Snow Equipment Owning/Operating What to charge for snowblower service?

soontoownanewholland · Nov 5, 2015

Well here it is I know my name says soon to own a new Holland but I made this profile years ago and my first tractor was a Kioti.Having said that I am running a CS 2410 with a 54 inch Allied farm king blower and FEL. I have a friend who wants me to plow her yard and the math says it is 213 ft total distance to plow. driveway is 71 long 14 wide so about three passes should do it. the problem is the 9.6 KM round trip made on the tractor as I do not have a float at this time and the cost of having it hauled there is simply not worth it.I guess my question is how would you bill out a job like this? if there were more driveways to do in that area I could work better deal but right now I am working on one driveway. any advice is welcome.

kevinjd · Nov 6, 2015

Good Morning,

I think it is too far to drive the machine when roads are not clear. Too many chances for a vehicle to hit you. It is not a vehicle to do transport that far with. Your thoughtful to consider it, but it would endanger your safety. A price, $75 per hour for transport and what the going rate is for clearing a driveway. Here on Cape Cod 12" $50, 24" $100

Good luck

MMagis · Nov 6, 2015

I tend to agree, at the very least you should wait until roads are somewhat cleared. But that’s a long trip even on good roads. You’ll spend an hour on the road and 10 minutes clearing her driveway. If it’s a good friend, I wouldn’t expect anything more than a bit of fuel here and there. If you get to the point you want to start taking on more jobs, first thing you need to do is get insurance. When you get paid for a service, people are going to hold you accountable for every little thing.

devildog1 · Nov 6, 2015

'That's to far to travel on snow covered roads with traffic and snowplow truck going by, it would be a danger to you and others who may strike you and your tractor.I plow or snow blow my widowed neighbors drive all the time and do it for free, she's about 300 foot from my drive and has the same length driveway , about 200 foot.The nice thing is I can just go across the front lawns without going onto highway.I did once go down the road to pull someone out who went into the culvert, traffic along a state road with tractor trailers and snow plows made it a nervous trip, and my tractor with front plow and rear plow or snow blower is quite big. Just some friendly advice to consider.
DevilDog

soontoownanewholland · Nov 7, 2015

Gents thank you all for the advice it is much appreciated from guys in the know. I do not have my own float at this time and the cost to have one haul it for me every time would offset any benefit gained.mostly her plan was to have me come in after the real heavy stuff and only on my days off. But I came here for some good advice and I have received that so I thank you.

PILOON · Nov 7, 2015

My tractor only clocked 7 Kms/hr so I always refused to do any travel with it other than next door.
If you did use it never mind the actual driveway work time but charge for all the time out and back.

CobyRupert · Nov 8, 2015

We know nothing about the road and traffic conditions of the O.P.
9.6 km (6 mi) or 4.8km (3 mi) one way, at 15mph that takes 12 minutes one way. On some roads around here it's unlikely you'd encounter any vehicles. It depends on the road.

soontoownanewholland · Nov 8, 2015

well on the road should be okay lots of room for traffic to pass plus on weekends not as much traffic to contend with road is paved and has large breakdown lanes on either side.but on a plus note I may have picked up a couple of driveways in that same area so the easier it gets to justify the travel.

grandall4 · Nov 8, 2015

Oops. Wrong thread

Farmer495 · Nov 11, 2015

What is the transport speed of your tractor? Sounds like less than 5 km each way, you are talking only a few minutes transport on 25MPH/40KMH tractor.

$20 to show up, and $1 a minute moving snow.

If you get other driveways in between, same deal, $20 to show up, $1 a minute.