Need help estimating a job

[weesa20]

My neighbor asked me to excavate an area in front of his house between the road and the sidewalk which is 50 feet long, 5 feet wide and 6 inches deep and replace the clay with some decent soil. I have done this on my own property so I know there are no power or water lines to worry about. The job will include moving the bad soil and discarding it, bringing in new soil at 10 bucks a yard x 2 yards and then prepping the seed bed. I plan to rototill the bad soil to make removal easy. I will need to rent a trailer at ~50 bucks to bring in the soil, but I will also use it for my own use, so I only plan to charge half price. I will be running my GC2300 with tiller and FEL.

Any thoughts on a price?

Thanks

W

 

[dirtworksequip]

Its hard for someone else to estimate a job for you because.... .We don't know how long it will take you. Just figure out how much time you think it will take you. You did the same type work at lyour place so you should have some idea of the time involved.Then figure out what you want an hour for your tractor.Multiply the time X per hour rate.Then add your other cost of soil and the trailer One other important part is how far are you going to have to carry or haul the soil you are removing?
Or you could just tell him you need x amount per hour and the cost is what ever it comes out to time wise.

 

[HTWT]

You need to estimate the time for each activity and your hourly rate.
1. rototilling 1/4-1/2 hr.
2. removing clay 1/2 hr.
3. spreading TS 1/4-1/2 hr.
4. smothing TS (hand rake) 1/2-1 hr.
Who is picking up the rototiller, who is hauling the TS and how far, how much TS can you carry in one load. You need 4.5 to 5 Yd. around 2500 Lb./Yd. I charge $60/Hr. with a $100 minimum. I have a bigger tractor and would take less time, but you need to charge what you feel comfortable with and cover wear and tear on your eequipment.

 

[weesa20]

Thanks guys for your replies...I will probably just tell him 40 bucks and hour plus cost of TS. That is the easiest way I think.

W

 

[bigtiller]

Instead of charging him for the work, ask him if he would mind if you played in his yard for a while. Maybe he would come out to watch and do a little of the hand work with a shovel to help finish the job. The two of you could become good friends over this. And as a pluss, if you messed something up maybe he wouldn't sue you because it was free to him. And if things worked out perfectly there is a good chance he would pay you more money in gratitude than you were thinking of charging.

 

[john_bud]

Along the lines of bigtiller's thoughts; Whatever you think is a good price per hour (40?) write up a contract, by hand is fine. Put your price as $20/hour higher, then at the bottom of the contract put in a "good neighbor" discount. That drops the price by the $20 per hour in exchange for him being a good neighbor and accepting all liability for your hitting underground utilities and other hazards that may occur.

Everybody likes a discount!

jb

 

[weesa20]

Big- If I had seen him out trying to do the work by hand, I would have offered to do it for free with the tractor and expected nothing in return except "good neighbor" type stuff. He has come over three times to ask me to do it in the last two days and everytime he has said he doesn't care what it costs, just give a price and he'll send a check. I think he would feel bad being "obligated" to me if I didn't charge him something. He's an older guy and can't do much in return for me but they ahve enough $$ to cover this job. (Just bought a new Acura and Camry in the same week)

W

 

[gotrocks]

bringing in new soil at 10 bucks a yard x 2 yards

I get 5feet x 50feet x 6 inches deep will be over 4 cu.yards.

 

[randy41]

a little more than 4 1/2

5x50x.5=125/27=4.6+

if the job takes more than an hour or so you should charge him for it at whatever the going rate in your area is. i dont know about you guys but i would feel funny having a neighbor who is not a close friend spend his valuable time doing work for me for nothing. i'm sure your neighbor feels the same way.

 

[RonR]

My situtation is a little different. I live in town, and my neighbors put up with seeing my trailer in the back yard, and my tractor noise and action as I go to "real paying jobs" in my side biz.

So for nearest neighbors, the work for them is FREE if it's doing something simple. I've trenched in a waterline for one neighbor, aererated lawns for 4 neighbors, helped dig up tree roots for another. All FREE. I consider it good will.

If I were in your situation, I'd charge the cost of material, and $100. Call it the "Double Discounted Price". I've done work for other close friends that take up to a half day at that rate. My fear was their neighbors would ask me to do work--especially hearing what I charged them. By refering to it as the Double Discount, I can normal bid other jobs and avoid the "But you only charged Bob $100........."

I would caution that if you do not have liability insurance on your machine, I would NOT charge a dime. I might be wrong, but if I am doing free neighborly work for someone and damage someone or something, I think the courts would look more favorably on me. If I am charging as in running a business and don't have insurance, it's total exposure time! I might be wrong on this, but before I had a commercial liabilty policy, I didn't take my tractor off my property, period! Your mileage may vary.......................

Ron

 

[weesa20]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. I have thought about starting a side biz for small landscaping jobs that no one else wants or are too small for the real companies to even look at.

How much does liability insurance cost for adequate coverage? (Ballpark)

What about setting up a LLC?

I feel kind of stuck because I know that no other company would even think about doing something like this for less than 200-300, maybe even 500 bucks.

I may just tell him I'll do it for nothing except cost of dirt and removal and if he wants to give me extra, that's fine. He does put up with the tractor and noise and fixing his lawn will help my house sell later.

W

 

[AndyMA]

One thing regarding the material required to fill an area. Assume that you will loose 20% of the fill you bring in due to compaction. The fill (soil) that has been excavated and loaded is fluffed up and will recompact when spread and allowed to sit. In my experience 20% compaction is a typical number. So if you need 4.6 yards, multiple that by 1.2.

Andy

 

[scott_in_ny]

What I do with neighbors is have them buy the material.
If less than an hour its free.
More than an hour a case of beer.

I think neighbors should be helped and I dont like charging anyone.
I am always removing snow for the old lady down the street for nothing. She wakes up its done. Then I get baked pies, cookies etc...

One time I did a favor for one guy and told him to send my wife some flowers.

I believe it comes back to you more if you do not "charge"

But on the other hand:
I have one guy in my local VFD who asked me to come down to his house and remove some bushes. Never discussed price. He knows I usually like a case of beer. I drove it there. removed bushes. Then moved rocks,then driveway work. I was there for 4 hours. Then tractor died. Had to go home get trailer, hook up winch to trailer. go to his house winch tractor onto trailer, tie it down. Get home and it was a blown fuse. It was dark by then so I had no time to diagnose at his house. Well the Loser never even came over to help me unload the trailer or offered me a case of beer. He asked me recently if I could come by and do something for him. Told him I'll let ya know when I can get there. If I do go he will be payin' this time. and payin' big.

Dont think I will EVER have time for him.

 

[AndyMA]

I agree with the do the neighbor a favor idea and have done it many times myself. The problem is that everytime I start a machine their is a cost to me associated with it. depreciation actual costs, maintaince etc.

If you do it for nothing it is no diffeent than putting that amout of cash in your neighbor's pocket

Andy

 

[weesa20]

Well, it's done...still not sure what I will charge...it's not just the amount of tracor work (over 3 hours on the meter) but also the manual labor that I had to do. He isn't willing/able to help (not even sweeping up or easy labor), but he totally treated me like hired help. He played golf the evening I was working on it and then, instead of parking on the street out of the way, he made me move the tractor and my SUV & dump trailer (which I was loading) so he could pull in the driveway and then proceded to WASH HIS CAR which made a mess in the driveway with the the spilled clay.

I think we are neighbors in position of house only. He pretty much only talks to me when he wants something from me or just yells "hey" and goes on.

I think I will need to charge him something, in addition to the cost of materials and junk dirt disposal, so that I can sleep at night.

W

 

[RonR]

I think I'd send him a healthy bill detailing every item (especially the hand sweeping and double charge for extra moving of equipment). Whether he pays or not, it would be the last time I had time to do his stuff.

Probably about the time he started washing his car is when I'd get an emergency phone call and have to leave--with my stuff! I'd bill for work done and AFTER he paid, I might come back to finish....

I don't need aggravation like that from well paying customers, let alone for FREE.

Guess I'm fortunate in my neighbors. All of them have been appreciative and there to help. The help me on my projects as well.

Hope it works for you.

Ron

 

[scott_in_ny]

Looks like the price of the job just went up. HA HA HA

 

[rico304]

Well, it's done...still not sure what I will charge...it's not just the amount of tracor work (over 3 hours on the meter) but also the manual labor that I had to do. He isn't willing/able to help (not even sweeping up or easy labor), but he totally treated me like hired help. He played golf the evening I was working on it and then, instead of parking on the street out of the way, he made me move the tractor and my SUV & dump trailer (which I was loading) so he could pull in the driveway and then proceded to WASH HIS CAR which made a mess in the driveway with the the spilled clay.

I think we are neighbors in position of house only. He pretty much only talks to me when he wants something from me or just yells "hey" and goes on.

I think I will need to charge him something, in addition to the cost of materials and junk dirt disposal, so that I can sleep at night.

W

I never/rarely charge neighbors for help with projects. I think your situation is fairly clear though. He was asking you as a "worker", not a neighbor. I would bill accordingly.
I charge landscapers $50 an hour for all tractor work. That is cheap in this area. I look at it as $25 an hour for me and the same for the tractor. (bush hogging and rototilling gardens and such is priced lower)
You have to remember, you are using your valuable free time, wear and tear on tractor, assuming all issues if they arise at your expense, your insurance, etc. etc.
Again, I'm all for helping a neighbor, but I think the saying goes, help those who help themself...well, he answered this one for you.
(I should also add that I wouldn't charge him my full price, but I would make sure they new the regular price before their discounted price. I'm sure he would would be very happy with that.) Him doing what he did doesn't make him a bad guy, he was just making it clear that he was hiring YOU, not a neighbor.

 

[weesa20]

Well, job came to $389.98. $40 per hour for me and tractor but reduced by a 25% "good neighbor discount" and 7 cu yds topsoil and removal and disposal of old soil. Turned out to be a pretty big job...took 7 yds topsoil and about 1 1/2 days of work including hauling.

W

 

[plowking]

That's reasonable. I talked to a landscaper here in N.H. and he would get 300.00 a day for the machine with operator. We dug a 40 foot trench for propane line, it was close quarters between steep banking and along side house, also dug small section of pipe from septic tank to replace baffle. That job was for 700.00. I've seen hourly rates be higher for small equipment because they are specialized at what they do. plowking