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.