Reading through the posts it looks as some things are really universal.
After tilling my friends garden he got different questions from neigbours if and for how much i would till their garden. Local tractor work (AG machinery) runs 20$ per hour.
Yes 20.
And they of course expect to pay less for a smaller machine..
(after hours side jobs with machinery is typically 7$ per hour)
A lot (if not all) of this type of contracting (skidloaders, AG, tilling, wood hauling etc) is still offered here at this pricing. NO calculation behind it at all.
It is as stated above, when machinery and overhead is written of, what stops someone to ask less?
As long as you have competition from these guys (no offence intended) you are basically out of the game if you dont want to sponsor your customer a equipment investment.
In our region it is nevertheless a bit different. A lot of the machinery was bought at the "revolution" time for eh,... well, very democratic pricing. So these machines are making a lot of money for their owners compared to a 2.5 $/hour production job in a factory.
We also have a lot less leasing and loan based purchases so most of the machinery is paid fully and people tend to forget about replacement and write off.
Just because of no calculation and ambition behind their operations it is not uncommon to call a guy you used in the past and get the answer: "i dont do this anymore, the machine broke down so now i am working in a car parts retail shop."

Might want to check with construction companies or gardening companies as they know costs and the price difference in a project is marginal.
