybe a small rotary could work for him.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I was specifically asked what I would do it for, with my machine. I'm not putting in a bid. I'm not buying a new machine that could do it in 1/4 of the time. I'm not worried about my time, it's wear and tear hours on the machine is where I came up with the figure.

And I think you are right. If it takes you 4+ hours, you should be paid $200 for it. I'm just saying most people won't pay $200 for 1/8 acre to be tilled. The job being done is worth maybe $50-$100... The fact it takes you longer with your equipment doesn't make the job worth more, even though your time is.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Nobody around me wants to pay for tilling by the hour. They expect to pay the same fee for an established garden and a virgin plot. If you could get $100/garden plot I think you'd be doing well. I cannot get that with a much larger setup.

Yes, pay per job, not hourly. Imagine having someone bid to frame a house, says it will take him 6 months, so he bids it to be a half years income for him... VS bidding the job, which is really a couple weeks of work for a regular crew.

 

[4570Man]

Yes, pay per job, not hourly. Imagine having someone bid to frame a house, says it will take him 6 months, so he bids it to be a half years income for him... VS bidding the job, which is really a couple weeks of work for a regular crew.

I get the point but framing a house actually is about half the cost of the average salary for one person.