What to charge?

[mf2200treever]

I'm considering pulling for a company I have a clark 664c do I go by the meter or hour? By the meter here is $5cdn. I'm not sure that it would be worth it by the meter.

[mike_belben]

Are you telling me there are people skidding logs for five neat-o dollars an hour?   I wont get out of bed for $5.

[mf2200treever]

No  No $5 per cubic meter

[mike_belben]

Ha.. A meter to an american is that thing that tells us how long ago we missed a maintenance interval!  Or how much were gonna owe the utility company.   :D

[Riwaka]

Try using the French metre spelling is lessen the confusion?
Metre - Wikipedia

Depending on what the trees/ logs are like it can be quite time consuming to measure the volume of the wood you might pull. Photograph analysis of the wood piles prior to loading/ trucking? Logs can lose weight if left stacked prior to trucking to weigh bridge. 

Time hour meter? - have an extra well calibrated engine run time - hour meter - magnetic off crank drive, oil pressure switch linked hour meter.(tamper proof) Hour meter/ tacho-rpm combo. People can leave key activated engine hour meters on - false readings happen.
Read skidder operating cost manuals to work out a reasonable hourly rate. (tire , diesel, oil, winch rope, operator wage, paint, engine, trans, fan belts, insurance, fire system, 

[teakwood]

i charge 50$ per hour with a 540A and most of them cry because they think it's too much.

Of course look where i live

[coxy]

i know around here i would not even start my skidder for 50 an hour  i get 1000  a day for 8 hours any thing over 8 hours it goes to an additional   150 an hour  and have to turn work away in the summer this is for stream work  woods work is 1000 a day 7-8 hours 

[BargeMonkey]

 90-100 an hr for my 440D, what I charge on these small TSI jobs. Man+saw is 45-60 depending. 

[teakwood]

Those are nice payments by the hour but one question:

How can anyone afford paying 1000+ $ a day for a skidder with your woodprices??

Because i hear a wide complaining on the FF about woodprices from you guys in north america 

[Pclem]

I have yet to see anyone in this neck of the woods "pay" for tsi work. I can get the wood for free, but i'd still pocket far less than 1000/day after selling logs. Maybe I better head east ;D

[killamplanes]

100/hour here for 440. I bid my jobs for a 1k a day from start to finish. Usually works out pretty good. That is from time saw enters timber till log truck home from hauling to mills. IE I still ain't getting rich..

[mf2200treever]

Thanks for the responses. Sorry for the confusion on the metre/meter lol. I know there are a lot of factors involved but on average can a small cable skidder pull a full truckload in 2 hrs?

[teakwood]

depends on the skid length and if it's a grapple or cable machine, what size of truck?

i would say no, they can't. I need 12 hours to skid the load (24m3) of a full semi truck, but i'm in small wood, have to winch 12 logs in for one hitch and my skid distance is 0.5 to 1.5 miles

[Pclem]

Are you guys in that good of wood to make 1000/day? Or are the landowners actually paying you for tsi work? Like I said, most every landowner around here will just leave the woods alone if they can't pocket a little extra themselves. It's even hard to get the wood for free myself, unless a windstorm made a mess. 

[mike_belben]

We are too far from the printing press!

[killamplanes]

I'm in good wood. But if you figure skidder, fuel, oil, license, 1mill insurance, health care living expense, retirement, on and on. And you can't log 5 days a week year around here. Maybe 100 days at best. Between mud and when crops are planted very few jobs can be gotten to until harvest so almost 6 months very lean work. Insurance, semi license etc, don' stop. All this has to be budgeted into a business. Now if it' just a hobbies to make a little extra thats different. 

[BargeMonkey]

TSI out this way can be a lucrative gig especially with 480A tax programs. I hustle but to cut and skid a triaxle load a day with a saw and cable skidder is moving, all depends on the wood. My market is firewood /low grade, alot of guys sell for less than 50.00 a cord on the header, I can move every stick I can find.