I get a phone call on Monday nite from one of my customers who really doesn't want to tell me he's got is new dozer stuck! I'm a 3rd gen land improvement contractor and my family has worked for this guy for 30+ years. After a long talk on the phone he tells me that I am charging way to much (120 per hour) and he can get the work he wants done cheaper and easier now that he has his own machine. Looks to me after owning his machine a week he definitely getting more work done cheaper and easier. He's owned his Deere for a week and smashed the a/c on the cab, broke out the door window, and now he needs pulled out. Have any of you guy's experienced this???
He's just having way too much fun! But he'll get tired dragging the tow cable pretty soon. Best you can hope for is that he doesn't improve and keeps calling you to come bail his butt out. Good Luck!
By the way....... you are making him dig down in the muck to find the drawbar aren't you?
Yep that's me in the picture with my hands in my pockets. Best of all I sold him one of my old cables
And your rate did go up....didnt it? Nothing runs like a Deere when its being chased by a Cat!
You know what they say: "A fool with a tool, is still a fool."
Dirt Dogg they come and they go!!!!!!! Some go on to make it and others never get out of the driveways. Usually they buy old wore out machines and the first time they have to fix a final drive or motor overhaul they park it in the back forty and let it rust done. Then their work doesn't get done and they won't hire anyone because they have their own machine.Problem is it doesn't move! Yes the same thing has and is happing here also.Neighbor just built dozer and set for a year after the first breakdown.Did get it going again and started on a big pond,which needs dirt hauled in with scraper more then dozed. He hasn't a clue,but he will learn,or maybe,not sure about this guy????? He got stuck ,but didn't call me,probably because i dogged on him about why not to get a dozer and what would happen.Now it all is coming true.:drinkup
Well if he doesn't kill himself first, if he sticks with it maybe in another 15 or 20 years he will learn how to operate it. And even then you still don't know it all. You can sure tell by where that dozer is sitting, he has no clue about how to do clearing. I agree with ConstructO, wait till it breaks, and he has to pay for that, or is he also a JD Mechanic as well as a qualified operator? I hope you charged him a bunch for the tow.
How did he even get down in there? Was he working from the far side and backed in there or did he go over the bank? I see where you benched it out to pull him out. So I am guessing if he went over the bank that was a hell of a ride.
Yes, being in the business such as yourself we have been through this many times. Even had farmers call us asking if we think such and such a price on a dozer is a good buy for them. "well we just want to use it to clear some trees and such, just for ourselves". Well next thing you know there over the fence, to the neighbors doing some work for them. Few have even gone so far as to put a price on doing some road bank work and clearing for the townships. Of course they can do it cheaper, cause they are not using that as their sole money maker, and have no insurance to pay for and so on. Not that it doesn't mean some work for us, as we would usually get called a week or so later, after they "finished" the job, to come out and clean up. Looking at your pics, its NOT just an old dozer that he bought. Paying you $120 an hour can get him a TON of work done, long before he ever thinks of paying that machine off. Besides just the hourly rate, the lack of experience is costing him even more. I really hope you charged him GOOD money to come pull his *** out. Trbo
Still hiring out. Our build a farm project is the scope of your average subdivision. Not really, as i have a lot more ledge! I have a small TLB (L-39) and excavator (PC75UU-2E), plus other implements and tractors, but have spent $50,000 on excavation and $14,000 on blasting. If I could get permits, I could run a gravel pit! Owning a 10 year old excavator, I understand why excavation work costs so much. It is nice to do the clean up and side projects with my equipment, but moving 5000 yards of material is left to the pro's I figure I have done about 1/3 the work on the property, the kind of stuff I wanted to do my way, and would have burnt up a lot of hours hiring out. Could I have hired out all of it for less, yes but I like shaping the landscape and working in the dirt and rocks.
Been there, done that. Execpt I always had a Excavator around on the jobsite to get the dozer out Should have bought that wench for the dozer!
dang those cats are tough dang those cats are tough
Just don't forget that everyone starts somewhere. This guy mad a big purchase in that new machine so he isn't going away any time soon. He will take his lumps as they come. When I started did lots of dump stuff and had to pay a lot to make it rite. Funny how well a leason is remembered if it cost's you lot's of money.
he wil figure it out in a about a week or so that $120 an hour really isnt a bad price.
$120.00 an hour anit bad esp for the size of a D6 Cat dozer compared to owning the machine & have payments to make EVEN IN WINTER If ya didnt opt for skip payments Cost of business & contractors license , bonds & insureance , permits, Mantience cost fuel oil grease cost Undercarriage replacement cost paying for mechanic unless ya know how to do most of work yourself in this case Dirt dog i dont belive he does the way he stuck this deere & tore it to heck & back & if ya dont have your own lowboy to move the machine moving cost then if ya do have lowboy the cost of mantince on lowboy , driver (if ya dont have cdl's or sense enough or knowhow to drive the lowboy yourself or both ) i could go on but i figured ive rambled enough yall My self if i was this dude id pay the $120 an hour & id charge @ least for hastle & posibly having to move machine & myself or another hand off another job to pull him out i know ive seen my dad , great uncle & granddad do that for years esp to the ones who thought they knew it all & after they try to talk sense into em & then they go find out the hard way anyways just my 2 cents & yall have a goodone Bulldog
Doing a simple costing exercise is the type of thing that can be done on the back of a napkin, its not that hard. What is harder to price is the experience factor of a third generation contractor. Also lets not forget that i bet each and almost all of us like to do our own jobs for our selves. Besides the opportunity cost of the situation how do you put a realistic price on DIY?
Isn't that the truth.. I have known a few who have decided to get a machine and do the work them selves. They did became OK operators very quickly but, didn't last. Thinking back I remember doing similar things that left me stuck. :Banghead
the correct saying is nothing runs like a deere with a cat on its tail.
Just like someone else said everyone had to start somewere. We have a few 2nd and 3rd generation contractors in our area and they dont like it when anyone else in the county buys there own machine. There have been some very sucesful contractors around here that bought there first machine to do there own work and were smart enugh to learn fast and turn it in to a profitible buisness. They may not have had Dad and Granps so fall back on for advise but they learned the hard way and were smart and made it work. There have also been some thad had to have farm sales because they couldnt make it work. It realy iratates me when someone thinks because they have a buisness that provides a service you should have to hire them to do your work. It is a free country. If this guy isnt smart enugh to learn fast you will have his buisness back in a short time. If he is smart you will be bidding aginst him before long. A friend of mine who farms 6000 acres was setting aside $50000 a year for dozer work he bought his own machine 2 years ago hired a part time opperator and with his saveings from not hireing all his work done he has been haveing us put in 30 to $50,000 in drainige tile I have no problem giveing him advise and helping him and we still get his buisness.
Sometime's guys just want to play...then they buy there own equipment. I bought a backhoe for our auction business to do all the little projects our local pro's can't make money on & are unwilling to do. We also use it as a load out machine, so it has a couple purposes.
Deere saves the Cat Its not always the Deere that needs saving!! Sometimes its the Cat's @ss that is getting saved
SE-Ia Cowman You could of not hit it on the head better. I started doing construction work because a local contractor took me to the cleaners not once but twice. Bad on me for the second time. I bought my first dozer and never had it on my own land. So the next year I bought a second dozer, and that is how I got in the business. The contractor that took me to the cleaners, was so mad that I started doing business and taking away business from him that he took me to court. I won and that made him even more madder, He finally sold out a few years later. The farmers in this area are fairly large so for them to buy their own dozer or excavator is a good choice for most. It's not that hard to learn and run a dozer or excavator right. Most farmers are very capable of learning. Second most have me do their service / repair work and have me find a machine for them, so It has given me different work. Times change and to make it in this world you need to adapt to a changing world.
Photoshopped!
nice picts farm boy