Pictures from a skid steer mowing contractor

[Fixastuff]

In reality, I charge “per job”, not really per hour. Charging per hour gets you “locked in” by your customer too much. A “job price” gives me more flflexibility.

I agree 100% when I used to give a per hr rate the next question would always be how many hrs will it take. If you go over they're upset and if you do it faster you get paid less! A fixed per project $ is what customers want and it benefits you as long as you're good as estimating how long something will take.

 

[Hay Dude]

I agree 100% when I used to give a per hr rate the next question would always be how many hrs will it take. If you go over they're upset and if you do it faster you get paid less! A fixed per project $ is what customers want and it benefits you as long as you're good as estimating how long something will take.

When someone here on TBN asks “what do you charge per hour?” and I say “$150-$200” it means thats what I figure for my estimate.
I rarely tell my customer my hourly rate. They don’t need to know, anyway.
If I think a mowing job will take 10 hours, I will offer to do it for maybe $1,900. That’s less than $2,000 but still gets me $190 per hour. If they balk at the price, but are still interested, I can always drop to $1,750 if it interests me.
Depends on time of year, how busy I am and how low/high the bank account is.

 

[2manyrocks]

Job like that takes more time because of having to work between the trees. Looks like a good job was done in not running into them clearing out the brush.

One of the locals here charges $200-300 just for bringing his machine to the site. I think he looked at what the rental companies charge for delivery and pickup. You might look at rental machine rates. There's extra value in having someone else do the job and take the risk of damaging a machine in the process. There's always a risk of whatever junk is hidden in the brush that you don't know about and the property owner "forgot."

 

[Bearsixty7]

From what I have gleaned on TBN, FB and other sources, it appears figuring your rate at HP x 1.5-2 per hour.
So for example my 40hp tractor I'd figure the hours it would take me and multiply 40 x 1.5 up to 2 times number of hours. So $60-80/hr depending on terrain and obstacles.

I might give friends and family a discounted price, X1 or x0.5 depending , But I would never rent it.

 

[2manyrocks]

I want to be clear that I am not suggesting to rent out the OP's machine, but it is worth considering what it would cost the client if the client was going to rent a machine by the time they paid all the rental charges including a delivery fee. Chances are that many clients won't have a truck and trailer with enough capacity to haul a compact track loader with cutter attachment. So they'd have to pay for delivery to rent something.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Job like that takes more time because of having to work between the trees. Looks like a good job was done in not running into them clearing out the brush.

One of the locals here charges $200-300 just for bringing his machine to the site. I think he looked at what the rental companies charge for delivery and pickup. You might look at rental machine rates. There's extra value in having someone else do the job and take the risk of damaging a machine in the process. There's always a risk of whatever junk is hidden in the brush that you don't know about and the property owner "forgot."

I always find things, on this job alone I found flint rocks, 2 old fence lines and an old pitcher pump well pipe sticking up out of the ground as well as an old brick chimney and some tin, I knew once I started finding a few items that there probably was an old homestead here 100 or more years ago, I just slowed down and picked my way through it taking my time, I am terrible about taking pictures but will try to do better on some of these jobs getting some pics of some of the things I find.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Well I am having to put some of my skid steer jobs on the back burner this week because we are supposed to have 5 days with 20% or less rain chance, so I started today with moving some of my cows to a Sudan patch that I planted the first week of May , then changed the blades on the Krone hay mower and finally cut a 17 acre coastal field this afternoon, we will see what the week brings.

 

[two_bit_score]

Most of the jobs I get for tractor bush hogging are 10 acres or less and usually have quite a few trees with low hanging branches that I need my small tractor to mow around, I use a 6' mower for those jobs with a 35 hp tractor and can mow all day on less than 10 gallons of diesel. If I get any bigger I am going to have to buy a batwing mower, but I really prefer the skid steer work and I may need to go up on my rates, I am just going to have to sit down and run all the numbers and see , but so far it is working out.

I recently hired a guy with a JD 333 and mulcher head to underbrush some property I had been fighting with for a couple years. His rate was $150 per hour with a 4 hour minimum. It was a fair price to get done what I wanted even if he could have done it in 3 hours.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I recently hired a guy with a JD 333 and mulcher head to underbrush some property I had been fighting with for a couple years. His rate was $150 per hour with a 4 hour minimum. It was a fair price to get done what I wanted even if he could have done it in 3 hours.

Yes sir, an operator who keeps his machine moving steady and gives you the actual time that he is billing you for can accomplish quite a bit in a 4 hour window and his price sounds very fair, here in my part of Fl a machine of that size would start at $250 per hour, most guys with the mulchers will only bid by the acre or by the job.

 

[two_bit_score]

Yes sir, an operator who keeps his machine moving steady and gives you the actual time that he is billing you for can accomplish quite a bit in a 4 hour window and his price sounds very fair, here in my part of Fl a machine of that size would start at $250 per hour, most guys with the mulchers will only bid by the acre or by the job.

I will be hiring him again for another location.