Man and tractor price??

James

Member
Location
Comber, Down
Thats a decision for me and my accountant to make

Not you.

Every year i ask the question is it worth going vat registered, his reply is that while my customer base consists of the people it does, it will lose me customers and cost me more money than il get back

I think il take his advice over yours on that one.

Right when exactly did I say YOU should be VAT reg? I asked a question I did not offer advice. Anyway it refered to a customer of yours not you. How is the view from up there?
 
I usually agree with everything you ever say ARW but for this I'm going to have to beg to differ. We're in a similar game to John, small acreage, pony paddocks, SSSI's, etc but we use new machinery, the bigger stuff i.e. tractor, baler, hedge trimmer usually on finance, as reliability and productivity is key.

Yes raking 100's of acres of grass is more profitable, but I need a £40k rake as opposed to a £3k rake. These smaller folks are more than prepared to pay to have the work done and are usually paying a premium (hourly rate of course) for us to do so. Plus I can be paid the day I finish rather than wait months or years for the money. Our kit is big enough to do larger jobs but still small enough to swing around in a half acre patch.

We must be doing something right as we've been able to buy a brand new in-line baler and new 6 rotor tedder. And who is our competition? No-one, because the rest are chasing the acres. We pride ourselves in doing a 10/10 job every time and people keep coming back. I'd 100% much rather be doing what we're doing and be able to sleep at night than having half a million pounds worth of kit to pay for and be worrying that the other 4 or 5 gangs in the area could undercut me over night. If you lose out on a 300 acre contract that's quite a significant blow, where as if I lose out on 3 acres well I'm not exactly going to choke on my tea.

There is another grassland job that we do which is our niche which the total cost of the outfit is what one 16ton silage trailer would be, so please don't say there's no money in the small jobs.

Hope this doesn't sound too narky, if it does I'm sorry, as I have utmost respect for all members on here!
There can't be many contracting jobs on farms that keep busy 12 months of the year
 

Claas grass

Member
Location
Tipperary
Might seem pessimistic and harsh but don't even waste your time OP, been there got the t-shirt. Subbing work from someone who is already working for a poor rate is a sure way to make nothing yourself, go drive their machine and make clear profit. Your costings don't allow for near enough, you will want a couple of thousand £££ in your account at all times because something will pop up at some point you can be certain of that, a simple drop arm breaks, exhaust goes, air-con gas, puncture all of those will be £100-200 fix and they are simple, @20ph each little fix is 5hours gone including your own wage in that or if the tractor alone @12 it's more or less a full working day gone, if an engine, gear box or tyres need attention you are literally talking about 100's of hours gone. No offence either but with a 20 year old 120hp tractor your phone won't be hopping, most contractors only want someone who can fit seamlessly in, i.e. Someone with all 160hp tractors 50k is not going to want someone hauling in with them with a smaller slower tractor as it will slow the show up, that's why owner drivers are forced to buy something they can't really afford so they are capable of hooking up to anything and be able to do any job. I would stick to what you are already doing, staying on your own and not trying to sub off someone else, what you're doing already has enabled you to buy all that machinery at only 17 why change that now to benefit someone else.
 

ARW

Member
Location
Yorkshire
Thats a decision for me and my accountant to make

Not you.

Every year i ask the question is it worth going vat registered, his reply is that while my customer base consists of the people it does, it will lose me customers and cost me more money than il get back

I think il take his advice over yours on that one.
How do you keep your turnover less than £83k a year? It's £1730 a week limit!
 

John 1594

Member
Location
Cambridgeshire
How do you keep your turnover less than £83k a year? It's £1730 a week limit!

You dont need a huge turnover to have a decent profit it seems

Everyone is different obviously, running costs here are pittance compared to some, i havent got an extravagent lifestyle either, or feel the need to have a new machine every year

As long as ive got enough to live on, the rest of the profit gets funelled back through the business and invested in machinery

I trust my accountant to make the right decisions for me, after all thats what i pay him to do

What works for me obviously wont work for everyone else though
 
Yeah mine seams to forget sometimes who he is working for, but I hate it when people want to pay cash and drop the vat off and then get the hump when I won't do it.
 

rs1

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Oxfordshire
You dont need a huge turnover to have a decent profit it seems

Everyone is different obviously, running costs here are pittance compared to some, i havent got an extravagent lifestyle either, or feel the need to have a new machine every year

As long as ive got enough to live on, the rest of the profit gets funelled back through the business and invested in machinery

I trust my accountant to make the right decisions for me, after all thats what i pay him to do

What works for me obviously wont work for everyone else though

Without being nosey, what do you do about the 20% vat on machinery purchases?
 

John 1594

Member
Location
Cambridgeshire
Without being nosey, what do you do about the 20% vat on machinery purchases?


Just something you put up with...

Only 2 tractors here had vat on anyway, rest of them were bought vat free, and not for cash either

The monies gained in getting the vat back on 2 tractors that cost sub 15k would soon be lost again in lost custom from having to charge vat on a weeks hedgeing or haymaking at the local stables.

Non vat tractors do come up from time to time,
 

John 1594

Member
Location
Cambridgeshire
Looking at the fleet it could be a fair while since he bought a tractor :p:D:D


Why would i need to, last big purchase for me was 10 years ago when the 15 arrived. Bought plenty of smaller stuff since, mostly bought as written off the books and sold for scrap price

time is the cheapest investment in the world, spend 500 quid on say a set of worn out and knackered rolls what really need cutting up, a few days time and repairs and all of a sudden they are worth a couple of thousand
 

rs1

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Oxfordshire
Just something you put up with...

Only 2 tractors here had vat on anyway, rest of them were bought vat free, and not for cash either

The monies gained in getting the vat back on 2 tractors that cost sub 15k would soon be lost again in lost custom from having to charge vat on a weeks hedgeing or haymaking at the local stables.

Non vat tractors do come up from time to time,

If you're turning over reasonable money it must work out better to be vat registered? Losing 20% off machinery and 20% off parts plus 20% off fuel? Unless you buy at the 5% rate?
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.2%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.3%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.3%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,287
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top