This is for Joe Homeowner, not full-time pros.

If you hire out with your tractor, what does your fee structure look like? I'm not looking for work but I'll do a job here and there if people seek me out.

I've been charging $50/hr for mowing fields with a rotary mower (brush hog).

Just did a job that took me quite a bit less time than I originally estimated and while that's nice (and the landowner is shickled titless), it doesn't do much for my toy fund. ($175 vs. the $250-$300 I estimated) In fact, it may not cover the cost of fluids and filters for the 300 hour service that's due.

I'm thinking I need to jack my rates up.

In 1985 I was worth $24 per hour. That included a pickup truck a push mower and any other tools needed for landscaping.

You are probably selling yourself too cheap. Call an implement dealer and see what they want for rent on a tractor and bushhog alone.

Around here, you price by the job, not the hour. That way, the homeowner isn't pressuring you to "hurry it up" and you can actually work at your pace. The alternative is to charge per acre of mowing adding additional cost for obstacles (rocks, hidden wire fences, telephone pedestals, etc.) and overgrown scrub brush & woodlots with tirepops.

You’re right on at $50 an hour but you should have a minimum charge which I probably wouldn’t load up for less than $250 a crack.

quote:

Originally posted by BRL:
You’re right on at $50 an hour but you should have a minimum charge which I probably wouldn’t load up for less than $250 a crack.

I do have a "transport charge" if I have to load the tractor on the trailer and haul it with the truck. This job was 2 minutes from the house, driving the tractor.

I wouldn't get much work for a $250 minimum.

You can stay home and starve.

I believe your too cheap. $90 an hour for man and machine. You’re on the hook for maintenance plus repairs. It won’t take much of a break down to put you in the red.

Depends on your tractor. What does it cost you an hour to run it, how much work can you accomplish in an hour with it. I don’t rent out my mowing tractor (a TN90F with a Gearmore 84” flail with hammer flails) but for the kind of mowing I mostly do here on the ranch (steep hills heavy buckbrush, small saplings, etc) I’d charge $100 per hour and hope nobody hired me. With the wear and tear on the equipment that may be too cheap. Nice grass on flat ground without hidden obstacles, wire, t-posts, etc could probably be done a lot more cheaply. I’d figure out your hourly operating costs with a reserve for maintenance of both the tractor and the mower, add on whatever you feel is right for your time and go from there.

A lot of contractors consume their equipment without charging enough to replace it. This may look good in the short term, but not so much in the long term.

Charge by the job not by the hour if you can or have minimums.

I work for the county highway shop, and mow regularly with full-sized tractors with Tiger flails & side decks, as well as large batwing bush hogs.

We have rates for a man with fueled equipment when the local townships need to hire us, that range between $60 & $100/hr. Those are considered "friend prices".

$150-175 per hour and that may be too cheap.

What smshultz said.

If you bid the job at $250 but the owner wants and hourly rate. Tell him $80 an hour and make sure it takes three hours and seven minutes.

I pay $80 (his ask) for a 2 acre pasture bushhogged 3 times a year. I mow some lawns for walking around money and usually gross $50-60 per hour giving a good buddy price.

Another consideration, is what are the prices for the alternatives for your customers (your competition)? If they are far away as to make it cost prohibitive, then you have the advantage of convenience that is provided to your customers.

I have a smaller tractor (30 horse) with a brush hog that I used to do a job mowing about three acres for a friend over the common ground in his housing project. They paid me $150 flat fee for each of three trips during the summer. The distance was about a 45 minute drive each way.

I only did that one summer. It just was not worth the time and effort that job took. It took about an hour to hook up the implement, hook up my trailer and then load the tractor on the trailer and then chain it all up. An hour to get there, then unchain everything, unload the tractor and then do the job. Three acres doesn't sound like much but it took me about three hours to do it. Small dips all over the place which required extra work, and hidden rocks so bad I often had to jump down and move them by hand. Then had to load up the tractor and chain it all up to go home. Then unload that damn thing (again) and put everything away after clean-up.

It was an all day job and just to much of a pain for this old guy.

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:
A lot of contractors consume their equipment without charging enough to replace it. This may look good in the short term, but not so much in the long term.

That's how some folks can come in and undercut the hell out of those trying to do it the right way. They'll do it for a year and disappear because they were being eaten alive with unforeseen maintenance costs. Not worth doing if you have to actually pay for your replacement parts out of your own pocket.

I have a 50 horse Kubota and 6' Bush hog to take care of my place. People have asked me what I would charge to bush hog for them. It was a simple hourly rate. $25 for me, $75 for the equipment. $75 is not unreasonable because of those maintenance issues that most can't comprehend (and certainly wouldn't want to eat themselves). Tractors are costly critters if you are servicing them properly/regularly. Taking hours off of the serviceable life takes it's toll too.

Just a simple math problem will help open some eyes.

Machine cost is $30,000
Serviceable life is 2000 hours (hopefully you get more, but sometimes that isn't how things work out)

So that adds up to being $15/service hour just in the cost of the machine, nevermind the additional cost for implements, maintenance, fuel, oil, taxes (or interest if there is a note higher than 0% from a bank), and insurance (if you carry it). That doesn't even add on anything you are making for yourself.

People have several options available to them:
1. Invest their time and money in the equipment and do it themselves.
2. Find the shadiest character they can for the cheapest price they can and piss and moan about a half assed job.
3. Pay PHPaul what he and his equipment are worth and do so happily because option 1 and option 2 are both shitty.
4. Let the fields get overgrown and allow PHPaul to enjoy his retirement.