Are Contractors rates having to go up.

[ollie989898]

140hp tractor with hedgecutter maybe £80k.
2WD Ford 5000 with hedgecutter £15k.

Which outfit has the best margin? Contractor told me it is always the machine on the back which makes the money

Yes but you get in with the 'ahhhhh I've got this 140hp autopower tractor and bloke to pay each week so I might as well send him out on the trimmer all winter' type thinking. Fine if you have your own tractor, trimmer and man working to do your own hedge cutting but going out contracting is quite another.

I happened by a hedgetrimmer contractor during the summer with a very spangly Fendt 500 I think, complete with trimmer on the back and topper on the front. All doing local authority or highway work I guess. I bet they weren't charging £15 an hour though.

 

[tullah]

It’s you lot who don’t pay your contractors on the nail that’ll kill them.
Too many farmers won’t pay until the SFP has landed.

Mind you, a fuel rise from 40ppl to over 80ppl within the last 8 months has to be covered somewhere

Anyone know if contractors rates went down when fuel prices crashed?

 

[Martin Holden]

Which one is that ?

It’s a very tough industry to be in lot of youngsters don’t budget costs correctly sometimes using the farm tractor out a low rates.
Couple of older ones in this area now packed up.
Wouldn’t take much for me to pack the agricultural side up altogether TBH

I thought you had already?

 

[Yale]

GulfStream or go home.

G6….?

G600 - Gulfstream Aerospace

The world's finest aircraft

www.gulfstream.com

 

[Kevtherev]

I thought you had already?

Packed the silage up in 2008 couldn’t compete with the SP men.

 

[Kevtherev]

Problem is no one wants to do it that way anymore.They want to start off with new kit on finance and wonder why they cant make it add up,takes time and hard work to build up a good reputation.Once you get there its easier to increase your rates a bit,which we will have to do now.

Things are a lot different now costs of machinery gone up serious
I remember buying my first conventional plough and the first job paid for it.
Ploughed with zetor 8045 then.

 

[Werzle]

It’s you lot who don’t pay your contractors on the nail that’ll kill them.
Too many farmers won’t pay until the SFP has landed.

Mind you, a fuel rise from 40ppl to over 80ppl within the last 8 months has to be covered somewhere

Frightening. I know contractors who havent been paid by some farmers for 2-3 yrs but they still carry on doing the annual work! Theres a good many farmers who have to be chased for money too, they almost enjoy the power they hold over the poor bugger they owe. Also frightening that some contractors will buy a piece of kit before finding the work for it.

 

[Daddy Pig]

Contractor here this week spreading lime. Driver been doing 100hrs a week over summer! Loads of work but struggling to find drivers!

And we wonder why we have such a bad safety record in this industry.

 

[Martin Holden]

Packed the silage up in 2008 couldn’t compete with the SP men.

Think you are well out of it to be honest

 

[Wellytrack]

G6….?

G600 - Gulfstream Aerospace

The world's finest aircraft

www.gulfstream.com

Meh. Little more than entry level. It will do for a start..

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Frightening. I know contractors who havent been paid by some farmers for 2-3 yrs but they still carry on doing the annual work! Theres a good many farmers who have to be chased for money too, they almost enjoy the power they hold over the poor bugger they owe. Also frightening that some contractors will buy a piece of kit before finding the work for it.

That’s just daft to be blunt.

We are right on top of paperwork and invoices here. We invoice every week and are chasing up bang on 28 days if there has been cause for concern in the past. I’m prepared to give a bit of leaway for previously prompt payers and will always talk if I’m asked if I can wait for payment before we do the job. There is absolutely no way I’m working for anybody who takes too long to pay up.

It winds me up if someone asks for a discount and even more if they ask after the job has been done. Somebody sent me a cheque once with the few pounds and pence knocked (£44.12p if I recall correctly) off and then argued about it when I called to request they paid in full. I still work for them and they’ve never done it again even though I know they do it to others. I don’t ask my hauliers or my suppliers to accept less so why should I?


For a contractor to allow himself to be used as a bank is beyond my comprehension. To allow himself to have the pi$$ taken for several years is just nonsense and shows they hold themselves in low esteem.

 

[Weasel]

Although I was that youngster starting out from scratch with a tractor I bought out of savings aged 16.

What kind of tractor did you buy?

 

[Kevtherev]

What kind of tractor did you buy?

A 4wd zetor Crystal everyone took the pee

 

[Cab-over Pete]

A Rolly

 

[Weasel]

A 4wd zetor Crystal everyone took the pee

It would do the job, cheap power

 

[Kevtherev]

It would do the job, cheap power

It did and I’m glad I didn’t know Pete then or he would be crying in his sandwiches

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Not me mate, nothing wrong with a Zetor. We took the pee relentlessly out of a lad at college that had them at home, but they were great owners tractors.

 

[Werzle]

That’s just daft to be blunt.

We are right on top of paperwork and invoices here. We invoice every week and are chasing up bang on 28 days if there has been cause for concern in the past. I’m prepared to give a bit of leaway for previously prompt payers and will always talk if I’m asked if I can wait for payment before we do the job. There is absolutely no way I’m working for anybody who takes too long to pay up.

It winds me up if someone asks for a discount and even more if they ask after the job has been done. Somebody sent me a cheque once with the few pounds and pence knocked (£44.12p if I recall correctly) off and then argued about it when I called to request they paid in full. I still work for them and they’ve never done it again even though I know they do it to others. I don’t ask my hauliers or my suppliers to accept less so why should I?


For a contractor to allow himself to be used as a bank is beyond my comprehension. To allow himself to have the pi$$ taken for several years is just nonsense and shows they hold themselves in low esteem.

Yes its a carry on i agree. You hear stories of land being rented free by the contractor to settle these long standing debts or farmers sons having to drive kit for free to work it off. Not sure how true it is but i suppose its one way of being paid.

 

[Kevtherev]

Yes its a carry on i agree. You hear stories of land being rented free by the contractor to settle these long standing debts or farmers sons having to drive kit for free to work it off. Not sure how true it is but i suppose its one way of being paid.

Dairy cows one contractor got paid with
I once got paid with a maschio power harrow!

 

[Bury the Trash]

Not me mate, nothing wrong with a Zetor. We took the pee relentlessly out of a lad at college that had them at home, but they were great owners tractors.

Long time ago now mind but A much respected local contractor (he's long gone now unfortunately) based and built his trusted business on Zetors , when son took it had to be a fleet of JD's