I find that bidding the job works way better. People tend to get upset with an hourly rate especially if it's more than they make. You're about to hear a bunch of ridiculous prices for how much it cost to operate a tractor. I had a L3240 that I bought used with loader, grapple, backhoe. I used it 700 hours and sold it for what I had in it. The local rental places weekly rate on the biggest CTL they've got and a 50 series mini ex was somewhere around $40 an hour. Both of those pieces cost more to buy and maintain than a tractor. At a 40 dollar an hour operating cost my machine would have deprecated to a negative amount as 40x700=28000 and I didn't sell my machine for that much.
I put together a spreadsheet to figure my hourly cost.
For example:
HST filter cost $78 and needs changed every 200hrs.......................thats $0.39/hr
Trans, air, and fuel filter cost $90 every 400hrs.......................................$0.225/hr
Engine oil and filter.....$55..........200hrs ...............................................$0.275/hr
Super UDT oil............$150.........400hrs................................................$0.375/hr
Front tires ...........$400.........they last 1000hrs......................................$0.40/hr
Rear tires............$700...........they last 2000hrs.....................................$0.35/hr
Fuel. 2.5gal/hr.........~$2.50/gal............................................................$6.25/hr
Bushhog blades................$250.............replace every 200hrs..................$1.25/hr
Business insurance......Cost $600/yr.......put 200hrs / year on tractor..........$3.00/hr
Total tractor operating cost.................................................................~$12.50/hr
Factor in depreciation on tractor. Sure, the tractor will still have value after 5000hrs, but probably not without some major expense or rebuilds. So just assume tractor is going to be next to worthless at 5000hrs. Cost $20,000
So add
$4/hr depreciation
Now add the truck and trailer cost....as its part of doing business as well.
Truck tires and trailer. Need them every 5 years. Which equates to 1000hrs of tractoring.
Truck tires...............$1000 ever 1000hrs approx on tractor.......................$1.00/hr
Trailer tires............Same $1000 ever 1000hrs.........................................$1.00/hr
Truck maintenance (oil, filters, brakes, etc).....$200/yr..............................$1.00/hr
Truck/trailer insurance.......................$1250/yr.......................................$6.25/hr
Truck fuel for hauling....500gal/yr........$1250/yr......................................$6.25/hr
Total truck and trailer expense..............................................................$15.50/hr
Truck and trailer depreciation, that at some point will need replace also. Probably $25k over 10years (and that may be low). So that factors about
$12.50/hr as well.
Pushing $
45/hr just to be able to be in business.
Sure, the truck and business expenses I correlate to hours based on the assumption of running the tractor for 200hrs a year for business. Obviously the more the tractor is used per year, the less the truck cost in terms of hours. But 200 is a good average for me over the last 3-4 years of commercial mowing.
And people wonder why my target is $75/hr.....or why I want $175 just to show up.
Guys running around with a broke down 1980's half ton, with an 8n and 5' hog, and no insurance, working for beer money.......no they dont have the overhead. You also never seem them on commercial accounts, or bank jobs to clean up abandoned properties, or realtor jobs for building lots, etc.