bushhogging-- what to charge?

I was asked to mow a lot yesterday and have no clue what to charge really. About what is the normal rate for this. I have a 3020 diesel and 8 ft mower. Total mowing time was about 2 1/2 hours.

From "fire up" to "shut down", and this includes travel time....my gut feeling is in the 60-75/hour range...and you won't be getting rich at that!! I would lean more towards the higher figure.

"Total mowing time was about 2 1/2 hours."....kinda/sorta indicates you have ALREADY done the job.

Any equipment damage?? How much fuel used?? Brush hog or other kind of mower?? "Friend" or stranger?? (It's REAL EASY to go broke working for "friends"...BTDT!!)

Rick

I charge $70 an hour with a 4 hour minimum. It takes time to hook up the brush hog, time to hook up the trailer, load and tie down the tractor and then unload at the job and then do it all over again when you get home. If it"s a neighbor down just down the street or where I can just drive the tractor, I"ll just charge from when I leave the house to when I get back.

I charge what it would cost to rent/ fuel a tractor and mower delivered and picked up. I figure my labor is equal to the difference between my old equipment and their new.
That is what it would cost a customer to do it themselves and they don't have to run the tractor.

Depends on many things, How far away is it?
Friend, neighbor, relative, elderly, total stranger? Are you insured?

If it was me and I had a 3020 and it was 1/2 mile down the road then I would charge $40/hour with no insurance. If you have insurance then charge more. If you bust the pi$$ out of your brushhog then does this guy pay you for fixing your mower attachment.?

You cant work for free, but dont rip off anyone with $80/hour.

55 an hour-ish. Depends on how much fuel you used, If its someone you know, drop alittle, if its a new customer- stay right there as they will tell their friend who may give you a call.

75-80 would be a fair price with the price of rapairs, and fuel charges. I still find this hard to believe, but last year almost 1/2 of what I made went for fuel, and rapairs,lilability insurance, license, and insurance on two vehicles. Kind of like my Dad would say, he never made any money farming, but did it all his life.Stan

In my area the "bush hogging pro" has been doing mowing work full time (no highway work) for nearly 40 years. He currently uses a 125 HP FWA CIH tractor with a 10 1/2' mounted mower and mows as fast as the mower will cut. He has many long term clients and knows their properties well. He has also worn out and replaced 4 or 5 tractors and mowers over the period. Get the picture?

He charges $50/hr from the time that he starts up wherever the equipment is until he finishes with the clients work. He usually charges new clients more the first year or two until he becomes familiar with their property because most folks gererally do not tell him about the trash, stumps, rotary hoes, spike tooth harrows, etc. that are hidden in the wilderness. He also increases rates when fuel prices so indicate. I have not spoken to him yet this year but expect that this years rate will be higher than $50/hr due to the cost of fuel.

He has only one eye, no CDL, and drives his equipment to the clients property. He orders equipment with appropriate gearing and his tractor will move at nearly 30 MPH. Of course, he is well aware of the wear effect of highway travel upon tractor tires.

Though I have 8 tractors and 4 rotary cutters, I hire him to cut some of my properties because I do not believe that I can do the work for what he charges if all costs are included.

I do not mow unknown property with with my equipment but if I did, I would charge twice as much as the local pro.

Dean

I agree it is real easy to go broke working for friends. It took me about 20 minutes to drive to the place, then back again. We're pretty good friends in as my dad has known them quite a while and they buy hay from us. I was thinking around $80 for the mowing as that just seemed kinda fair but I wasn't sure if that was in line or not.

Didn't break anything and the fields didn't have any junk in them..

Thanks for all the replies

Around the Houston area the guys charge $25-35 per acre with various minimums and travel fees.

I charge $40.00 per hour if they are close and I don't need to trailer the machine anywhere.

Greg

I get $75 an hour with my 65hp tractor and JD MX8 8' hog. In big clean fields I can do 3 acres and hour...customers are happy...competition ain't!

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bro in law thats been doing it for years charges by the acre,from $25-45.depending on the terrain and amount of trash.clearing brush and trees are extra.some places he's mowed for years and has cleaned up well he makes good money cause he can cycle right along.others that he has to move junk , or he breaks down,not so much.overall he make pretty good money doing it.has customers for years though ,and he kind of has a route he goes through to save hauling and fuel.most of his customers he just mows as needed and sends them a bill anymore,so hes able to sort of plan all his jobs in a area at once.if you were doing one off jobs as they came along you'd have to charge more i would think.