So what is your cost to operate your tractor?

[woodchuckcanuck]

I did a quick search and didn't see a posting on it. If I missed it maybe someone can point me to it.

I was thinking about this earlier and wondering what its going to cost to run and maintain a tractor. All things considered, what does it cost you per engine hour to run and maintain your vehicle?

If you have unusual expenses that drive up your cost, maybe you can mention those too. Like a bent cylinder rod, etc.

I've read a few comments here about having a site for tractor owners to have a maintenance log online. I create and maintain database driven web sites so I have a good idea on how to do this. Its just a factor of finding the time for creating one. If there's enough interest I could pick away and making one and then then modify it based on feedback from the users.

Jim

 

[MossRoad]

Its pretty simple to figure out...
Take the price you paid for the tractor.
Add to that the cost of fuel, repair parts, everything you have every bought for the tractor.
Sell the tractor and subtract the amount from the above.
Then divide the remaining number by the hours. That is how much it cost you to operate your tractor per hour over its life.

So let's say you buy a $10,000 tractor.
It burns 1 gallon an hour of fuel and you put on 50 hours a year so that is $150 (at $3.00/gallon).
Then you have filters, oil change, etc... each year of say $50 (just plugging in a fictional number here).
The tractor is a dream machine and nothing ever breaks or goes wrong. You sell it after 10 years for $5000.

Original purchase price - $10,000
Fuel -----------------------1,500
Oil --------------------------500
_________________________________
SUB TOTAL --------------- $12,000

Minus sale price -------- $ 5,000
_________________________________
You spent --------------- $ 7,000

Dived $7000 by 500 hours and you get $14.00 per hour. If you sell it for more, you spent less. If you had repairs, tires, etc... it cost you more.

Now finding that out how much it is going to cost you before you purchase.... that is where research comes in. Not too many people keep track of things like that. Businesses do, but I doubt many home owners do. Just like cars... your kid borrows the car and puts a hundred miles on it and puts in 4 gallons of gas for $10.00, thinking it covers the cost at 25MPG. Then you get out the old spreadsheet and show the kid it actually costs you more like 40 cents a mile to OWN AND OPERATE that car and the kid owes you another $30.00 for that hundred miles.

 

[woodchuckcanuck]

Good info. I think what I'm looking for is a cost not factoring in resale. Just looking for the everyday cost to operate. Fuel, repairs, insurance, license fees, interest on loan to purchase, etc.

And yes, there are many scenarios, that's why its an open ended question. Whether business or personal use, paid cash or financed.

Thanks for the input.

 

[FxdGrMind]

$524/mo + fuel, oil, hydro fluid, grease and filters....

But next year it's going to be "CHEAP"! only Fuel, oil, hydro fluid, grease and filters....!! WOOOOT!

 

[newbury]

Wait - Add in - trailer, attachments, backhoe, chains, hitches, pins, manuals, accessories, shed, trailer, slime, all the business deductible items, chainsaw for stump removal -

I'm at about $20,000 for 5 months or $4,000/month.
But that's good, In June it was about $6,600/month.
In April it was at one point about $350,000 per month ($11,500 per day, the day I bought it).
Anticipate monthly costs to continue to decline.

I realized it was going to be expensive on my first trip to TSC for chain, pin, locks, tarps etc.

 

[MossRoad]

Good info. I think what I'm looking for is a cost not factoring in resale. Just looking for the everyday cost to operate. Fuel, repairs, insurance, license fees, interest on loan to purchase, etc.

And yes, there are many scenarios, that's why its an open ended question. Whether business or personal use, paid cash or financed.

Thanks for the input.

I think that is a mistake that many people make. You are including insurance, license fees, interest on the loan, etc... so why are you not factoring in the actual value of the machine and your money that is tied up in it. It is a depreciating asset. You lose money every day that you own it. Make yourself a simple spreadsheet and plug in ALL the numbers. If you haven't sold the tractor, just put in the current value of the tractor(the amount you determine that it is currently worth if you would sell it). Then adjust that amount every year on your spreadsheet to see how much the tractor cost you to operate per hour.

In the past recent weeks I showed this to several people that own second or third cars for their kids. They never really thought about it in terms of how much money it really costs per mile to drive the car. They are focused on gas mileage and leave out everything else.

It is important to know exactly where every penny of your hard earned money is going.

O.K. Off my soapbox now.

 

[LoneCowboy]

I find it averages about $30/hour to run a <100hp tractor.

includes repairs, maintenance, depreciation, tires (monstrous), insurance, etc.

It's a reasonable average.

Smaller tractors cost more in repairs and maintenance but less to purchase (although not much), larger tractors have much lower maintenance costs but higher initial purchase.

 

[Duffster]

It is a depreciating asset. You lose money every day that you own it.

Says who?

 

[westcliffe01]

I'd say that tractors fit well under the heading of "durable goods". The more complicated it is, the more there is to go wrong and the more maintenance there will be. If you look at the 8N's, they are pretty simple machines with low maintenance requirements, but are not as usefull as a more modern machine with a good loader and possibly a bunch of attachments.

I regard my machine (used 2003 Bobcat B200) as a labor saving device. It allows me to do things myself that I would have had to rent machines for or subcontract the entire job. Of course I get no lawn mowing or plowing out of mine, since it is an industrial machine, but I am only 1 job (at home) from totally amortizing its acquisition cost after less than 6 months.

If the spending over a few years doesn't match the savings racked up by avoiding subcontracting, owning the machine is an indulgence. As an example, I recently spent $1500 on delivered fill dirt and compaction gravel. There are people locally who are digging ponds who will load fill dirt and topsoil onto your truck or trailer for $2/yard. I paid $12/yd delivered for fill dirt and $24 for compaction gravel. I probably still need another 100yds of fill dirt and topsoil, so if I had bought a beater dump truck for $3500 it would be amortized after this one landscaping job. After that its a question of how much use I get out of it vs maintenance cost.

Considering that I'm looking to relocate and build a new house from scratch, I undoubtedly have enough reason to keep it, or spend more on a better truck that will (hopefully) need less maintenance. Generally, if one wants to save money, particularly on your home and mortgage, you need to try to do as much work yourself as possible, provided it doesn't need a crew of 12 to get done (like slabs).

 

[FxdGrMind]

Westcliffe01

Nice! If I take that into account. 2 trees (root and all) , saved myself $1200 this year alone! And I got to keep the wood!!!!

A couple years ago I hired it done for another one (near the power line... I'm not taking that on!) $580 just to drop it only 3 pieces, I had to limb it, cut it into rounds and move it... And they left the stump in the ground!!! That was the cheapest I could find around here....

So this tractor is getting cheaper every year! heck next year I'm going to be Making $$$$$$$. WoooT!

 

[MtnViewRanch]

From what I have seen here at TBN, a lot of people do not take into account what the costs would be if they had rented the equipment or hired the job out costs. Don't get me wrong, a lot of us do. But how often do we hear that it cost me X amount of $$$$ to buy this or that to get the job done? Yes it did cost $$$$ to be able to do the job, but the job is done and you have the equipment to do it again, or to sell. How much $$$$ would it have cost to have rented or to hire it done? Many, many times it would have been more $$$$ to hire it done and sometimes even to have rented.

Back in 2002 when the Pines fire burned our place, I checked on having the place cleaned up with a dozer. The guy came out and looked at the job, said that he would push the debris into piles, said about 14-10 hour days at 1k per day. Wrong, 14k was way out of the budget. Checked on renting a biiiiiiig dozer, wrong again, to much $$$$. Bought our old D6 and implements for $3500, spent 2k on repairs. Guess what, tractor has paid for itself about 6 times over. So how much has the D6 cost me. In my book it has made me MONEY. All of our bought used tractors have made us money vs renting. The new machines and implements are going to have to go a bit longer before I can say the same for them.

 

[Botabill]

My BX 1800 cost me about $9 an hour Canadian to operate. That takes into consideration original cost, maintenance, fuel and what I got for the tractor when I sold it with 1200 hours I had put on it since new. The minimum wage here in Ontario was about $8 per hour. Considering that a tractor can do the work of several men and it is available WHEN you need it the BX was a great investment.

 

[newbury]

What MtnView said -

I've got a number of "small" jobs here in N. Va. One was to get out a stump. It would have cost me about $500 to have someone do it or rent equipment.
Done.

Also -
I don't work steady, fast, or continuous unless I want to.

Right now I'm going on work travel for a month. All home projects on hold.
Frequently I'm deployed at short notice, for a week or two. Doesn't work well with rentals.

When/if I retire I plan on working at my leisure in good weather. Renting equipment, whether for a weekend or a month, that's going to be used outside depends a lot on weather and if the rental place has it.

It's one thing to rent a floor sander and have to bring it in thru the rain, it's entirely different renting a tractor and having the ground/weather so wet you can't use it.

Me - "oh, it's a nice day, I'll dig that ditch"
"oh it's raining I'll haul that tree tomorrow"

So renting is always an option, for a short term, focused, one time job.

/edit - so far my B7610 package has cost me about $666 an hour. (20,000/30)

 

[MossRoad]

Says who?

Says me.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Says me.

While many (most?) tractors will depreciate over the years, SOME APRECIATE in value. I've got examples of both.




There needs to be a clarification in terms before I'm willing to stick my neck out with an answer.

"What is your cost to OPERATE your tractor" vs "What is your cost to OWN your tractor"....?

Operational cost is simple....fuel, repairs, ect... Ownership would include purchase price, depreciation/apreciation (sp???)/re-sale value, taxes, ect.... The answer the OP is looking for may include bits and pieces of each. (ie, "cost to OWN and OPERATE.....)

 

[dodge man]

My BX cost me about $2.50 an hour for me last year, being about 200 hours of use. I bought it brand new and paid cash so there is no interest. I let my homeowners insurance cover it so there is not seperate cost for that. For maintance other than fluid and filters, I replaced the deck belt that broke and that is it. I know at some point you are looking at repairs, tires etc, but its hard to anticipate how much or when that will be, so for now I'm at $2.50 per hour, and unless something breaks, it think it will be more like $2.00 and hour this year because I shouldn't have to change the hydraulic fluid and filter this year that need changing.

Edit: If I estimate my deprecitation and resale value, I'm looking at about $8.50 an hour, which is pretty close to Botabill's number.

 

[sizzami]

if you have to ask you cant afford it

 

[MossRoad]

While many (most?) tractors will depreciate over the years, SOME APRECIATE in value. I've got examples of both.




There needs to be a clarification in terms before I'm willing to stick my neck out with an answer.

"What is your cost to OPERATE your tractor" vs "What is your cost to OWN your tractor"....?

Operational cost is simple....fuel, repairs, ect... Ownership would include purchase price, depreciation/apreciation (sp???)/re-sale value, taxes, ect.... The answer the OP is looking for may include bits and pieces of each. (ie, "cost to OWN and OPERATE.....)

Ah, but picking a classic tractor in advance is tough.

As for operating VS owning.... I agree that the OP has bits and pieces of each. As a homeowner, I don't make income with my tractor. It is a tool that saves me time and it keeps me from spending as much money when I can do it myself VS hiring out or renting. And really, by not spending as much by doing it myself, I am saving some of my money, but I am not making any money. There is still a net loss at the end of the day.

 

[woodchuckcanuck]

To those that offered up your per hour cost, thank you. To the rest, thanks as well but you missed the intent of my question. Your stories of cost savings are interesting and ring true. As for the accounting lessons, well, I already know that stuff but its always interesting to see how others folks perceive a topic. Thanks.

 

[Duffster]

Ah, but picking a classic tractor in advance is tough.

It doesn't necessarily have to be a classic/antique to appreciate or not depreciate