I was wondering what you guys think is the best way to charge for trenching? Should you charge by the hour or by the foot? Or give a estimate and just charge by the job? Im new to this so I dont know much. I could see charging by the hour because you will probably need to do some backhoe work on the ends of the trench. Charging by the job would cover that too. Most people around me charge by the hour.
Play it safe and charge by the hour if you can. Use caution when bidding by the foot or job until you know what you can produce with your machine and what type of material you will be in . . . Good luck and have fun!
Hourly is always a safe bet. Some customers are not willing to go that route so take the time to measure every job you do hourly. Length, width, depth and count surface obstacles as well as utilities. Record them in a book and after some time average the numbers. Then you will have your own personal performance record. Armed with that you will be able to confidently bid by the job.
Ask what the client wants and do it that way. I prefer doing all my work hourly, but new clients always want a bid for the job. I figure out how long it will take, and then take a guess based on what might go wrong on the job and add that to the price to cover my butt. Usually they pay more for a bid price, but if I mess up, then they get it cheaper and I don't make as much as I wanted. When that happens, I just call it part of my on going education of being a contractor. There is always a price to learning. Eddie
If you do it by the hour how do you place a lien on the property if they dont pay?
If you are working by the hour you should still have a contract
Some guys seem to love hourly hire. Personally I hate it. Its like someone looking over your shoulder all day. I also think clients get fixated on that hourly rate and always go looking for $5 cheaper. If you know your dirt than a fixed price quotation with an condition on rock will make you more money. That way if I need to spend 10 minutes on the phone during the day thats my business, and I don't have a client complaining every time I get out to grease of have a break.
I agree with Squizzy, I charge by the foot myself. 1000' and under 6" wide it is $2.50 per ft. with a $500.00 minimum. For over 1000' I charge $2.00 per ft. either way that doesn't include material. I have a 6'ft boom on a case 760 and 70 hp. I always get a contract sign, sometimes for home owners its just as simple as getting them to sign the written estimate with my little legal disclaimer at the bottom.
It depends alot on how deep your trenching in my area.When you run in to good old southern Indiana limestone it tends to change the job.When estimating ,always keep in mined about rock.
I have a rock clause on everything we do, so its always an extra and the price changes.
I dont really have to worry about rock in my area, my whole life Ive ony ran into one rock that causes a problem. Charging by the hour would be best for the customer but I would rather charge by the job just because I would most likely be paid more but everyone around that I know of charges by the hour. With the economy the way it is people really like to get picky about the money and like squizzy said they will be breathing down your neck if not trying to help. In the contract it will have to say $150hr, if you watch $200hr, if you help $300hr.
Same here, I don't get out of bed without a rock clause Here is one of mine:
Thats probably a good idea to have something in the contract about hitting something. Running into a big rock or a burried chunk of concrete would really mess your day up.