Hours charged for tractor work

   / Hours charged for tractor work #101  
I know it has been 12-15 years ago; but I was doing skid steer work at $75/hr; no insurance, no taxes, and I figured out I wasn't doing very well for myself. The cost to go look at a job, getting paid, and people thought you were making $75/hr; and that you could just swing back by and touch things up... Honestly, I could run the machine, but had no idea what I was doing business wise.

Smart phones, mobile card scanners, etc. weren't a thing yet.

Also was doing handy man work for $35/hr, plus materials; and found out fast that small things; misc screws, sand paper, trips to quote, kicked my butt. Did some 1099 work; and didn't increase rates to cover taxes/SS/ etc... Figure I was 25 or so at the time; and would do things a lot different now.

That’s the biggest aggravation with the “chucks in a truck”. Not only do they make it hard for all legitimate contractors to bid/win jobs, they’re not really making any money on top of it.
 
   / Hours charged for tractor work #102  
That’s the biggest aggravation with the “chucks in a truck”. Not only do they make it hard for all legitimate contractors to bid/win jobs, they’re not really making any money on top of it.
Agreed. Most dont have insurance, working for very little money or for "beer" money.

They undercut the legit players in the game and make it hard for a new player to do things the right way.

I cant tell you how many times I have quoted a mowing job, lets say at $250....and they gasp and say "the last guy was doing it for $80". Sorry.....go find him them....."well he dont do this anymore".....HMMMM....wonder why?
 
   / Hours charged for tractor work #103  
Agreed. Most dont have insurance, working for very little money or for "beer" money.

They undercut the legit players in the game and make it hard for a new player to do things the right way.

I cant tell you how many times I have quoted a mowing job, lets say at $250....and they gasp and say "the last guy was doing it for $80". Sorry.....go find him them....."well he dont do this anymore".....HMMMM....wonder why?
That was one thing I found out quick, by the time I registered my business with the state and purchased a 1 million dollar liability insurance policy and a few other things to be legitimate, I realized that I was going to lose out on a lot of smaller jobs to people doing side work or some just trying to make it in tough times and keep food on the table, but like I said in the other post, I make up for it in custom jobs such as breaking land with an offset harrow, pasture re-seeding, establishing new pastures etc.
 
   / Hours charged for tractor work #104  
You don't want to work for the people that are looking for getting it done at the lowest cost anyway.
 
   / Hours charged for tractor work #106  
Here in Michigan, the MSU department of agriculture publishes a yearly breakdown of suggested charges for various operations and it's available online. Everything from field mowing, to fitting to harvesting row crops to fertilization.
 
   / Hours charged for tractor work #108  
When using a tractor to do work for other people and charging by the hour my understanding is the hours are measured by the hour meter on the equipment versus the wrist watch.
What say you ?
By the watch, for sure. My time with the tractor running or not.
 
 
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