First Job

[12Bravo]

Had a neighbor approach me and ask if I could make him a ditch on the side of his driveway at the top and make a ditch at the side of his driveway closer to the bottom. Then grade out the driveway and smooth it out.

What would be an acceptable hourly rate for this? He refuses to let me just do it, I said $200 for the job and he said I was undercutting myself.

So what is a reasonable rate for this, assume I will be spending 12 hours on it. Long driveway, going up a hill with erosion dirt that needs to be moved before I can cut the ditch in with a tilt blade.

 

[EddieWalker]

First question is if this is something you have experience doing and how nice will it come out? If you can do it so it comes out nicely, a grand would be a good price. If you are just learning and when you are done with it you don't want anybody posting pictures of what it looks like. $500 might be acceptable.

 

[Sprinklerman]

That would be 12 to 15 hundred in my area

 

[12Bravo]

I was guessing $800. So since this is my neighbor and we are on good terms. I've cut ATV's trails on his property and his son rides the trails on their land and mine. $400 is what I was thinking.

I am no professional and am limited by my machine, if I had and a little track hoe it would look a lot better than what I am able to do. I'm not HAND digging, I'll move as much as I can and make sure the water goes where we want it to go. Once he gets more gravel I will come back and spread that too.

I did some work today on it, about 7 hours worth. Got a little bit left to do on the top section and just need to cut the ditch on the lower section.

If it wasn't so expensive to get into I would love to start a small business with a small track hoe and my tractor doing odd jobs. Like what I am doing now, garden prep, drainage issues. Just little stuff that large companies over price because they don't want to do them. My truck isn't able to pull my tractor and I don't have a trailer to haul it anyways.

They always say, find something you love and won't work a day in your life. I love operating equipment, but WAY to expensive to get into that business!

 

[Sprinklerman]

Companies dont overprice jobs because they dont want them . The consumer doesnt realize the costs involved in running a business . Lets say doing grading with a 30 hp tractor . First and foremost you are paying the employee , whether its you or someone else , workmans comp , advertising ,insurance , fuel repairs , truck , trailer , equip payments , taxes , phone , and so on . $ 100 an hour sounds like a lot , but its not after you subtract all the expenses involved .

 

[cat fever]

Since it sounds like you didn't care about making money on the job anyways; tell him to just pay you what he thinks it's worth.

 

[12Bravo]

Companies dont overprice jobs because they dont want them . The consumer doesnt realize the costs involved in running a business . Lets say doing grading with a 30 hp tractor . First and foremost you are paying the employee , whether its you or someone else , workmans comp , advertising ,insurance , fuel repairs , truck , trailer , equip payments , taxes , phone , and so on . $ 100 an hour sounds like a lot , but its not after you subtract all the expenses involved .

I fully understand that. Maybe the equipment business is different than the electrical business that I have had up close and personal relationship with. When the company doesn't want to do the smaller jobs, they over price them. They jack the bid up by as much as 40%, if the customer pays, they do it. I know this for a fact, seen it done and talked to the owner about it. Small jobs are not worth the time and effort to take away from large jobs that pay more and offer more security to the business.

Many companies don't want small work, at least not in some construction trades.

 

[12Bravo]

Since it sounds like you didn't care about making money on the job anyways; tell him to just pay you what he thinks it's worth.

I tried that, it didn't work.

Not so much not caring about making money. I haven't even thought about using my tractor to make money, I purchased it for my back and blood pressure, so to speak. Makes my life way easier around the property. I actually offered to do the job for free, he said no he wasn't going to take advantage of a neighbor. At first I said $200 and he said no to that also.

 

[12Bravo]

I think I would actually like doing this for a living. But the expense of getting into the business is a real negative. Even used track hoes are expensive, then the truck strong enough to pull it around and the trailer good enough to hold it. Heck, you would be $70-100k in the hole just with those items.

 

[cat fever]

I think I would actually like doing this for a living. But the expense of getting into the business is a real negative. Even used track hoes are expensive, then the truck strong enough to pull it around and the trailer good enough to hold it. Heck, you would be $70-100k in the hole just with those items.

Sounds like you and I are in the same boat.
I bought my tractor for my personnel use, but I have neighbors wanting stuff done all the time. I didn't buy it to run around on all these odd jobs. I have cut and baled several fields for people. Next year I'm not going to do it. I don't really care about making extra money and I'd rather not tear up my equipment in the rough fields that they say are smooth.