Mowing Things I Learned my First Day of Contract Mowing

Golfgar4 · May 28, 2004

Here's a link to a thread Hourly Rates - $9/ft. of Cut Width? that was posted quite awhile ago. It discusses quite a bit how people charge for these kinds of services.

You might find it interesting and informative. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

KiotiJohn · May 29, 2004

( So do you usually charge them for a bit less time than you actually take so they feel like you gave them a deal? )
No Cliff, I don't generally take breaks. I keep water on the tractor while I'm working. Lunch breaks are not included. I actually keep a stop watch on site and it stops and starts for any breaks I MUST take. The first hour is double my hourly rate which starts at $45/hour depending on the job (BH work is up to $10/hour more). This is to cover load/unload time and is about 30min. each way. People around this area are happy to get prices such as this. I've never had anyone complain about the hourly rate with estimate of time, and I've usually been within a few minutes either way on my estimates. I wouldn't bother working for anyone who has a problem with the hourly rate as it's never quite possible to know for sure what one will face on each job. I'm not interested in eating losses because a job turns out to be more than it first appeared. Generaly liability insurance is a must if doing jobs around homes or where damage to the customers property is possible. These are all things each individual has to decide for him/herself. All the costs of operating this type of business are deductible on federal taxes as long as one is pursuing a profit. If too little is charged, you lose on equipment or personal pay. There isn't much you can get done anymore for $45/hour. Just try getting a plumber or electrician at those prices. If you incorporate, you can rent the tractor, barn, and more to the business from you personally. Then you have another set of records to keep, but you can pay yourself rental income from the corporation and not have to pay social security on that income. John

Cliff_Johns · May 29, 2004

Thanks for the analysis, John. Lots of useful discussion on this thread all around.

I don't have plans to do tractor work for anyone else, I have more than enough to do on my own small parcel at the moment, but down the line you never know.

Cliff

smilingreen · May 30, 2004

This is something I had/have been thinking about for the future. some of the concerns I have are as follows and I would like oppinions on these from you al;l experianced folk too.

1. time it takes to transport tractor/ equipment form Home to jobsite, (charge flat rate for time or mileage? or not at all?)

2. insurance for property damage costs of you damage something of theirs, hit a car/well head ect? Normally my farm insurance does not cover anything off my property or if I'm doing commercial work for anyone on / or off my property. ( use of tractor for growing or produce/animal husbandry is not commercial according to my insurance guy, but going to the neighbors and getting $ for mowing HIS land is commercial, but mowing his land and bailing it for MY use is not as it is for ME.) go figure? (not to mention if a blade flew off and hit someone or thing you would be liable)

4. do you charge for different rates for equipment, for a PTO vs ground engauging item? brush hog vs box blade cost more or less?

5. fuel costs on top of it or built into price of it? as brush hogging will use more fuel than box blading ect.

6. estimating time needed, if you figure 2 hrs run time, but time to hook up trailer load tractor & equipment go there unload set up and work is 3+ hrs then have to load & come home... do you estimate in all that or just on a PER hr of work?

ok anyhow just a few things I've been thinking about that others MAY or MAY NOT have thought about.

Mar M 

I charge a transpotaion fee for moving my equipment to a work site. This fee is $40.00/hour with a 1 hour minimum.

Insurance?? Man, I hate that word /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif, but I have a $1,000,000 liability policy on my truck alone and another $1,000,000 liability policy on my equipment, my trailers and myself. Protect yourself up front. You will also find a lot of potential commercial customers will require proof of that amount of insurance before they will consider you for a bid. Residential customers are wowed even better with a big number like that. They figure if you have that much insurance to protect them and yourself, that you are a reputable company and will do the job right the first time for them.

I charge different rates for different equipment. If it is just my tractor and FEL, I charge $45.00/hr. If I am using my tiller, bush hog or other PTO powered ground engaging implements, I charge $50.00/hr. Chainsaws get $50.00/hr. I get $60.00/hr for my motorized extendable pruning chainsaw. Not because it is a big piece of equipment that uses a lot of gas or diesel, but, you try holding a pole saw up in the air for a couple of hours pruning a bunch of tree branches....your arms will hurt like the dickens!

The fuel consumption rate is built into the hourly charge.

Work done is charged at an hourly rate and then transportation charges are tacked on top of it. I use a program that gives a very detailed list of tasks to be performed, the hours it will take and machinery to accomplish the task, and the amount per hour it will cost the customer to use that piece of equipment. Don't try to pad your estimate with a lump sum bid. Most customers are smarter than you think and will bypass your bid if you give them a lump sum estimate with no breakout costs.

Rental equipment that I may have to rent is charged by the amount I have to pay for the equipment rental, the time it takes to go get it and bring it back and then I charge a 40% mark-up. I havn't got 1 complaint yet.

Any employee that works with me gets charged out as general labor at the rate of $25.00/HR.

Any material that I have to buy for a job gets charged out at cost + 40%. This fee comes into play because there is a transportation cost involved with going and getting the material.

Dirt or gravel that is delivered gets charged out at cost + 30%.

If you are in business, you are a "for-profit" company. Make sure you cover all bases and are not losing money on a job. Don't under bid or low-ball a job, just to get it and then find out you are losing money on the job. You won't stay in business very long and the competitors will label you as a low-baller and you will lose their respect. You might ask "Why would I care if the competitors have my respect or not?" After you have established yourself in your community and with other competitors as a reputable business, sometimes the competitors will have more jobs than they can handle and will want to sub out some of their work to a reputable company that they can trust to do the job right the first time, without cutting corners to save costs. If you are labeled with them as a low baller.......guess what? They won't even give you a second thought when they sub out their work. They will figure that you will cut corners to save on costs, and being their sub, that will ultimately give them a bad name, since you will be considered a representative of their compnay on a big job.

Just my $.02 worth of advice!

LBrown59 · Dec 20, 2004

( 1. Make sure you take the gas cap out of the cupholder and put it back on the tank after refueling. )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I aleays put the cap up side down on the seat.
I garantee when you climb basck on the tractor and set down you will know whither or not you put the cap back on the tank.

btolle · Dec 20, 2004

For what is it worth, some prices in East Texas:

I did a spreadsheet the other day on the cost per hour of owning and operating the Kubota B7100 that I owned for 19 months, 215 hours added to the hourmeter while I owned it. Hourly cost including depreciation, maintenance, and fuel came out to $9.22 per hourmeter hour.

Tree cutting:

Had some trees cut last week. 7 pine trees approximately 100' tall, had to be topped because they were fairly close to the house, clean up major limbs and move to back of property, I have to clean up minor limbs and regrade the land. Insured tree cutter charged me $1,000 and kept about 16 logs 14' long that are big enough he can make lumber out of them. Took him about 10 hours with himself, a climber and 2 ground men, Bobcat with grapple, about 8 chainsaws of various sizes and a whole lot of rope! He carries $1 Million insurance policy.

Stump grinder:

$60 per hour to grind those stumps plus a bunch of others that have been cut for about a year and were rotted took him 3 hours. BTW, he had a Bobcat stump grinder with heated and A/C cabin. Slick little machine and he never stopped in those 3 hours. Said it cost him about $34,000 3 years ago.

Backhoe work:

I haven't used the contract backhoe guy in a couple of years but the last time I used him he charged $45 and hour with 3 hour minimum. Charges only for time on the job, no travel time. I suspect he is up to $50 or $55 an hour by now with the diesel fuel price increases. He has about 40 years experience and is really good and fast on a big backhoe.

Labor cost at local Kubota dealer is $55 per shop hour.

This is in a small town in East Texas where labor is usually pretty cheap.

Bill Tolle