Priced out my first york rake job today...

[4570Man]

Being 45 minutes away I think you priced it pretty cheap. If it was a few miles away it wouldn't be too bad. At current fuel prices (1.75 per gallon) it would cost me over $20 just to get there and back. Add in tractor fuel cost and the wear on the truck, trailer, and tractor. The 1 hour job is easily a 5 hour project

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

The contractor that did the clearing called me this morning. It ends up it was a buddy of mine. He bid the job at 500. He asked me if I was nuts at 200. I don't think so.

He thought it was too much or too little?

 

[Complete Turf Care]

Got my tractor about a month ago and have been advertising to see if I could make a few bucks on the side with it. Why not? Finally got a call and went and looked at the project. Not very big and had recently been cleared. I figure I could be done in an hour. The drive is 45 minutes each way. I priced it at $200. I figured he wanted it done right away so asked him that and he says not until end of Sept. Says he will call me in the next couple of days. If he does he does. Was I about the right price do you guys think? Pretty small job but I cannot see me doing it for less and travel there. What do you guys think?

I think your price is a little low. I understand you wanting to get the work being new in the business. I've been there and done that. But, one thing my CPA told me when I started in business was this. Rather than go do a job for $400 that cost you $500, just write the customer a check for $100 and let someone else do the job.

The key to pricing a job is to know your cost. Now, that ain't easy to determine. But, here are some things to consider and I'll give some examples in my situation. How much did your tractor cost? How much is your attachment? Your truck and trailer to haul the tractor?

How much fuel does it take to travel to the job? How much fuel does your tractor burn?

In my case, I have a $40,000 tractor, with a $13,000 attachment, a $50,000 truck pulling a $10,000 trailer. So, when I show up to a job, I have about $113,000 worth of equipment there. I'm not sure what my cost per hour is for all this, but it ain't cheap.

Now, my truck gets about 8mpg pulling the trailer and at 60 mph and fuel at $2.00 per gallon, that cost me about $15.00 per hour in fuel. My tractor burns about 1.7 gallons per hour so that cost is about $3.40 per hour. Fuel costs were almost double this about a year ago.

I charge about $250 per hour for this work with a $750 minimum charge. I don't usually charge a 'travel fee' unless it's more than 2 hours away.

Just some numbers for you to consider. Hope this info helps you when pricing jobs in the future.

 

[screamin400]

He thought it was too much or too little?

He thought I was too cheap. I think I am also. I am hoping to be busy in Sept. if he does call back. I bet he does not.

 

[jim44]

That sounds like me. I was thinking that I would not load my tractor and haul it an hour and a half for $200, and certainly not for a one hour job.

 

[screamin400]

Some guys think I was a little high. The more I am thinking about it the more I do not want the job. I also had to make that drive to do the estimate. I did not want to price myself out of the job but think that would have been the better option. I always say "Paperwork without profit is exercise".

 

[RDrancher]

He thought I was too cheap. I think I am also. I am hoping to be busy in Sept. if he does call back. I bet he does not.

Yeah, I'd hope that one fades into history.

 

[Professor Marvel]

I think you are better off not doing the job unless you have a reason to travel near there anyway. As someone else pointed out customer (and whoever he talks to about it that you were hoping to get as customers) will likely think $200 for an hour's job. So doing the job at a loss will not probably get you the new customer base that you hoped doing the cheap job would get you in the first place.
I particularly like the response about just giving the customer a check for $100 and not doing the job. I think I more people (myself included) should keep that in mind for many contracting decisions.

 

[screamin400]

My new DBA...Charity Excavating.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have done jobs that I know didn't make sense economically, but did them for fun and experience. PLUS. And this is a biggie. You have to show activity, if you are writing your equipment off.