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Help Support SkidSteer Forum:
LGS Enterprises
Member
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2007
- Messages
- 11
Take a rough guess on how long you think it will take, add some more time because something will pop up then fit it into a hourly number that you are comfortable working for after you take in consideration insurance, fuel, skid steer maintenance, skid steer tires, depreciation, trailer maintenance, truck maintenance, truck fuel, etc. Then come up with a number for your administrative costs, office, phones, garages, staff, etc...........Now here is the hard part, be less than the next guy or know how to build value into what you do so you can be higher and still get the job. ALWAYS WRITE A CONTRACT, BEING VERY SPECIFIC AS TO WHAT YOU ARE PROVIDING AND FOR HOW MUCH AND THE LIMITS OF YOUR LIABILITY! Have them sign it before you unload the truck. Be it 10 hours of work clearing a site or spreading 100 tons of sand to grade and your price. Include an hourly rate if you can not complete it in the specified time frame. I usually tell them I'll be within a 20% range, 10% under or 10% over and I will complete it for the agreed price. If I run 15% over they will incur additional charges. Be wary of giving an estimates over the phone, "Craigslist People". I'll cite an example of 3 weeks ago a lady replied to my ad and asked how much to dig a 6' x 14' x 18" deep trough for a cattle guard. Having done them before over my buddys I figured 1.5 hours plus .5 travel. I didn't have anything else going on and she was nearby so I dropped my minimum. I bid it at $150 and she agreed. I asked about any specific issues I was going to run into, she stated that they just spread large river rock for the drive way, ok fine. I get out there and pull out my contract and she states "Oh, we don't need that, I'm paying cash" I reluctantly continue, I scrape away the river rock to find large gravel buried in hard clay. After I got thru the gravel, the clay had large rocks in it that required a dig bar to get most of them out, then I hit the sprinkler pipe and wiring that was buried right where she wanted the cattle guard. I go and get her and she asks what is this?, I explain and she asks if I would fix it and relocate it, I decline. At this point I've got almost 5 hours into it and she hands me $150, I tried to explain the difficulties and how she didn't tell me what all she really had. She told me "We had a deal", ..Whatever and I left, lesson learned.
LGS, would you be willing to email me a version of your contract? I haven't ran into a problem like that, but I know it will in the future.Take a rough guess on how long you think it will take, add some more time because something will pop up then fit it into a hourly number that you are comfortable working for after you take in consideration insurance, fuel, skid steer maintenance, skid steer tires, depreciation, trailer maintenance, truck maintenance, truck fuel, etc. Then come up with a number for your administrative costs, office, phones, garages, staff, etc...........Now here is the hard part, be less than the next guy or know how to build value into what you do so you can be higher and still get the job. ALWAYS WRITE A CONTRACT, BEING VERY SPECIFIC AS TO WHAT YOU ARE PROVIDING AND FOR HOW MUCH AND THE LIMITS OF YOUR LIABILITY! Have them sign it before you unload the truck. Be it 10 hours of work clearing a site or spreading 100 tons of sand to grade and your price. Include an hourly rate if you can not complete it in the specified time frame. I usually tell them I'll be within a 20% range, 10% under or 10% over and I will complete it for the agreed price. If I run 15% over they will incur additional charges. Be wary of giving an estimates over the phone, "Craigslist People". I'll cite an example of 3 weeks ago a lady replied to my ad and asked how much to dig a 6' x 14' x 18" deep trough for a cattle guard. Having done them before over my buddys I figured 1.5 hours plus .5 travel. I didn't have anything else going on and she was nearby so I dropped my minimum. I bid it at $150 and she agreed. I asked about any specific issues I was going to run into, she stated that they just spread large river rock for the drive way, ok fine. I get out there and pull out my contract and she states "Oh, we don't need that, I'm paying cash" I reluctantly continue, I scrape away the river rock to find large gravel buried in hard clay. After I got thru the gravel, the clay had large rocks in it that required a dig bar to get most of them out, then I hit the sprinkler pipe and wiring that was buried right where she wanted the cattle guard. I go and get her and she asks what is this?, I explain and she asks if I would fix it and relocate it, I decline. At this point I've got almost 5 hours into it and she hands me $150, I tried to explain the difficulties and how she didn't tell me what all she really had. She told me "We had a deal", ..Whatever and I left, lesson learned.
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