What would you do?

A guy went out of mowing business a couple years ago. I acquired his jobs. Most of his jobs he charged about 1/2 more than I would have charged, for the same field. I have done it for a couple years, and charged his price. If I change my price now the lady is going to wonder why. They can well afford the price. He was using a 5 ft mower, and I am using a 7 1/2 ft mower. Should that make the difference? Stan

You could say that you just bought a little bigger mower and the price of fuel went down, so you decided to adjust your price accordingly.....

Maybe that's why he is no longer in business. Just do a great job, and sleep tight.

What the previous guy was charging, is his business. What you charge is yours. If you think its fair, mind you its more than what you normally get for the same work, run with it. If its lopsided in your favor, the customers pay on time, and there's no risks to your equipment, I would consider discounting the price. A fair and reasonable profit is one thing, blatantly ripping someone off is another.

I set up a friend to have a field that he does not even own cut, absentee owner, we used to plant this ground, around 10 acres. He wanted it cut so they can see and that it does not get overgrown, owner does not care apparently. So the person I connected him with has a 7420 JD and large rotary, he's a few miles away so he has travel time to the field, same one he had crops in. Price matched his set up. The following year another person we both know did it for half. Both were fair given the risk or inherent nature of this kind of business of owning and operating equipment such as this. I'd not complain as a customer. A customer should consider buying the equipment, then realize the cost of doing business with it, standing in the mowing contractor or business owners shoes, then think that price over again.

I can't make the decision for you, but if you did want to lower your price, you could say that you are now confident of what you will find and the hazards are low, this price can be lower as you are less likely to pop a tire.

Do you charge by the job or by the hr? You shouldn't penalize yourself for having better and wider equipment to get the job done quicker.

If they have been a good customer and you want to lower your price then I would tell them you were lowering it because they payee on time and we're good to work for. If you choose to keep the price the same there is nothing wrong with that since it was an agreed upon price. A couple sayings come to mind here, "pigs get fat but hogs get slaughtered" is the main one.

I do some brush hogging and rototilling. I use to charge by the hr. Now I got bigger and better equipment and can do allot more per hour. So I just started charging by the job. It seems to work allot better for me. I drive out and bid the job first. Although the big job I did today turned out to be allot more work then what was originally stated when I arrived to do it. But I told them before I started it would be more and gave them the amount. They were fine with my price and understood my reasoning. We were both happy when I left with the check in hand.

You charge what the market will bear. If you are looking to generate more business and need to cut your price to do so and you can do it, then do it. If I were you I would charge what the market can bear.

Where I live the average horseshoeing is $175. Now I know I will hear from someone somewhere who gets a great job done for $50. Good for you, but I cannot pay the bills at that rate and neither can the $50 guy. He tries to make up for it with volume and with most labor jobs that is difficult to do and maintain quality. Ideally, I would be much happier to shoe 2-4 a day at $250 and do the best job possible rather than doing a boat load of marginal work at less. Tractor work is a little different, but still, you are limited and have a few constraints on your time and the amount of work you can safely do.

Finally, if I go in to a barn where they are used to paying $250 or more a shoeing, that is what I charge, even though my normal rate is much less. Many years ago I split fire wood. The area paid good money for split wood and I was happy to provide it. A neighbor asked me if I could supply some older, less capable, and financially restrained individuals wood at a low price which I did. Those people did nothing but complain; the wood wasn't clean, it wasn't the right dimensions, too many round, on and on. Others who paid top dollar said nothing and came back year after year.

Take what you can get. If they are happy you should be happy. And may I also say that it says a lot about you to worry over this. You must be a heck of a good guy.

(quoted from post at 17:05:22 06/02/16) A guy went out of mowing business a couple years ago. I acquired his jobs. Most of his jobs he charged about 1/2 more than I would have charged, for the same field. I have done it for a couple years, and charged his price. If I change my price now the lady is going to wonder why. They can well afford the price. He was using a 5 ft mower, and I am using a 7 1/2 ft mower. Should that make the difference? Stan

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I get new customers all the time that I know someone else had done the job before....I don't ask what they paid and just charge my normal hourly rate. I know I am under what the competition charged and that just makes us both feel good.....sometimes they feel so good they give me a nice tip!

Just goes to show No good deed goes unpunished.