Charging for tractor services and manual labor?

[MattN03]

I'm getting into doing some side jobs with the tractor and was wondering how others charge for a mix of manual labor and tractor work? I was thinking charging for the tractor using the hour meter. I'd keep up with my total hours for the day, say 8 hours total work time. If the tractor had 3 more hours on it, I'd charge 5 hours manual labor and 3 hours of tractor. Does this seem reasonable?

 

[Redlands]

Remember time spent loading and securing the equipment and hauling times or distance. So keep in mind a "minimum" on equipment charge might be worthwhile.
If you have insurance, wear and tear on your hauling rig and trailor, tires, fuel, oil and maintence, etc etc to be figured in on your prices.
Best of luck on your endeavors.

 

[MattN03]

Is it typical to charge a haul fee for a tractor? I was charged a haul fee of $50 by a guy with a skid steer. He lives about 7 miles one way from me. I was thinking anything within 25 miles round trip would be no charge for hauling?

 

[DocHolladay]

In my area, I charge $65/hr with a $300 minimum for using my rotary cutter. That includes drive time. I dont do much dirt work with it, but I would charge $80-85/hr. I don't know about a minimum. I would say a $400 minimum would cover your tractor labor, drive time, insurance, fuel, wear and tear, etc. Now, each region has different prices charged, so keep this in mind. a skid steer operator here charges $100-150 per hour with a $500 minimum.

 

[Redlands]

Is it typical to charge a haul fee for a tractor? I was charged a haul fee of $50 by a guy with a skid steer. He lives about 7 miles one way from me. I was thinking anything within 25 miles round trip would be no charge for hauling?

He is just allowing for the loading and driving time and hoping it averages out.
From the time you walk out the door to go to work you are at work. Loading and driving is part of the job. At least charge em from the time you load to the time your ready to leave the job site. There are only so many hours in the day and so many days in the month that you can work. Out of 8 hour work day can you get in a PRODUCTIVE 5 hours of work ? . It sounds like a sure deal but you might be surprised how hard it is to do at times. Out of 20 work days a month how many will be productive on average ? Weather, breakdowns, customer cancels job or changes mind etc etc.
Loading, driving, writing the bill, taking money to the bank, getting fuel, looking at the job site, talking to customers for estimates, down time for maintence is hard to bill for but still are part of you work day as a few examples. These add up to part of your day.
With that said every local area and customer is a bit different. You might be better of after a bit of experience to just bid the job. Of course that can be risky if you miss plan it. Starting out you might need to do what you have to set up a customer base or reputation or to gain experience. But in the long run you have to make a profit.

 

[BravoXray]

I charge the same whether I am on the machine, or off. If I had to bring the machine, and supporting tools,etc. they are paying for my equipment and my skills. If I believe that I can do a better job off the tractor in order to get the job done satisfactorily that is my call as an experienced operator. Either way, my skills are valuable, and my equipment is valuable, and I don't breakout different pay scales. If I'm there six hours, I am tied up for six hours, and my equipment is tied up for those hours as well.

Good luck!

Jerry

 

[DocHolladay]

If you have an iPhone or iPad, I use an app called 'Invoice Simple'. It lets you enter in your hourly rates for various jobs and will let you email an invoice to the customer. You can also send estimates, show paid, have them sign showing that the job is complete, etc. You can also insert a logo if you want. As with any good app, you get a certain number of free invoices and then you have to pay, but I think it is cheap. $2.99/month or $29.99/year. I have not had any issues with it and the developer contacted me checking to see how I liked it and if anything needed changing. Its been great so far.

 

[Ridger]

In my area, I see tractor services going for $40 to $50 per hour with a three hour minimum charge.

 

[skeets]

Same around here half a C note per hour with a 3 hour min if over so many miles a charge per mile

 

[Tooljunkie]

Redlands has good points to consider. The rate you charge has to cover your 8 hour day.

Not using my tractor but went on a service call yesterday. Loaded tools, grabbed briefcase and associated materials and headed out to do diagnostic work on a grain truck.1.5 hours from when i left my shop until i was done. So i charge to go to service call but not return.reason being i could be on route to next service call if one was booked. After job, i still need to bill it out,mail invoice,and at some point deposit cheque. Even after job is done there is still time spent.

Dont sell yourself short, you will be busy going broke. Set a rate high enough to be negotiable and customer feels better about getting a deal.
Stick to your estimates,add ons are extra and if you come out below quote, you will have a repeat customer.

 

[D2Cat]

MattN03, you stated, "I'm getting into doing some side jobs with the tractor."

This indicates to me you have another source of your main income. All the points made by others are valid, but at this point you're not a full time "professional" contractor.

You need to start somewhere, and asking on a forum only gives you an idea of what others are doing/charging.

I'd suggest you evaluate your operating skills, knowledge, tools, then look at a job opportunity, and determine what you would do the work for. Then bid the job,lump sum. Do the job and see how you come out. Then modify your next bid based on how that job went, how much money you earned based on what others in your vicinity would charge.

Grow into your part-time income, don't plan on starting at a premium position.

 

[flyidaho]

I moved an antique safe from a outside stairwell last week. I was doing a crane job across the street and the owners hit me up, thinking the crane could stick it's boom down in there, easy. Wrong piece of equipment, what we need is my new tractor I told them. That little sucker ended up weighing about 1500 lbs. after we did the math on the 3" thick construction of it. I gave my helper 50, I got 100, after telling the guy $135.00, so we got a tip, cash no less. I had the tractor in town anyway, so this was 'gravy", It took about 1 hr and 15 minutes from unloading to reloading the equipment. No way to get rich but over the 12 years I had the B 2105 I made a couple thousand bucks with it doing little odd jobs that just came up. Being around construction like I am, and in the crane business, helped me find these little jobs.

 

[MattN03]

I did my first "for profit" job yesterday, and the homeowners were pleased. I wasn't satisfied with the grading, but I couldn't get the 1/4 inch valve to cooperate. I've just used it for dirt work for myself that wasn't over critical. After doing a search on here, I don't think it's adjusted properly, and I need to tinker with it to get it working properly.

The owners had me cut out the entire area around the tree 2"-4", put down landscape fabric, and the put gravel in the area. The remaining gravel got spread on their driveway. They said it was 24 tons of#9 rock. This project paid for this year's commercial liability policy and Ii go back in a couple weeks to do some chainsaw work to clean up some recent storm damage.

And someone mentioned above as this being a part time job. That's correct, I'm a manufacturing engineer by day.

 

[D2Cat]

So how did you figure the job? By the hour, or bid?

If you're satisfied and the owner is satisfied, you both won.

 

[MattN03]

So how did you figure the job? By the hour, or bid?

If you're satisfied and the owner is satisfied, you both won.

By the hour