another honest oppion please

should i raise my rates to be more compeditive if I was to freshen up my dozers and dump truck and backhoe? wont it against yall if it dosnt work

thats a lit fuse, you need to make as much as you can but dont get so expensive that you get underbid, ive lost some jobs like that but not many, one trick is to be friends with most of your competitors, and share info, now while this sounds weird it works 2 ways, at least it did for me, first you all are about even as far as the rate charged " for the same size equipment" second on my operation we all [ there were about 5 of us in the county that made our living with a dump truck] had developed over a few years some loyal customers, that is a particluar customer would always call 1 operater first, but he might also call up others to price check around [ if the customer is smart he will do this] by all being about the same price we didnt get problems by moving in on another guys customer, the other benifit is if one of us was in a bind, and needed more trucks we'd all help one another out, just return the favor if asked, have your wife call around to several folks in the same business and price a job, then you'll get a idea of what the local market is paying, just be sure the equipment used is comparable,

ericlb, that's akin to price fixing. David...........

sort of i guess, but while there are the 4 or 5 of us we are by far not the only ones around with a dump truck, plenty of others too but their truck is support equipment for a backhoe or heavy equipment, they will haul too, but their truck isnt the main money maker, also there are be some others that come in from time to time, and run cheaper but there not here now, you have to know what it costs you to operate your truck and make a profit before you can set a price, but the problem is a cheap operater can still put you out of business until he runs out of operating money and wonders why, for example i can make money on a delivery charge of 40 bucks if the customer is within 3 miles of me, but if its a usual run of between 40 and 60 miles if i cant put a hundred in my pocket,above the cost of fuel for that delivery, id just as soon not start the engine, that way it wont cost me money

You have to charge a comparable rate for comparable equipment most times. If you are an exceptionally good operator, you might get away with charging a little more. Gas stations usually sell the same as each other. Price fixing is when a group of people or companies get together and decide to sell things at an exaggerated rate because there is no other competition. Sometimes, like in trucking, a group of people will come in to under cut the existing truckers in order to force prices down or steal the business. At least that's my take on it. It's hard to demand a higher rate if you don't have good equipment in good repair. Dave

Thats the way I see it too.If everybody has to buy fuel,insurance,make truck payments,make a living,nobody is really able to do it cheaper.I remember a long time ago poor guys in Kansas City with dump trucks,old beat up ones,would sleep in them,eat baloney,and barely get by in the summer,and cutting each others throat on rates.In the winter their trucks got repossesed by the bank and I guess they shacked up somewhere for the winter,then in the spring they would go get their truck back and eat,sleep,barely get by in the summer.If everybody wanted to live like that it wouldnt be long to where you couldnt drive down the road without some poor starving dump truck driver running over you because he cant afford brake shoes for his truck.Trucks,nearly all of them,were almost that bad when I started out as a mechanic.Sure the over the road guys did good,but local trucks were mostly junk unless somebody had a good deal somewhere.All of the truckers I ever saw in those days it was a tossup whether their truck could get across the scales or not.Actually this got better at first under deregulation,where more competition was allowed in trucking by more authority being granted,and the first thing guys did when they made some good money was buy newer,more efficient trucks.Now its kind of ok,but not really what it was at one time,companies got real big and indifferent,and now are cut throating each other.Sad.