Contractors crucial to agriculture

[DevonDuckie]

I've had a great response to my research on farm labour and am discovering how important contractors are to farms. But getting interviews with contractors has been almost impossible. So can anybody tell me on here, do contractors, especially the small self-employed set ups, receive any kind of governmental or non-governmental assistance, either monetary or otherwise? Has anyone ever heard of contractors going bust due to cash-flow problems?

 

[IH 684]

A percentage of contractors usually end up getting conned and not get paid by certain farmers. Basically a new contractor will come along. Farmer will use him and pay on time. Contractor then gets a sense of security and farmer gives them more and more work. Farmer then starts to delay payment, contractor begins to panic but has to carry on doing the work and stay friendly with the farmer as he knows money is owed .After a few years the farmer is a year or more behind with payments. Contractor now needs machinary replacing, can't get credit farmer won't pay up contractor goes bust or packs in. Farmer ends up with a years free work. New contractor comes along the cycle starts again.

 

[Princess Pooper]

Contractors eligible for any of the business start-up advice or grants going at the time same as any other business. If a farm diversification then sometimes able to get some help there. Some recent grants may have aided purchase of certain items where savings on resources / environmental benefit or similar current hot topics are relevant e.g. slurry injection precision farming

yes cashflow a major issue for some contractors - hp /lease payments on kit a major expenditure. One here recently stopped trading and most of the kit went back.

Some people go into contracting because they like big shiny kit and they might not be very good businessmen. Sometimes they like the kit a bit too much and buy something because they like it not because their customers require it.

Some are slow at getting bills out (most are better than they used to be) so farmers then take the pee and are slow to pay them. It's a bad do for them when they have to ask for last year's silage money before they will contemplate starting this year's.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Yes i know (of) one or two outfits that have gone bust.

 

[Cab-over Pete]

No help received here, none asked for either.

Cash flow is king. We get invoices out sharpish, often within 3 days. I'm mithering hauliers and quarries to send me weight tickets so I can invoice customers quickly. They know I mean business that way. I am buying stuff from some big concerns and they won't wait for their money.

In response to that, most pay within a month or two, several by return of post. I have a few slow payers and I'm getting fed up with them. They are usually the complainers and foot stompers if they don't get their way. They have a shock coming because I'm not going to do their work any more.

The vast majority are good to work for and good payers, but you have to be on the ball.

 

[DevonDuckie]

Do you think more could be done to help contractors or should they be treated like any other business? Also, I've heard how some small farms sometimes struggle to get hold of contractors during busy periods. Is this a common thing or does it all depend on whether you pay quickly or not?

 

[Bumble Bee]

I have always thought that contractors got a raw deal when our local sugar beet factory closed.
Farmers got compensated for losing there quota yet could still grow other crops in their fields.

The harvesting contractors got nothing and were left with what were expensive harvesters yet struggled to sell them at a decent price as many others were also trying to sell theirs.

The chap that used to haul our beet had only bought his round off another haulier 2 or 3 years before the factory closed. Around 6 months of his annual work load was pulled from under him yet he received nothing in the form of compensation.

 

[Cab-over Pete]

It's a very difficult one because we see ourselves as "kind of farmers" but will never get the benefits "proper farmers" do.
Having said that, we are price makers, not price takers, so are very different in that respect. It's not always the price we want, but then I'm sure farmers often think the same!!

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Do you think more could be done to help contractors or should they be treated like any other business? Also, I've heard how some small farms sometimes struggle to get hold of contractors during busy periods. Is this a common thing or does it all depend on whether you pay quickly or not?

I try to treat all mine fairly, large or small. I work on a list system. Once you're on it I rarely move you up or down it. It's only Mother Nature that will make me change my mind. I certainly won't be swayed by customers who think they are more important than another.

The list system costs me no end of time running about, but we have always tried to offer good, fair service.

It annoys me when people try to get round me to do the job a few pence cheaper. Suggesting they get their own haulage is a common one, or getting cheap lime somewhere else then asking me to spread it. Those jobs invariably go wrong and I'm the one who picks up the cost. They usually don't bother letting me know their intentions until the last minute thinking I'll have no choice. Wrong. I have a choice, buggering off to do better things than lose money!
I soon lose interest when I get those requests. I had a quarry on the phone in early August .
" Where do you want your lime Pete?"
"I haven't ordered it yet"
"Yes, it's going to (farmers name)"
"I haven't ordered it"......
They've orders it themselves. So get someone else to spread it.

I have forgotten the odd job now and again (sorry Mark!!!) but will try to pull out the stops and squeeze them in if I can.

What winds me up is when customers say things like " where have you been? I thought you would keep an eye on how we are getting on" or "I would have thought you could have done ours when you were passing"

They are often 20+ miles from home. I'm not driving over to "keep an eye on you" and I'm not "just passing" either. Plus, you've got my number and, surprisingly, I'm not looking for something to do!!

Dipsticks.


99% are good to work for though!

Many of you are on here, so thank you if that's you!

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I've had a great response to my research on farm labour and am discovering how important contractors are to farms. But getting interviews with contractors has been almost impossible. So can anybody tell me on here, do contractors, especially the small self-employed set ups, receive any kind of governmental or non-governmental assistance, either monetary or otherwise? Has anyone ever heard of contractors going bust due to cash-flow problems?

If farmers received a fair price for what they produced everyone would be happy.

 

[Princess Pooper]

Do you think more could be done to help contractors or should they be treated like any other business? Also, I've heard how some small farms sometimes struggle to get hold of contractors during busy periods. Is this a common thing or does it all depend on whether you pay quickly or not?

Yes it can be very difficult for small enterprises to get contractors at the right time, one always tends to be at the back of the queue. We try and overcome this by making sure we always pay quickly - they sometimes leave the farm with a cheque in their pocket the day the job is done - but it doesn't necessarily guarantee a better service.

 

[7740 man]

If you can make it in contracting you'll make it in anything. It's a 24/7 call out job lots of the time. @Cab-over Pete got it spot on, I've experienced bad payers and with me they're black listed. Not the farmers you'd think of either, I talking NFU president s of local area etc...

 

[Bumble Bee]

All customers large or small are treated equally here. That could be because we have quite a lot of relatively small customers.

Luckily we do not have many slow payers (they have all been jettisoned ).

I will bend over backwards to accommodate a customers wishes but there is one thing that does make a difference to the level od service that some customers get!
Some customers go the extra mile to make the job easier. e.g. open all field gates, bring chemical to sprayer. But some almost seem to go out of their way to make the job more difficult than it needs to be. It's almost as though they are trying to prove that they are the ones in charge and that you will jump when they say. You can guess which one I'll put in the extra hours for if it's going to rain or help out of a sticky spot if they have a breakdown.
I

 

[Cab-over Pete]

That's spot on @Bumble Bee

 

[caveman]

If farmers received a fair price for what they produced everyone would be happy.

Is it fair to involve contractors in a loss making enterprise and then expect them to carry the loss?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Is it fair to involve contractors in a loss making enterprise and then expect them to carry the loss?

No but if the farmer is trimming costs I have to trim cost to get his custom or he may trim me .it's a bid bad world out there .no one ows anyone a living

 

[Ali_Maxxum]

We work for 2-3 farmers now, and that's only because my dad has for about 30years. We don't chase farm work, there's plenty of others that do and are on quite frankly crap money because of it. We're a small 2 man outfit with occasional help through busy periods, working mainly for the private sector; private land owners, small holdings, horsey folk, few hobby farmers and some government organisations.

We can charge almost what we want within reason but we don't take the P as we have a very good rep. Some like to pay before you leave, some ring up and ask for the bill and some will try and fob you off or 'forget' so of course they go further down the priority list or I have the money up front or it goes up next time.

I must admit getting bills out is our downfall, we are slow, simply because we don't have time (but yes I know of course we have to make time). So will say ''how much'' and others will say ''is that all?!''

 

[7740 man]

We work for 2-3 farmers now, and that's only because my dad has for about 30years. We don't chase farm work, there's plenty of others that do and are on quite frankly crap money because of it. We're a small 2 man outfit with occasional help through busy periods, working mainly for the private sector; private land owners, small holdings, horsey folk, few hobby farmers and some government organisations.

We can charge almost what we want within reason but we don't take the P as we have a very good rep. Some like to pay before you leave, some ring up and ask for the bill and some will try and fob you off or 'forget' so of course they go further down the priority list or I have the money up front or it goes up next time.

I must admit getting bills out is our downfall, we are slow, simply because we don't have time (but yes I know of course we have to make time). So will say ''how much'' and others will say ''is that all?!''

You pretty much just described what I do but on a smaller scale. It's ok waiting to send bills out to good customers as you know your money is 'safe'

 

[Derrick Hughes]

The worst thing you can do is send bills out late . Firstly it gives the impression your not in a hurry to get paid and you run the risk of the bill building up thus giving the customer a shock he was not expecting. It also show shody businessmanship which is a reflection on the company

 

[7740 man]

The worst thing you can do is send bills out late . Firstly it gives the impression your not in a hurry to get paid and you run the risk of the bill building up thus giving the customer a shock he was not expecting. It also show shody businessmanship which is a reflection on the company

Yes I agree, timescale I was talking about was 2 -3 weeks max , there's contractor near me hasn't sent bills to some people for 4 years +, mad!