Looking for advice.
My partner and I started a tree service 18 months ago.We work every weekend because he has a very good job monday through thursday .We have done well so far.I am semi retired but do custom sawing during the week.
I was approached this week with a proposition from a local tree service to remove debris for him during the week while we are not working.
I have a l8000 knuckle boom loader that we use for the same thing.
I have a place to dispose of it.He would not have to pay a tipping charge which is reasonable here.
I want to be fair with him on this.
My thoughts on this are 2.00 per mile one way for delivery and 100 per hr while one site.
If he gathers up the material before hand then all i have to do is load and go then it will be advantageous for both of us.
We are in south georiga so rates may change depending on location.Thanks
Sounds like a win if it pays enough to make it worth your while ;)
Way out of my area but never stopped me from having an opinion or offering suggestions before so why change now.
Is the loader yours or owned jointly with your partner? If jointly owned what does your partner think?
I don't see a minimum fee listed. I'd suggest that in case you have a job close by ready to load where mileage and time don't yield any significant income.
I have no idea what it costs to operate and maintain such a loader. Do you have such figures and if so how do they relate to your proposed rate? How much are you paying yourself with these rates? Is it enough?
Does your insurance cover such an arrangement?
It sounds like a very reasonable proposal for both you and the client. If your rates provide you the income and expenses you require give it a try. Good luck.
How many cubic yards of material will the truck hold? Just because you have a place to dispose of it doesn't mean it should be free to him. I charge per load with my grapple truck. I usually am around $300 per load if the material is piled and ready and I'm disposing of it. More if I have to prep it. I do knock off some money if there are multiple loads off one job or its close to where I'm unloading. I can load a packed full truck in less than 30 minutes. Your pricing seems way too cheap to make any money. Let's assume you take 30 minutes to load and 15 to unload. At $100/hr that's $75. If you haul it 25 miles at $2/mile that's $50. That would be a total of $125 for 2 hours of work with a grapple truck. No thank you. Why not charge at least $100 per hour for everything or on a per load basis? And at least add in something for a dump fee. Big trucks are expensive to maintain and repair. I put $2,000 in mine this last week for a steering pump and oil pump.
Sorry for the delay in responding to your replies.I have been very busy lately.I do however like some of the suggestions.Let me chew on this one for a bit and perhaps you good fellas can help me reach a conclusion.Thanks again for the input.Al
As NWP has suggested, your milage rate is too cheap. $100/hr portal to portal sounds better and fair to both.
@ bucks a mile is awful close to 100 bucks an hour in most places, that said 100 dollars an hour is a rock bottom price as far as I am concerned.
Over the years I was dumb enough to say yes to things like your talking about. And when I got to there job logs we spread over four acres or the deal was I could load them road side only to drive fifty miles and they were on a field that was to wet to back out to them. Or the site they were stacked on was straight up and a goat would have had trouble climbing it. It is a lot easier just to do my own work and when I do have to get a contractor to haul for me it is $3.00 a mile loaded.
Thanks all for the input on this older thread. I have been working with a local co-op removing trees that they take down in yards . They clean up and chip every thing but the trunk. Most of the time they even bunk it up to my specs. We traded on 70 dollars per hr from when I leave until I get back home plus 2 dollars per mile each way.
It has been a good side line for my tree business ,not a steady job but nice to have.
The best part is the tree jobs that they pass on to me that they can not do under their guide lines.
Thanks for updating us on how this is working out. Sounds like it is doing well. Hope it continues in the new year.