How do you price small jobs? Locally, a 200 size hoe and operator is running $95-120 per hour. But how do you do a 3-4 hour job, 30 miles away from your yard? By the time I figure transport costs, diesel, operator pay, maintance, payments, ins., ect, it seems that I will be going the wrong way at the end of the day. Do you set a min? Is so, how much? I do not have a truck and hire out the lowboy, but then again it cost a bunch to keep a good tractor/detach runing with the payments, ins, plates, fuel, tires, ect. So how can I do it and not **** off the customer? Is a 8 hour min. too much? Who eats transport costs? Or do you just start the clock at your yard? Thanks!
This is what we do. Had a job that needed to have 4 large pine stumps removed. It was an addition for a house so they could no be ground up because the inspector said it would attract termites to the house. Our little 8,000 pound mini ex. was not big enough so we had to haul in the 25 ton excavator for about 2 hrs of work. We charge the owner the delivery charges about of about $200. then the hourly rate of $125.00 and a charge $150 for hauling the stumps away on the dump trailer. We were able to dump thhem for free on a farm though. Althoughit was a 2 hr job we had to charge about $600.00 in order to do it. Good job when you don't have much going on, and that no very often for us. Hope that helps.
I charge for the trailer move in and out. And a minimum of 8 hours work. It's not worth it to go through all the trouble for a few hundred bucks. Do you need work? If I needed the work I'd be a little easy on the price, but usually I would just give my 8 hour price with a trailer move in and out. It took me a while, but I finally learned that it's not worth it to do a job for short money just to work. Sometimes your better off to stay home.
The question is, how bad do you need the work. If you need the work then just charge them mobilzation for the machine and the 4 hrs that you use it and eat the traveling costs. If you don't need the work, then charge mobilization, 8hrs and traveling costs. I would figure your traveling costs in with mobilization. By the time you get the machine to the job, unload, do the job, load back up and get back to your shop, the day is shot. For jobs like this, you need to get a full days pay.
For our 200 we get $1000.00 min for small plus the moving fees, which is usually $250.00. We are getting ready to buy our own lowboy.
Thanks for the help. I now think I will go for a 8 hour min and may go either way on the transport depending on my work load.
more jobs Ask for references, they always pay more.