What's the going rate?

Rowski · Jul 3, 2002

Re: What\'s the going rate?

Dan,

Yes I did. I ended up charging $35 per hour. It would have been nice to be at the $40 dollar mark. But on the other hand there will be some hand work so I think it will even out. I'm not working on a strict time frame, more at my leasure. I did mention to him that he will pay my hourly rate to grease my equipment and service the chipper. He was all fine with it. He is a "neighbor" so driving the tractor there takes about 15 minutes which is part of my billing time. I guess I'll see how it goes. I have about 5 to 6 hours of chipping at this time with about another 4 to 6 hours by fall. I will also have to ditch a log road that runs up a hill to divert water away from their gardens and house, that could be an on going thing. Cut some brush. Remove rather large windfallen trees from his log roads and remove the skidder ruts (some are 3ft to 4 ft deep). Possibly finish landscaping about 1/3 of an acre with grass (used to be the log landing). So if he holds true to what he told me I'll have my work cut out for me. I was helping him (shopping advce) with the purchasing a smaller tractor "B series" with implenets. But he mentioned that at his age, the amout of time they spend at the house (second home), no tractor experience and the price tag of the tractor with proper implements... he figures its bet to do it this way. Not to often you get to do something you really like and get payed for it.

I do like your way of figuring out how much to charge. I'll have to sit down and figure it out and see where I'm at.

Rowski · Jul 3, 2002

Re: What\'s the going rate?

That's interesting too. I will probably do the same if it is smaller one time job. This guy will probably give me, I'm guessing here... about 30 hours of work this summer. Pretty hot & steamy lately? Was chipping yesterday in the early eveing, talk about sweating! The bugs didn't even want to have anything to do with me! Maybe we could have a get together again soon?

snowman · Jul 3, 2002

Re: What\'s the going rate?

It's common practice to charge for the machine and labor time separately. In other words, charge $45 per hour for your time and $70 per hour for your machine time.

I had a bill come in the other day where they charged an hourly rate for the foreman's pickup!

lblair · Jul 4, 2002

Re: What\'s the going rate?

I charge 25.00 per hour for all times. So far im doing ok. Its a side thing for me and not my main income. I could be busy every night and all weekend. But this last job i did, brush hogging...what a mess. Most people will tell you, oh theres no junk in there...yeah right well. I ended up using the front end loader more than the Brush hog. needless to say junk wasnt the word. How about 3 flat tires on a burried deck. I hope that slime stuff works. I read about it here and TSC had it. My 50.00 dollar job used 30.00 to fix the leaks. So far this is the first job i had that i about lost money. I put slime in all my tires just in case. any comments on slime would be great. Gotta go now my tires are still up and i got 2 jobs today to do. Both are about 3 hours each and i charged flat rate for them...both easey work and 125 bucks each and both people said DO IT!!! so if all goes well with my payed day from work this will be a 500.00 day!
Larry

Rowski · Sep 8, 2002

Re: What\'s the going rate?

Well... The moonlighting is going well. I have some minimal manual labor of cutting brush and trees, moved some field stone, piled up some old half rotten brush for burning (thumb worked well for that), started reclaiming some overgrown stone wall (not an actual wall, mostly larger rocks pushed in a waving line), and my most popular service.... the chipper. I have over 20 hours of chipper time.

Many thanks for the input on the hourly rate. The amount seems fine with my customers and works for me, could always be more/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif. I do have a question regarding the hourly rate for the chipper. Does it seem to make sense to charge a little extra for the chipper say an extra $5 per hour due to the expense, complexity, and future service costs of the chipper? I'm sure it makes sense to me or the owner of the equipment but more from a customer's point of view.

Picture attached.

Thanks again!

rancar · Sep 8, 2002

Re: What\'s the going rate?

Derek

Sounds like you could do even better by charging at least $10 extra per hour. Just explain it to your customers the way you just told TBNers and you'll do just fine. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Bob

bgott · Sep 8, 2002

Re: What\'s the going rate?

I'd go $20 an hour or more extra for the chipper. I have no experience with a chipper but I'm willing to bet the knives or whatever they use in them don't last long and aren't cheap. The object is to profit, not break even! I notice you're an auto tech, so was I. I spent too many years making the same rate no matter how technical or equipment intensive the job. I have a KR1000 and 1001 combo full of tools I paid big bucks for to use one underpaid time. It's hard to break the habit. When I still frequented iATN I noticed a lot of shops were going to double rate for technical jobs. That is something to think about. If you are doing a job with an implement with no or few moving parts, such as a box scraper or plow, charge your standard rate. If the equipment is more expensive to buy or maintain, such as a mower or your chipper, bump the rate. You might not be able to get double for a shredder, there is too many people that own them and will work them for base rate. That chipper, on the other hand, isn't very commonly owned by the small or part time operator.

Turfman · Sep 9, 2002

Re: What\'s the going rate?

Here are my rates:

$45-50 per hour tractor and me.
$40 per hour if it's in the neighborhood and I don't have to trailer (friend/neighbor rate)
I charge tractor time all the time the engine is running from the time it hits the ground at the job site.
If i have to hand labor it's $35/hour which includes use of my hand tools.

Figure this, cost and replacement of tractor and attachments, maintenance, insurance (liability, nice to have when you hit the natural gas line), truck with insurance fuel, etc., fuel and your setup, load and unload time. $45/hour is pretty cheap and $50 is the going rate here.

jhburke · Sep 9, 2002

Re: What\'s the going rate?

Just go to a rental place and check their prices. For the simple equipment, the hourly rent is much cheaper than for the equipment that is more expensive. IE chipper, post hole digger, rotary brush. That should explain it to your customers.

Steven · Sep 9, 2002

Re: What\'s the going rate?

I do some side work with my bx22, loader and back hoe stuff. I try to quote the jobs by a set price. so far I have been averaging $100. an hour plus. I have even gotten more than quoted price after job was finished without asking for it. Just be nice to customers and do a good job as if it was your yard. I have found that if you throw out what you may think is a high figure in your mind, the people you are doing the work for do not think it's that high and they are not going to do it by hand. If they think it to much tell them you will get back to them with a new price after you run some figures and come in a little lower then they think they are getting a better deal. Use some of your money to set up a tractor fund to make the tractor self efficient to pay maintenance and buying extra attachments,and insurance. Just make sure you have liability insurance, use dig safe if needed, you never know what can happen and one mistake could cost you a lot of money and then some.