I wasn't sure where to post this so if it needs moved then feel free. I have a John Deere 440 with the 2-53 Detroit and 6-way blade. I know its old and small but that is what I like about it. I am not trying to make a living with this machine but I do have quite a bit of work lined up. It's mostly just clearing brush and a couple farm roads to build. What is a good hourly rate to ask for this machine based on its age, size and capabilities?
I don't really know anyone running something very simalar to that. But for that size machine in something newer your looking at 70 to 80$ a hour here. But thats not a good indication for you. I would say maybe 50$ a hour.
I was thinking $45-50 myself. Just so everyone knows my machine is slightly smaller than a JD 350.
I think that's fair for everyone. It may be small, but it will still do some work. And it runs on diesel and breaks down just like any other piece of equipment. Can't work to cover expenses and be donating your time.
Sounds like you're running a non-profit company. I wouldn't run a lawn mower for $45/hour. You need to figure what your labor is worth, what fuel is going to cost (including getting it to the machine), overhead (insurance, pickup, mobilization, etc.) plus what the machine costs to own and maintain, then if you're feeling greedy, a little profit.
Here is what I do... For starts you need to know what you need to make hourly as the operator. lets say you want to make $20 an hr. Now lets add your comp and taxes and such you should be close to 45 an hr. Now you have to add your diesel and incidental operating costs. that's your oil and filters and hoses etc.. I'm thinking your going to want to have maybe $10 hr. Then we have to buy the dozer, or at least buy another when you wear the old one out. So you can buy another for maybe 10k, so over the next 5 to 10 years you need to gather up that much cash with it. Lets say 2k a year. Divide that by your hours ran and you have the replacement costs in dollars per hour. Now your looking at 65 - 70 an hour. That's the numbers if your going to try to do this as a business, now if you want to do this as a hobby that's up to you.\ Now I like the older stuff, I have several pieces, an Oliver oc-4, a Deere "m", and I still work a Ih td-15c. I wish you the best in your endevours.
Your 65-70 an hour was what I first thought. I then started hearing that most guys around here were charging that for newer, bigger machines. Like I said I'm not looking at this as a main source of income but I'm certainly not interested in working for free either.
Market forces may come to play a little in this situation, but I wouldn't worry too much about what everyone else charges. If your customer is telling you what other guys are charging, I would be a little dubious of the information. I certainly wouldn't price a machine half as big for half as much. $80/hr to run anything on tracks sounds cheap.
4 gallons of fuel per hour...= $16 need to buy or replace the machine=? need to repair the machine= ? i want to make $2 an hour?
I live just north of you, I can tell you I just had some dozer work by a guy with a JD550 and paid $75 an hour. The rates I had quoted from several with about the same size dozer was from $60-90 hour. He normally charges $35 an hour for travel unless you have at least 10 hours of work which I did. Now, as a consumer of dozer work I would I would rather have a JD550 at $75/hour and a JD350 at $65-70/hour, I think I would get a lot more work done for the money. BTW- in the past when I hired someone to do work they had a bad habit of leaving the equipment running when it was not moving (like when they got off to get something to drink, take a leak or answer the cell phone) which runs up the meter with no work being performed. I was told by a few owner/operators that this is part of the deal but I never liked it. This guy showed up on time, shut off the dozer when he was not working and acted like he wanted to earn more of my money in the future. Matter of fact he is making it real hard for me to convince my wife I need a dozer with as much work as he was able to do in 10 hours, the excavator guy I hired last year got me my LB330 due to his work ethic and shoddy workmanship.
Make sure you have liability insurance for your business (even if it is a hobby), because when, not if, you hit a shallow utility, or somebody (God forbid) gets hurt around where you are working, you will need it. I am not trying to dissuade you, but when you are paying all that type of overhead you will soon find out that $50 per hour will not begin to pay for it.
It also depends on your skill and productivity. I ran a small dozer for years and got a good reputation. For the first several months the owner of the company charged about half of what he normally did until I figured it out. Put the wrong guy on that 550 and it's not worth 40 bucks an hour, so it also depends on how good your competition is.
Excellent point JPV. Perhaps bidding by the job rather than hourly work is something to consider, but then again, the end result will still depend on the skill of the operator.
No time to pee? When and if I want to work for someone else I get $150.00 for the D4E or the 951-C. We all need a drink of water and to take a leak every now and then. I won't turn the machine off to do either.Have you priced a caterpillar starter lately? As far as the cell phone goes, I won't have it on me because I can't feel it vibrate or hear it ring with the machine running. When you work at whatever job it is that you for income, do you clock out to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water? I won't even ask you about the cell phone.
I have never charged hour meter hours when working by the hour, so it is easy to subtract 30 minutes or so to mitigate for stopping to pee, or whatever.
There was a guy here who was running a 450 JD for $35 per hour and his work wasn't worth that . He eventually went broke. Your old machine is Ok for your own use. Its just not a viable machine to try and do custom work. Its too small & underpowered to compete with the newer faster more powerful machines. and the cost of operation is not that much less . Do yourself a favor and never take your machine off your own place. If you want to make some extra money pick up aluminum cans you will make more profit with a lot less headaches.
I'm charging $65 an hr for my D3 in Oregon. I must be doing something right, as my customer base never seems to get any smaller. New customers pay half up front.