Tractor work

[livingthelife]

Just a few random questions and something I seen advertised. I was browsing Facebook and some guy was advertising breaking gardens for people. He was charging $75 to break and till a 40ft by 60ft garden. That is within a 15 mile radius of our small town. That seems like an outrageous price to just work a garden. What do people in your area charge to work a garden? Do they charge by the job or by the hour?

 

[RNeumann]

So this guy takes 10' make a deal via phone or email, 10' to load his tiller, 15' to drive to your house, 60' to till the garden, 5' to collect the money, 15' to drive home, 10' to unload machine, 10' to inspect, sharpen and refuel machine. Throw in the cost of a truck, trailer and tiller.
I see something like this as a way to help a young person or someone down on their luck make a few bucks. At least they are out hustling!

Seems like a reasonable cost to me.

 

[rdinatal]

Seems like a reasonable cost to me.

Same here. Breaking a new garden takes a lot more effort than mowing a lawn.

-R

 

[PJSprog]

There are several threads here that address tractor work and pricing. Some of them are linked at the bottom of this page. After browsing some, you'll find that his advertised pricing is not at all out of line. As RNeumann notes, there's a bit more to it than just "breaking the ground." If you don't consider all costs, including time, your business is almost certainly destined to fail.

 

[motownbrowne]

If I had a spade fork and a garden to break,$75 to watch someone else do it while I drank lemonade would sound like a bargain.

As others have mentioned, tally up the associated costs including insurance and then see what you think of the price. Honestly, I wouldn't hitch up my trailer, load my tractor, secure it, drive 15 miles, till a garden, load my tractor, secure it, drive home, unload, unhitch my trailer for $75. No chance.

 

[Gary Fowler]

That is at least an hours job with his $20K tractor and $2000 tiller which should get $60 per hour for that alone not to mention his labor time for operating the tractor, loading unloading, loading again and up to 15 miles travel each way @30 MPH (city) so 1 hour travel with a $3000 trailer pulled by a $50K (or more) truck. I don't think any one can properly load and secure a tractor in less than 20 minutes and unload in less than 10minutes so lets say 30 minutes for each load and unload (1 hour total time used).
So let's tally up
1 hour load and unload
1 hour tilling time
travel in city limits @ 30 MPH so up to 1 hour travel in city to and from.
TOTAL TIME= 3 hours no including any maintenance on his tractor and equipment so he is doing the job for $25 per hour.

He is basically using his equipment for next to nothing and charging for only his labor. $20 per hour for a good operator of the tractor is about the minimum I would charge someone to go drive their equipment, so he may be getting $5 per hour for his $70,000 worth of equipment. I sure don't see him making enough for insurance payment much less equipment cost.

$75 to till up a garden is about the minimum I would charge (if I were to charge ) to drive across the street to my neighbors and till up his garden. Anything less and you may as well make brownie points and do it for free.

 

[coobie]

Just a few random questions and something I seen advertised. I was browsing Facebook and some guy was advertising breaking gardens for people. He was charging $75 to break and till a 40ft by 60ft garden. That is within a 15 mile radius of our small town. That seems like an outrageous price to just work a garden. What do people in your area charge to work a garden? Do they charge by the job or by the hour?

Thats CHEAP..

 

[4570Man]

Just a few random questions and something I seen advertised. I was browsing Facebook and some guy was advertising breaking gardens for people. He was charging $75 to break and till a 40ft by 60ft garden. That is within a 15 mile radius of our small town. That seems like an outrageous price to just work a garden. What do people in your area charge to work a garden? Do they charge by the job or by the hour?

Not bad at all. I'd probably only do it for that if its within a mile and I could drive the tractor.

 

[sea2summit]

So this guy takes 10' make a deal via phone or email, 10' to load his tiller, 15' to drive to your house, 60' to till the garden, 5' to collect the money, 15' to drive home, 10' to unload machine, 10' to inspect, sharpen and refuel machine. Throw in the cost of a truck, trailer and tiller.
I see something like this as a way to help a young person or someone down on their luck make a few bucks. At least they are out hustling!

Seems like a reasonable cost to me.

This^

My 10yo son got "hired" by our church to mow the grass parking lot which is about 4 acres. It usually takes an hour of prep to put on the mower, greese, load up/chain down, drive over then about 30 minutes to load up/chain down and drive back so that's an hour and a half just to get there and back.

 

[RNeumann]

This^

My 10yo son got "hired" by our church to mow the grass parking lot which is about 4 acres. It usually takes an hour of prep to put on the mower, greese, load up/chain down, drive over then about 30 minutes to load up/chain down and drive back so that's an hour and a half just to get there and back.

Raising a leader right in so many ways! NICE

 

[oosik]

When all costs involved are considered - I don't see how anybody could cover just the operating expenses - let alone make a profit. When we first moved here I opened up a garden with my brand new Troy Bilt Horse. It was 80 x 120 and was no easy deal even with that big 'ol 8 hp rototiller. Unbroken ground can be a real tough row to hoe.

 

[Shaneard]

I know a guy who started an ad on craigslist like this a few years ago and he now does it full time and has a new truck and new cab tractor. Some people would rather pay to have it done because they don't want to buy the stuff to do it or they don't know what to get to do it or simply don't know how to do it but want a garden.

A neighbor ask me a couple years ago to plow his garden, he lives 1/2 mile away, I drove the tractor there, plowed it and he gave me $25. I told my wife it's not worth wearing the point on the plow for $25 much less driving there, burning gas/fuel etc. He came by the other day and ask me about the new to us 4630 with the loader on it, he said we have a stump that the tree people left, here's my number call me and you can push it up with your loader. I threw the number in the trash ASAP. The stump is about 20" in diameter and green, NO THANKS! I'm not tearing the tractor up, spending 2 hours trying to dig it up, tearing your yard all to pieces for $30. Call someone with a stump grinder and I'll leave my stuff at home in the shed and it won't cost me anything.

 

[MacLawn]

That boy better raise his prices quick!

 

[bigtiller]

I have been tilling gardens for 24 years. Whenever someone questions my prices, I tell them what a walk behind rental would cost them and remind them that they would have to drive 15 miles to get it, load it, unload it, till the garden, load it, drive 15 miles, unload it and drive 14 miles back home.

At $75 I doubt the guy has any insurance, so one little mishap with a sue-happy customer and he is life as he knows it could be finished.

 

[Alien]

Too cheap, I wouldn't do it for that.
Take in real life costings and it is costing him.
Wear and tear on his machine and equipment + fuel costs and I would want my labour to be worth something as well.
Minimum of $150 + travel cost or you are wasting your time and money. Ok for now but how about when you are looking for money for repairs or tractor replacement. There won't be any.

 

[TnAndy]

He came by the other day and ask me about the new to us 4630 with the loader on it, he said we have a stump that the tree people left, here's my number call me and you can push it up with your loader. I threw the number in the trash ASAP. The stump is about 20" in diameter and green, NO THANKS! I'm not tearing the tractor up, spending 2 hours trying to dig it up, tearing your yard all to pieces for $30. Call someone with a stump grinder and I'll leave my stuff at home in the shed and it won't cost me anything.

20" stump you could easily work all day and might still not get it. Tractor loader simply isn't meant to do something like that.

 

[cat fever]

Just a few random questions and something I seen advertised. I was browsing Facebook and some guy was advertising breaking gardens for people. He was charging $75 to break and till a 40ft by 60ft garden. That is within a 15 mile radius of our small town. That seems like an outrageous price to just work a garden. What do people in your area charge to work a garden? Do they charge by the job or by the hour?

It does not matter what the charge is; 10 bucks or 1000 bucks. If the client agrees to the price and gets the work he paid for, it's fair. :2cents:
After all, as a client we are all free to shop around.

 

[pmsmechanic]

I do a few gardens in the area. It's a minimum of $100 and the gardens all get done on the same day. That way I can make an efficient route and I'm not having to hook up and unhook the trailer all the time. I'll do garden's in town for less as long as I don't have to get a business licence and I can drive the tractor from garden to garden.

If someone thinks I charge too much then they can get someone else to do it or rent a tiller. I can do a far superior job over a rented tiller.

 

[TSO]

I agree that he probably doesn't have insurance if he's charging that low. And I think that anyone operating for profit without proper insurance is a fool.

Consider that a basic landscaping policy will probably start at around $600/yr and go up from there

 

[Bigfoot62]

. . . As others have mentioned, tally up the associated costs including insurance and then see what you think of the price. Honestly, I wouldn't hitch up my trailer, load my tractor, secure it, drive 15 miles, till a garden, load my tractor, secure it, drive home, unload, unhitch my trailer for $75. No chance.

That's what I was thinking.

Several years ago, I had a neighbor that asked me to cut and bale his hay meadow. (about 35 acres) He was in a bind, and couldn't get anyone else to do it. We agreed on a price and I took it on. Didn't really want to, but I thought I would help him out. He was very pleased with my work. Told me that he estimated that my bales weighed almost twice what the last guy's bales weighed. Thought it was a bargain.
After two hay seasons, he wanted to me to cut the price. Didn't happen. I politely told him that he could find someone else or buy his own hay equipment. Some people don't get it.