Tractor and driver for hire

Matt88

Member
Hi there, I’m looking into buying a tractor to hire into the uk with a driver for the busy planting and harvest season.

Looking at buying something along the lines of a Massey Ferguson 7720/case puma 175. Is there many people hiring tractors in for the harvest/planting season?

What sort of hourly rate would seem reasonable for a tractor and driver?
 
A self employed painter and decorator is around £20 an hour look what his costs will be. To hire a tractor and man think local contractors are paying around the £20 mark depending on the job and who you are !
 

Matt88

Member
Wouldn’t mind driving my own tractor with own expenses ect.
What’s the chances of getting in somewhere with a tractor and driver during busy seasons or are most farms hiring off hire company’s?
 

AnyOldName

Member
Location
The Motor City
Look in the jobs sections of the FW, Farmers Guardian or the jobs section on here in the spring, plenty of people need harvest staff. Twice I got really good harvest jobs from ads in the FW, drove decent machinery on modern farms for 3 months each time, had a great time, knew how much money I was going to make and very little stress. Reckon I enjoyed harvest time more than anyone else working on those farms.
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Work out what its going to cost you an hour to run and make a quid, include everything, then get some work sorted at the right price. If both of those things work out (they probably wont) then go looking for a tractor.
You really need contacts and knowledge of the jobs you're offering to stand a chance of it working.
You will be up against farmers/farmers sons who will spread their costs over the farm business and probably undercut you because their calculators don't work.
 

fermec860

Member
Location
Warwicshire
A self employed painter and decorator is around £20 an hour look what his costs will be. To hire a tractor and man think local contractors are paying around the £20 mark depending on the job and who you are !
Do people go with a eighty thousand pound tractor for twenty pound an hour would want nearer forty at least before I would think about turning the key
 
Do people go with a eighty thousand pound tractor for twenty pound an hour would want nearer forty at least before I would think about turning the key

Often see man and tractor for £25-£28 an hour

200hp fag packet maths
So tyres are £1 an hour costs
Diesel £10-£15 an hour
Machine depreciation £15 an hour
Servicing costs £1.20 an hour?
Insurance?
Repairs?
Your wage £15 an hour
 

Pennine Ploughing

Member
Mixed Farmer
A self employed painter and decorator is around £20 an hour look what his costs will be. To hire a tractor and man think local contractors are paying around the £20 mark depending on the job and who you are !
Blimey.
Fag packet calculations, £80k tractor @ £20 ph,
Say 1,350 hours a year if you find plenty of work, first 3 years tractor does 4050 hours
= £81k on income.
Costs,, servicing £4k, tyres £4k, insurance £4k, repairs £500 (rest covered by warranty) driver £50k (this is £10 ph @ 5k hours, due to work that is unpaid, seeing jobs, paperwork, servicing washing, etc,) depreciation on investment £30k, for 3 years.
accountants fees £1k, inconvenience of working on weekends when dry, and not on week days when wet, £6k. As cannot plan ahead or get days off when you want.
= £99,500 in costs, and that is accounting for farmers to supply all fuel totally,
3 years down the line you have made a loss of £18,500, to balance the books you take a reduced wage, so end up dropping from £10 ph, to £6.30 ph, to break even, so no profit to show, and year 4 onwards no warranty will put costs up or Coss more to change.

sticking your chest out and being the big man in the pub, don't pay bills,,

Now driving someone else's tractor on labour only, = £18k for same hours @ £12 ph flat rate, and still have extra potential to make more as the rate is based on 1500 hours a year,

Go figure it out, as in my first post, spending a fiver on a calculator will be the best money spent.
 
Last edited:

smcapstick

Member
Location
Kirkby Lonsdale
You’ll struggle to hire out a big-ticket machine if you only have one.
What if it breaks down? You have no replacement.
Also, can you fix it? Do you have up to date diagnostic equipment, plus the specialist workshop tools needed to repair the tractor in the field? Can you fix CAN systems? Or if you are relying on main dealer support, why wouldn’t your customer go direct to them?

In my experience, the self-drive hire job requires you to go big or go home.
 

Robt

Member
Location
Suffolk
Some questions,
Are you a farmer with a big assett (land) to borrow against at very low APR)
Do you love driving tractors?
Do you have no mortgage or rent?
If the answer is yes to all three. Buy one, hire yourself at £30 an hour inc tractor.
If the answer to any of those are no.
Dont bother, buy a van, by some electric gardening kit (mowers, strimmers, hedge cutters) (( not my idea, but veryy good)) then go charge yoursefl out at £60 per hour.
 

Limcrazy

Member
Could bring in much more cash with a van and trailer doing gardens than a big tractor and trailer. Much healthier lifestyle and hours too but not for everyone.
 

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

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As reported in Independent


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

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