North Country
Gold Member
Ah, that makes sense. Sounds like good pay for seat time!
What to charge for snowplowing
- Thread starter foggy1111
- Start date
- Views: 9958
Ah, that makes sense. Sounds like good pay for seat time!
grsthegreat
Super Star Member
What i don't get is the average joe will spend as much or more for a new truck, but wouldn't ever think of charging $75/hr just to drive it. But they think they should get $75/hr for a tractor.
They don't want to add time to their tractor for fear of decreasing its value, but drive all over in their $45,000 truck without giving it a second thought.
Makes no sense to me. For me a tractor is just another tool. When i haul my van and tools to a jobsite i charge for my time working...not my van and tools i have present. I charge the same hourly rate whether I'm using just a screwdriver or I'm using a $1,000 set of hydraulic hole punches.
So the continual complaining of not charging enuf really gets frustrating. I simply charge a rate that others are willing to pay, If i raised my rate to $50/driveway, my tractor would sit at home and someone else would get my winter work.
They don't want to add time to their tractor for fear of decreasing its value, but drive all over in their $45,000 truck without giving it a second thought.
Makes no sense to me. For me a tractor is just another tool. When i haul my van and tools to a jobsite i charge for my time working...not my van and tools i have present. I charge the same hourly rate whether I'm using just a screwdriver or I'm using a $1,000 set of hydraulic hole punches.
So the continual complaining of not charging enuf really gets frustrating. I simply charge a rate that others are willing to pay, If i raised my rate to $50/driveway, my tractor would sit at home and someone else would get my winter work.
Gale Hawkins
Super Member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2009
- Messages
- 8,268
- Location
- Murray, KY
- Tractor
- 1948 Allis Chambers Model B 1976 265 MF / 1983 JD 310B Backhoe / 1966 Ford 3000 Diesel / 1980 3600 Diesel
Good points.
My FIL died with cash in the bank. On tractor work the way he looked at it was if he could do a $50 job and use $5 in fuel when the tractor was back in the shed it was just as good of a tractor and he had $45 in his pocket that other wise would not have been there.
If he wanted to take his sister and brother and spouses out to eat catfish he viewed that he did it with the neighbor's cash and not money out of his bank account.:laughing:
I can tell you that kind of thinking can add up over the years.:thumbsup:
We have the 1976 265 MF now and the BIL the 1951 MF 30? and I can tell you neither tractor is worth LESS money because of tractor jobs that he did over the years with either tractor. This is just one real world observation.
dmay
Gold Member
I would charge travel time and tractor time separately. Travel time might be shared if jobs are close and becomes an incentive for neighbors or businesses to join up and contract with you.
I'd base both on $1/minute ($60/hr).
Lets say you get called out for three homes on the same street.
Travel time = 15 mins one-way, 30 mins return = $30 shared by 3 = $10 each
Job 1 = 15 mins = $15 + $10 = $25
Job 2 = 15 mins = $15 + $10 = $25
Job 3 = 30 mins = $30 + $10 = $40
Lets say you get called out for one business.
Travel time = 15 mins one-way, 30 mins return = $30
Job 1 = 45 mins = $45 + $30 = $75
I'd base both on $1/minute ($60/hr).
Lets say you get called out for three homes on the same street.
Travel time = 15 mins one-way, 30 mins return = $30 shared by 3 = $10 each
Job 1 = 15 mins = $15 + $10 = $25
Job 2 = 15 mins = $15 + $10 = $25
Job 3 = 30 mins = $30 + $10 = $40
Lets say you get called out for one business.
Travel time = 15 mins one-way, 30 mins return = $30
Job 1 = 45 mins = $45 + $30 = $75
grsthegreat
Super Star Member
Ok, today it rained...and rained... and rained all day long. Coming down real hard at times. Rained all last night also.
Needless to say the rain and 41F weather has played havoc with the roads and my property. So i spent a good portion of the morning pushing slush.
The snow was soooo wet that it was kind of useless trying to blow it.
So i put on the plow and this did a wonderful job. I was able to plow 2-1/2 miles of road with a 4" deep wet slop on it by 21 feet wide in 2 hrs, 5 minutes.
I get $250.00 for removal of this slop. So if i figure in $27/hr for equipment, 5 Gal of fuel (i measured) = $20.00 = $74.00 for 2 hours equip and fuel
Now 250 - 74 = $176 for me or $88.00 per hour. SEAT time. so i think im doing ok at the prices i charge.
Needless to say the rain and 41F weather has played havoc with the roads and my property. So i spent a good portion of the morning pushing slush.
The snow was soooo wet that it was kind of useless trying to blow it.
So i put on the plow and this did a wonderful job. I was able to plow 2-1/2 miles of road with a 4" deep wet slop on it by 21 feet wide in 2 hrs, 5 minutes.
I get $250.00 for removal of this slop. So if i figure in $27/hr for equipment, 5 Gal of fuel (i measured) = $20.00 = $74.00 for 2 hours equip and fuel
Now 250 - 74 = $176 for me or $88.00 per hour. SEAT time. so i think im doing ok at the prices i charge.
rsewill
Veteran Member
I am recently retired and bought my 1999 Deere 4100 w/47" two stage blower ($7500, 1200 hours, 60" MMM) this past spring just to have a reliable, comparatively heavy duty snowblower. My last blower was an 8 HP walk-behind four year old Craftsman that never ran right, shutting off unexpectedly for no reason. (I bought the extended warranty, Sears has been out four times and can't find the problem even when it happened with the tech watching.) My 18 year old son put up with it, I wouldn't. He's away at college now so I got the Deere.
I use the 4100 for no other purpose than to clear snow. I have a zero-turn for the lawn. I have a modest 50' x 30' driveway. I live in a typical suburban neighborhood in south central Minnesota where we don't get a lot of snow (50 to 60 inches) but what we do get tends to hang around all winter so a snowblower helps avoid having big piles of plowed snow.
I enjoy the seat time so after our recent 6" snowfall I blew about a dozen drives in the neighborhood; gratis. If they had not already cleared their drives, I did - unasked. I also go out at 5 or 6 in the morning after the city plow comes through and do a large number of drives as most people haven't even gotten out to clear what the plow pushed up. It doesn't take me very long.
I don't shovel what I can't blow; for example, near garage doors.
In the past a neighbor hired my son to do a drive similar in size to mine. He charged $20. For the drive the original poster described I would have charged $35.
I use the 4100 for no other purpose than to clear snow. I have a zero-turn for the lawn. I have a modest 50' x 30' driveway. I live in a typical suburban neighborhood in south central Minnesota where we don't get a lot of snow (50 to 60 inches) but what we do get tends to hang around all winter so a snowblower helps avoid having big piles of plowed snow.
I enjoy the seat time so after our recent 6" snowfall I blew about a dozen drives in the neighborhood; gratis. If they had not already cleared their drives, I did - unasked. I also go out at 5 or 6 in the morning after the city plow comes through and do a large number of drives as most people haven't even gotten out to clear what the plow pushed up. It doesn't take me very long.
I don't shovel what I can't blow; for example, near garage doors.
In the past a neighbor hired my son to do a drive similar in size to mine. He charged $20. For the drive the original poster described I would have charged $35.
devildog1
Veteran Member
Around my area the contractors won't drop there blade for less then $35.00 for a 50' driveway. Now thats usually takes them about 15 to 20 minutes, but hey as others have said the equipment cost lots of $$. Where I actually live is rural, and out of the 5 homes in a two mile stretch 3 are dairy farmers with huge AG tractors 1 is a contractors Morton building workshop and 1 is a widower in her mid seventy's. I plow or blow her 125' driveway and have never asked her for $ because she is my closest neighbor and our land joins, but in all realty she is a great neighbor and I do like the seat time.
DevilDog
DevilDog
wetstuff
Silver Member
... about that phone call in March; "You wrecked my blacktop!"
Is there a way when they hand you $35 (whatever) .. you simply get them to sign the receipt that also says something to the effect; 'I understand Plowing snow is not without potential hazards to the ground beneath the snow .. yatta-yatta.'
It would be a pizzer if someone decided to take advantage of "your insurance company" to spruce up their drive before they listed the house.
Jim
Is there a way when they hand you $35 (whatever) .. you simply get them to sign the receipt that also says something to the effect; 'I understand Plowing snow is not without potential hazards to the ground beneath the snow .. yatta-yatta.'
It would be a pizzer if someone decided to take advantage of "your insurance company" to spruce up their drive before they listed the house.
Jim
grsthegreat
Super Star Member
well where i live.... no one has blacktop or concrete driveways to worry about.... its all gravel man. I have about 600 feet of driveway..it would bankrupt me to either asphalt or concrete it...and besides that would ruin my sleigh riding.
Dr_Zinj
Veteran Member
Not really. Most people living in the country are families, not single people. And family life is a condition of constant compromise, even in the most autocratic and tyrannical of families. I've been living here for 10 years and only this year finally managed to convince the wife we needed a real tractor instead of beat up, obsolete lawn or garden tractors to do the work and a contractor to do the work of snow removal.
Cost us almost $800 last year for plowing. (500 feet by 15 feet wide for our section of the 1400 ft drive) Which dropped the breakeven costs for my tractor into the convincing zone.