I had a phone call today and ask if I could trench 1000 ft. my question is do I price per hour or per ft ? thanks
My preference would be per hour un less you are familiar with soil conditions.
if so then how much per hour is a competitive rate ? I have a john deere 333d if this helps .
I have know idea what rates are in your area.
$350 a hour. But I'm sure $349.50 would be a little more reasonable.
wow
lol I was joking :tong How much do you normally charge for your machine a hour?
The best way is to figure out what your cost per hour. This includes fuel, insurance, tow vehicle operating cost trailer cost etc. only when you truly understand your actual cost can you calculate what you need to charge per hour to make the profit/wage your looking for. As for the price per foot, most customers would prefer this method as it gives them a firm cost. Most are willing to pay more for the firm cost. To calculate this you should have a minimum charge that would include up to a certain footage and so much a foot after. The minimum charge is needed to make sure that your operating cost as explained above are covered.
I charge $75 an hour one hour minimum for an S 250.
Depends on the customer and job. A lot of boring and trenching is priced per foot so the customer may want a price per foot in order to be able to compare with others. If you're experienced in trenching somewhat you should have a decent idea of what you can cover in a hour and can get the customer a price per foot if desired. You'll be pricing yourself based on your costs per hour plus your profit but simply convert it to what you can get done in an hour. You can compare your price with others using dedicated trenchers or even mini hoes. Boring makes the least mess and Costs the most. The stuff I just priced to do 400' of 3" conduit was all over $20/foot. You probably already have a price per hour for your machine, just need to add on to it the cost/hr of the trencher attachment.
What durallymax said. Look at it from the customers side, I'm not paying you to milk the job to run up billable hours... that's what lawyers doo....