Reasonable price to till 100'x100' garden

[jmt1271]

I had a guy stop by and ask what I would charge him to till his garden. I looked at it and told him $75. I thought that was reasonable, but he passed. I figured 2 hours work with my 4' tiller. Is this too high?(obviously it was to him)

PS- it is only 1.5 miles from home, so no loading necessary.

 

[skipmarcy]

Personally I think it was a little too cheap, he was looking for something for nothing.If I had a tiller it would be no less than $45 an hour.

 

[john_bud]

I had a guy stop by and ask what I would charge him to till his garden. I looked at it and told him $75. I thought that was reasonable, but he passed. I figured 2 hours work with my 4' tiller. Is this too high?(obviously it was to him)

PS- it is only 1.5 miles from home, so no loading necessary.

Your time estimate is about right including travel. Your price was a good one. That's only $35 an hour for your time, tractor time, fuel and wear and tear.

A commercial place would charge $50 to show up, $50 and hour and probably $200 minimum.

jb

 

[AndyMA]

I agree that your price is too low. I would ask $65 hour with 2 hour min. Either that or free since you'll not even cover expenses at $75.

Andy

 

[digger2]

Last year i was charging $25 per 1000 sq. ft. and i think this year i'm raising it to $30 per 1000 sq. feet. These people have to understand that
its your time,your fuel,your equipment,and your trouble.All they have to do is stand there,watch,and pay you for your service when you are done.If they think its too much,ask them if they know how much a walk behind rental tiller costs.And they still have to do the work,put the fuel in it,clean it up,and take it back to the rental place,using their vehicle(more fuel and time).You cant do it for nothin' man.I'd charge more than that.Prob. $150,and then only because its the same job.
Besides,that tiller on your machine will do a lot better job than they ever could with a walk behind machine.They have to understand the $$$$ involved here .I paid $1749 for my Woods 52"
tiller alone.Thats alot of gardens!!!!!....Not to mention the cost of your other equipment,or time or fuel,or wear and tear.Stick to your guns guy.
digger2

 

[chrisjbell]

PS- it is only 1.5 miles from home, so no loading necessary.

You know, that brings up another issue for me... I have taken my tractor over to a friend's house and done some work for him a couple of times. He lives almost exactly a mile away. I recently realized that I really can't (shouldn't) just pop over all the time as that much traveling on the road eats up my tires (I have ags). Those things are expensive! Even when not in 4WD the ag tires are soft enough that pavement chews 'em up.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I'm gonna run up the road a couple miles and till a garden about 1/2 that size for a friend of a friend today. I told them $75. Not exactly a windfall or anything, just a few quick bucks for something I don't really mind doing in the first place. Looking at an hour or so. The tiller is hooked up already anyway. (I'm planting more of our garden this weekend. cabbage, kale, broccoli, more lettuce and spinach.)

Month and a half back, it was single digit temps here. Yesterday was 82, today's forcast calling for 77. A "road trip" on the tractor sounds like fun

 

[tnau664]

We as 'small' farmers can get taken advantage of pretty easily if we let it happen. These same folks wouldn't even blink to pay $65/$70 an hour to have work done by a contractor with a backhoe. It's too easy for them to see our tractors sitting most of the time and think they are doing us a favor by letting us work on their land.

Now wait a minute, they may be on to something. Naw, charge 'em. (Tractor Supply has a new radio that I want.)

Terry

 

[LoneCowboy]

Prices are local of course
But I have a minimum charge to do anything. (and it's more than you would have charged the guy). i won't even load up for less than that and really I doubt I make any money at the minimum. I just figure they'll tell someone what a great job I did and i'll get more work.
And tilling is expensive, it's hard on the tractor, the tillers are expensive and the tines wear out.
Forget him, let him go rent a walk behind (for more than you were going to charge him, go get it, run it for 2+ hours (and not do as good a job) then go fill it back up with gas and then return it. Some people just don't think.

But remember, jobs that aren't profitable, aren't worth having. You can make no money sitting at home watching TV, you don't need to work hard to not make money.

 

[jmt1271]

Good enough. You guys pretty much feel the same as I do. The fact that I didnt have to trailer made me second guess myself.

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

How about doing it for free, out of the goodness of your heart. I am assuming this was an older gentelman, and gardning is his hobby. I have 5 gardens that I till for older people for free. Gardning is one of the few things they still enjoy doing and can do if someone tills it for them. It may cost me a few $ for fuel amd wear and tear but it is worth it.

 

[jmt1271]

How about doing it for free, out of the goodness of your heart. I am assuming this was an older gentelman, and gardning is his hobby. I have 5 gardens that I till for older people for free. Gardning is one of the few things they still enjoy doing and can do if someone tills it for them. It may cost me a few $ for fuel amd wear and tear but it is worth it.

This guy is in his mid to late forties. I had never met him before the day he approached me. I dont intend to do it free. I have done plenty free for friends neighbors and would do so for an elderly person with no other options. But not someone with the means to get it taken care of on his own.

 

[LarryD]

I till my neighbors garden for free, at 3 or 4 hundred feet from the garage it just seems neighborly. Did I mention the free vegtables.

I've got another friend who wanted me to till a couple acres in his pastures. I wasn't thrilled about the idea but we've been friends for many years so I agreed. All he had to do was find a trailer to haul the tractor on since I don't own one. It also had to be in good shape, I told him I wasn't going to put it on the trailer he uses to haul his hay on, with half the deck looking like it's on its' last leg.

All this took place a couple years ago and every spring he talks about it but he doesn't seem motivated enough to rent a trailer. Maybe someday but I'm not going out of my way to do free work, you gotta work with me.

 

[frank_f15]

I'm gonna run up the road a couple miles and till a garden about 1/2 that size for a friend of a friend today. I told them $75. Not exactly a windfall or anything, just a few quick bucks for something I don't really mind doing in the first place. Looking at an hour or so. The tiller is hooked up already anyway. (I'm planting more of our garden this weekend. cabbage, kale, broccoli, more lettuce and spinach.)

Month and a half back, it was single digit temps here. Yesterday was 82, today's forcast calling for 77. A "road trip" on the tractor sounds like fun

HECK up here it is going to be about 50 today, so wet i can't even start the yard clean up was going to take the back blade and scrape the stone and mud and broken ashfault off the front yard, BUT if we get a few more inches of snow the plows will just mess it up again and would just have to do it all over again

 

[Kendall69]

I's all in how the price "sounds". example next time quote $.01 a sq. ft.
Who can't afford a penny a square ft. The job is worth $.02 a sq. ft. and UP.
At $75.00 you a losing money,travel time, cleaning time, fuel, depreciation, wear and tear, hourly wage, repairs, run time, etc.
$75.00 is not enough money for me to even start the tractor, let alone take me away from my family for five minutes...

 

[mjarrels]

If I had a tiller, I would do it for free just for warm spring time seat time.

mark

 

[73jeep]

I just tilled 5 gardens (other than my own) this past weekend for free. I had offered to till my mom & dad's, and my aunt & uncle's, simply to get to play on my tractor. They live about 30 minutes away so I trailered it over there. After tilling their gardens, their neighbors(whom I also know) asked if I'd till theirs. They all offered to pay, but I declined, except for an applepie from one. They were all older than 65, and love their gardens, and none had ever owned a tiller except for a walk-behind. They were very appreciative, and it was fun for me as well. I've gotten requests from my neighbor & my father-n-law(which I owe for borrowing the trailer) for their gardens. So, all in all I'll have tilled 8 people's gardens this year. If that's a pattern for next year, then maybe I need to start charging as well?

 

[RonR]

Interesting reading...............

I also do some free work for friends, and I discount for the aged, etc.

One thing none of you mentioned was insurance. Mine, as a side small business, is almost $1K/yr. Fuel is a nothing for me. The price of the equipment and insurance and my time are my big expenses.

I've struggled with what to charge since I started--and I've lost money on a lot of jobs by underbidding.

Even if the tilling job is 20 minutes, I still have an hour to get the trailer out, load, tie down, maintain, etc. Then drive there, do the job, and go through all the steps to unload, put stuff away (I've in town, and don't have room to leave stuff out).

I go with a minimum charge of $100. And I tell people I'll spend more time getting ready and putting away than doing the small job, so I understand if they don't want me. The exception is helping a close neighbor where I don't have load time, etc--and I eat the cost to be neighborly.

Now if I can do two gardens next to each other, I can cut the price some, but like others have said--sitting in front of the TV is not as expensive as doing free work with my tractor.

 

[workinallthetime]

sounds like most of use are either one way or another. i charges 45 and hour to do anything with my tractor or a shovel and a rake. when the tractor comes into play i make sure it is at least a 3 hour job to cover my expenses. insurence, tractor payments, service, wear and tear. like eveyone else here i have plenty of free bees but those all have something in it for me, in fact this computer im using right now was a trade for a few hours tractor work from my buddy. if i want to work for free i do it around my house not around someone elses house.

question tiller guys? say you have a large area of bermuda grass that you have to dig up, would a tiller chop it up enough you could remove it with your FEL and spread it out? or does it just ball up like digging it up?

 

[gordon21]

Let him go to a rental yard and price a rental. He would end up paying $100 by the time he rented something, gas to and from the rental yard twice and gas for the machine. This would not even include his time using a small machine. You quoted a great deal at $75. If he comes back, tell him you are all booked up for another 3-4 weeks.