Are Contractors rates having to go up.

[Spade]

Due to the hike in machinery and fuel costs along with the increase price in electricity and the standard of living.We do a small amount of contracting and grain drying and I feel we will have to charge more to make it worthwhile. Thoughts ?

Fine balance between cost of job ,profit and if customer can pay. Obviously those that pay sooner get preferential treatment.

 

[deleted user 837354]

Topping for £10/acre, is that really profitable as a job if you have to go out and buy the tractor and topper just to do it?

 

[dave mountain]

Topping for £10/acre, is that really profitable as a job if you have to go out and buy the tractor and topper just to do it?

If you had enough of it to do then yes why not?

Am I cheap? i thought that was the going rate tbh

Works out £60-70/hour for a 90hp tractor with a £3k topper which im happy with

obviously if it was only a couple acres and there was travelling involved i would charge accordingly

 

[deleted user 837354]

If you had enough of it to do then yes why not?

Am I cheap? i thought that was the going rate tbh

Works out £60-70/hour for a 90hp tractor with a £3k topper which im happy with

obviously if it was only a couple acres and there was travelling involved i would charge accordingly

I was just asking the forum in general. I don't know the going rates for contracting for anything as I am way out of date since I ever got involved even in a conversation about them. The cost of a tractor and even a topper today, with the associated price rises in diesel and the like made me wonder how much you would need to be charging/earning per day to make ownership a realistic proposition?

I know truckers talk about having to earn so much a day but even that I would be out of date on. A modern tractor unit must be 120K plus? £500 a day, would it be enough?

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Nope.

8 wheelers want to earn £6-700 per day. They can get £800 on HS2

Artics needing nearly £1000 per day now to leave some fat on their backs.

46-47 weeks of the year

 

[Sid]

Am I cheap? i thought that was the going rate tbh

One minute your mention the "going rate" next it's your cost.

Dump trailer rates will have to go up next year as will be on DERV

 

[Lofty1984]

Shall I end this thread in one comment ? If your contracting charge what you charge to suit your business got bog all to do with anyone else

 

[Tubbylew]

Just to add a bit of perspective.

Product page | Farol

Farol product details

www.farol.co.uk

Product page | Farol

Farol product details

www.farol.co.uk

Used to look foward to being able to afford a twenty year old tractor. Worlds gone mad imv

 

[Enry]

sounds like hell of a businessman

3 wagons to do1100ac..?.

 

[Courier]

Nope.

8 wheelers want to earn £6-700 per day. They can get £800 on HS2

Artics needing nearly £1000 per day now to leave some fat on their backs.

46-47 weeks of the year

Paid a guy with a 7.5 tonner £895 for a day’s London and return - added our 20% and invoiced - everyone’s happy with a job well done ….

 

[hagar]

Works out £60-70/hour for a 90hp tractor with a £3k topper which im happy with

You must be on some bloody good smooth ground and only shot grass to be doing 6-7 acres an hour,
I do a wee bit on rougher ground with some heavy rushes and to do about 11 acres takes 7.5 hours and I'm charging it at £25 p/hr.

 

[dave mountain]

You must be on some bloody good smooth ground and only shot grass to be doing 6-7 acres an hour,
I do a wee bit on rougher ground with some heavy rushes and to do about 11 acres takes 7.5 hours and I'm charging it at £25 p/hr.

About 7-8 acres/hour plus travel time and field changes as my topper needs unhitched to go through anything smaller than a 12ft gate. Pony fields usually bare so just thistles etc. Get 5-6 acres/hour on my own ground as there's usually a bit of grass about

 

[Gerbert]

There is a big difference, in a farmers son, doing a bit of 'contracting', to earn a bit extra, on the farm tractor, to those that do it for their living, the two are neither compatible, or comparable, but such is life, we help our small contractor with a tractor/man, for silage. It knocks a big chunk off the bill, and we get a brilliant job, for our silage. Helps us a lot, but it doesn't help main stream contractors. We all know the problem, we don't get paid enough for our product, until that policy changes, nothing much is going to alter.
Then look at the value, of the silage teams kit, as they drive in the yard, huge amounts of money, borrowed mostly, to do a job, that barely breaks even, then, plus other kit, for other jobs, in the yard. It really doesn't add up, try suggesting it to 'dragons den', and cringe, when they answer.
As far as l can see, nothing will/can alter, until farmers get paid a proper price, or we alter our systems, to where we don't need so much contacting, the first, is more likely than the second. What should happen, is contractors should stop doing work, at below/at cost, that in turn, would decimate many smaller farmers, which creates another load of problems, it's just a bloody great mess, with few long term answers.

What a load of rubbish. So someone that does a job for you should be cheaper because you don't earn enough? Then why is fertiliser through the roof, surely the customers can't afford it?
If you are a contractor and you are waiting for the farmers to come to you to tell you are allowed to increase prices because he is finally getting a "fair price" (whatever that is), you are an idiot and deserve to go bust.
Know your costs, charge accordingly.

Also, if you are paying for the use of comma's, I've got a great idea to save some money.

 

[fieldfarmer]

What a load of rubbish. So someone that does a job for you should be cheaper because you don't earn enough? Then why is fertiliser through the roof, surely the customers can't afford it?
If you are a contractor and you are waiting for the farmers to come to you to tell you are allowed to increase prices because he is finally getting a "fair price" (whatever that is), you are an idiot and deserve to go bust.
Know your costs, charge accordingly.

Also, if you are paying for the use of comma's, I've got a great idea to save some money.

I think you may have misunderstood the point hes trying to make,

 

[Bury the Trash]

Not aimed at Soms. Farmer .
but theres plenty of farmers that geting acres worth of Bps money , rented cottages income, no problem buying the next couple of cars etc
. But also try hard to pay the lowest contractor price.
Thats a fact.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Not aimed at Soms. Farmer .
but theres plenty of farmers that geting acres worth of Bps money , rented cottages income, no problem buying the next couple of cars etc
. But also try hard to pay the lowest contractor price.
Thats a fact.

There will be a percentage of farmers that are price chasers, loyalty is not in their vocabulary, they are the same with everything they buy ,

 

[Mounty]

And they're perfectly entitled to. Luckily I don't have many like that but for the odd ones I do, I tend not to go out of my way as much as I would for my regulars.

 

[Bury the Trash]

There will be a percentage of farmers that are price chasers, loyalty is not in their vocabulary, they are the same with everything they buy ,

Another example.

Not a large contract but a farm uses a chap to do this particular job on contract for a few years , then when the contractor puts his rate up a pound an acre to cover increases in metal wear farmer despite the job being done to a better standard than the farmer can do himself ( no machinery aptitude) stops the contractor and with windfall from old quota money or the like buys a brand new machine ( tax avoidance benifit of course) to do the job themselves and not insuch a skilled , thoughtful and experienced way.

Simple but True story and not unique I'm sure.

I'm not a contractor btw.

 

[dave mountain]

Paid a guy with a 7.5 tonner £895 for a day’s London and return - added our 20% and invoiced - everyone’s happy with a job well done ….

surely theres more to it than that for £895? or should i be rushing down to the iveco dealership?

 

[puntabrava]

Thats a hell of a lot of work for other people.

I have said it for years that many contractors are working for the machinery manufacturers and the financial industry.
Without a decent payday off some type of utility work most are going backwards in the current climate.