On Farm Service Labor Rate

[ALACOWMAN]

i won't take my equipment into the JD dealer b/c they charge 105/hr. in ky they only charged 75.

my little motto is.. "if they can do it.. so can I"

was a mechanic, and auto tech.for years until the 90's... Got humbled pretty good, when I had to take a transmission to a repair shop, because of no special tools, manuals or equipment to work on it...

 

[Brute 23]

In my life I have no doubt all these trade type services will go thru the roof. Its hard to find people who want to be mechanics, plumbers, carpenters, etc. If you do find some one who is good you better pay they well and hold on to them. Any one who does those trades around and is decent can pretty much write their own checks. They stay covered up also.

 

[plumber_greg]

Son of Butch, I apologize if I came off the way I think I may have this morn.
Any business that wants to stay in business, doesn't care what the competition is charging. They know the cost of doing business in their own world. Charging 190 an hour does no good if it costs them 195 to operate.
Even for a plumber $245 and hour for one man seems high. But if that is what it takes for him to be available the next time you need him maybe that's not so high after all. Especially if you have already had to call someone 120 miles away. Corn at $2.85 means nothing to him unless he has some at home. The only thing that matters to him is, " What does it cost me an hour to stay in business and make a living".
A lot of small business end up buying parts from the same vendors. Prices and profits on them are for the most part already set.
The only way to cover the business costs for some of us is through our labor charges. We're not a big retail store that can hide costs in products we sell, the only way we have is labor charges.
I'll stop now, but want to say that my labor charges were $1,000 per day for 3 men, actually 2 men and one woman. I would split 1/2 days, but if I was there longer than 4 hours, it was one day. Same if I was there 2 hours, it was a 1/2 day. If any equipment was needed, the charge with labor per day was $2500. I was in business 38 years, and depended on repeat customers to stay in business. gs

 

[Dave]

While back I got a bill from my vet. On the bill it listed "75 units". The rate was $2.10 per unit. After a little thought I realized that he had been there for an hour and 15 minutes which is 75 minutes. That is only $126 an hour which isn't too unreasonable. But the fact that he was charging by the minute kind of shocked me. After that I stopped standing around shooting the breeze with him about hunting, sports, and our kids. Get the work done and get him back into his pickup. He is also the vet at the salebarn, so I BS with him on their time.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

While back I got a bill from my vet. On the bill it listed "75 units". The rate was $2.10 per unit. After a little thought I realized that he had been there for an hour and 15 minutes which is 75 minutes. That is only $126 an hour which isn't too unreasonable. But the fact that he was charging by the minute kind of shocked me. After that I stopped standing around shooting the breeze with him about hunting, sports, and our kids. Get the work done and get him back into his pickup. He is also the vet at the salebarn, so I BS with him on their time.

dont see where they have the time to BS. At the stockyards here,, their shirt tail is flapping till their finished..

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

my little motto is.. "if they can do it.. so can I"

That's my motto also except in a case like this where it is harvest and you have a crop that needs to be handled ASAP. Sure I could fix it but what took the service guy 2 hours may take me a few days by the time I diagnose and order/wait for parts. What I would have saved on the service call would have been more than lost in downtime. When things are time sensitive sometimes you have to suck it up and call the experts.

 

[ddd75]

my little motto is.. "if they can do it.. so can I"

That's my motto also except in a case like this where it is harvest and you have a crop that needs to be handled ASAP. Sure I could fix it but what took the service guy 2 hours may take me a few days by the time I diagnose and order/wait for parts. What I would have saved on the service call would have been more than lost in downtime. When things are time sensitive sometimes you have to suck it up and call the experts.

of course.. always have to consider the cost of downtime.

 

[Dave]

While back I got a bill from my vet. On the bill it listed "75 units". The rate was $2.10 per unit. After a little thought I realized that he had been there for an hour and 15 minutes which is 75 minutes. That is only $126 an hour which isn't too unreasonable. But the fact that he was charging by the minute kind of shocked me. After that I stopped standing around shooting the breeze with him about hunting, sports, and our kids. Get the work done and get him back into his pickup. He is also the vet at the salebarn, so I BS with him on their time.

dont see where they have the time to BS. At the stockyards here,, their shirt tail is flapping till their finished..

That is a pretty small sale in Chehalis. Only 300-400 head a day. The vet at the Toppenish sale doesn't have time to eat. They get 2,000-3,000 head per sale.

 

[Son of Butch]

Our vet charges labor at $10 in 5 minute increments which breaks down to $2 per minute or $120 hour.
We still B.S. while working, but sure motivates having all animals caught, penned and ready to go to work on arrival.

I assume they switched to that billing system because too often they'd run into situations where they were wasting
too much time waiting for farmers to get their shxt together. I have noticed they don't start the clock as soon as they
pull up either, but more like 3-4 minutes after arrival and we get greetings out of the way and actual work starts.
I appreciate that and makes it more comfortable working together without feeling like every minute is being squeezed
on to the bill.

 

[littletom]

My wife is a vet so I see both sides of it. Thank god I get really cheap rates, might be expensive depends on how you look at it.

 

[Farm Fence Solutions]

Had to have a large pecan tree removed from my yard. Tree guy priced the job at $1000. Told him to do it.
He arrived the next morning at 7:00am. Tree and his outfit loaded and gone at 8:20am. I could be upset that he made $1000 in 1.33 hours but I'm not. He brought a bob truck, track bobcat with grapple, two guys with chainsaws and himself. He was done before I could have gotten my old saw running. Much easier for me to earn $1000 somewhere else than cutup and load that tree when I don't have the right equipment.

He didn't make $1,000 in 1.33 hours. Travel time, sharpening the saws, stopping for gas, changing the oil in the truck, greasing the bobcat, packing trailer bearings, disposal of the tree, keeping the books, payroll, sweeping the floor in the shop.........It all takes time and it's all work.

 

[ddd75]

Had to have a large pecan tree removed from my yard. Tree guy priced the job at $1000. Told him to do it.
He arrived the next morning at 7:00am. Tree and his outfit loaded and gone at 8:20am. I could be upset that he made $1000 in 1.33 hours but I'm not. He brought a bob truck, track bobcat with grapple, two guys with chainsaws and himself. He was done before I could have gotten my old saw running. Much easier for me to earn $1000 somewhere else than cutup and load that tree when I don't have the right equipment.

He didn't make $1,000 in 1.33 hours. Travel time, sharpening the saws, stopping for gas, changing the oil in the truck, greasing the bobcat, packing trailer bearings, disposal of the tree, keeping the books, payroll, sweeping the floor in the shop.........It all takes time and it's all work.

i cut and haul away trees all the time and the only thing I do is sharpen the saw and hook up the gooseneck. i'd say he did make about that.

 

[Farm Fence Solutions]

Had to have a large pecan tree removed from my yard. Tree guy priced the job at $1000. Told him to do it.
He arrived the next morning at 7:00am. Tree and his outfit loaded and gone at 8:20am. I could be upset that he made $1000 in 1.33 hours but I'm not. He brought a bob truck, track bobcat with grapple, two guys with chainsaws and himself. He was done before I could have gotten my old saw running. Much easier for me to earn $1000 somewhere else than cutup and load that tree when I don't have the right equipment.

He didn't make $1,000 in 1.33 hours. Travel time, sharpening the saws, stopping for gas, changing the oil in the truck, greasing the bobcat, packing trailer bearings, disposal of the tree, keeping the books, payroll, sweeping the floor in the shop.........It all takes time and it's all work.

i cut and haul away trees all the time and the only thing I do is sharpen the saw and hook up the gooseneck. i'd say he did make about that.

You must have some magical equipment that doesn't require fossil fuels or maintenance? I'm assuming that you report that income to Uncle Sam, and are current on your workman's comp and commercial liability insurance? And you never sweep the shop? The overhead is there, but you are ignoring it.

 

[ddd75]

i don't need to change the oil, grease all fittings, fill the tank, wash and wax my equipment to use it for 1 use. Gov. isn't going to take much and insurance is cheap. Labor is pretty cheap on jobs like that as well > I can hire a guy for 20 bucks a day to work all day loading all the tree while I cut it.

i'm not saying he's making 100% profit but its not like he has a 800 dollar bill on a 1000 dollar job.

 

[callmefence]

i don't need to change the oil, grease all fittings, fill the tank, wash and wax my equipment to use it for 1 use. Gov. isn't going to take much and insurance is cheap. Labor is pretty cheap on jobs like that as well > I can hire a guy for 20 bucks a day to work all day loading all the tree while I cut it.

i'm not saying he's making 100% profit but its not like he has a 800 dollar bill on a 1000 dollar job.

Actually it's probably not far off that.
You have to maintain and purchase equipment to use it everyday. You also have to keep employees busy everyday.
If I don't have fence to build. I hemorrhage 700.00 a day keeping my guys busy and that's taking my wife off the clock.
Fwiw 20.00 will barely cover the SS and Medi on three employees. And don't forget if you or your 20.00 employee makes a mistake you have to pay for it. Go to your day job and take a look around and think about if you had to pay for everything.

 

[Brute 23]

i don't need to change the oil, grease all fittings, fill the tank, wash and wax my equipment to use it for 1 use. Gov. isn't going to take much and insurance is cheap. Labor is pretty cheap on jobs like that as well > I can hire a guy for 20 bucks a day to work all day loading all the tree while I cut it.

i'm not saying he's making 100% profit but its not like he has a 800 dollar bill on a 1000 dollar job.

Actually it's probably not far off that.
You have to maintain and purchase equipment to use it everyday. You also have to keep employees busy everyday.
If I don't have fence to build. I hemorrhage 700.00 a day keeping my guys busy and that's taking my wife off the clock.
Fwiw 20.00 will barely cover the SS and Medi on three employees. And don't forget if you or your 20.00 employee makes a mistake you have to pay for it. Go to your day job and take a look around and think about if you had to pay for everything.

Fence it right. You cant just look at one job and say that guy makes a killing. There is a laundry list of expenses that you don't see. A big one is the govt taxes.... at the end of the day with all the other expenses if I clear $10 per man per hour uncle same gets $3-4 per hour.

I dare any one who thinks some one charges to much for a service to start their own business. Its not as easy as you think. We will be glad to meet you on the playing field. :tiphat:

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

and insurance is cheap....

Then you obviously have never priced liability and workers comp insurance for tree work and chainsaws have you...? I used to do tree climbing and removals and was properly insured and my ins guy said it was the highest premium of any of the policies that he had. Between the injury rate with chainsaws and being in the air with saws, and the potential for things to go wrong (IE tree on house, powerlines, etc) it costs a lot to be properly insured for that kind of work.

 

[Son of Butch]

mileage rate breakdown:
National average pay for truck drivers is $66,200 year
Drivers paid by the mile tend to earn more than hourly or salaried drivers and average 35 cents per mile.
Labor mileage 70 cents per mile (to cover round trip)

To own and operate a Service truck/van: fuel, insurance, maintenance, depreciation ect. 75 cents per mile average
with the average range being 65 - 90 cents mile depending on how it's equipped.

Service truck/van mileage 1.80 mile (round trip)
1.80 + .70 = 2.50

$2.25 mileage = breakeven paying driver $15 hour (School bus drivers locally get $14.50 hr carrying precious lives)
$2.50 mileage rate is equivalent to being paid at a rate of $66,200 per year for driving time.
$3.00 mile is equivalent to pay rate of $113,485 after expenses.

 

[callmefence]

mileage rate breakdown:
National average pay for truck drivers is $66,200 year
Drivers paid by the mile tend to earn more than hourly or salaried drivers and average 35 cents per mile.
Labor mileage 70 cents per mile (to cover round trip)

To own and operate a Service truck/van: fuel, insurance, maintenance, depreciation ect. 75 cents per mile average
with the average range being 65 - 90 cents mile depending on how it's equipped.

Service truck/van mileage 1.80 mile (round trip)
1.80 + .70 = 2.50

$2.25 mileage = breakeven paying driver $15 hour (School bus drivers locally get $14.50 hr carrying precious lives)
$2.50 mileage rate is equivalent to being paid at a rate of $66,200 per year for driving time.
$3.00 mile is equivalent to pay rate of $113,485 after expenses.

Your wrong on this one..
3.00 per mile is pretty standard rate. It's one way or loaded miles. And it's not just labor.
And a school bus driver does not have to pay for the bus , the fuel, the maintenance or the insurance....
Your repair man might have beat you up on the hourly rate but the milage is fair.

 

[Farm Fence Solutions]

i don't need to change the oil, grease all fittings, fill the tank, wash and wax my equipment to use it for 1 use. Gov. isn't going to take much and insurance is cheap. Labor is pretty cheap on jobs like that as well > I can hire a guy for 20 bucks a day to work all day loading all the tree while I cut it.

i'm not saying he's making 100% profit but its not like he has a 800 dollar bill on a 1000 dollar job.

Actually it's probably not far off that.
You have to maintain and purchase equipment to use it everyday. You also have to keep employees busy everyday.
If I don't have fence to build. I hemorrhage 700.00 a day keeping my guys busy and that's taking my wife off the clock.
Fwiw 20.00 will barely cover the SS and Medi on three employees. And don't forget if you or your 20.00 employee makes a mistake you have to pay for it. Go to your day job and take a look around and think about if you had to pay for everything.

Fence it right. You cant just look at one job and say that guy makes a killing. There is a laundry list of expenses that you don't see. A big one is the govt taxes.... at the end of the day with all the other expenses if I clear $10 per man per hour uncle same gets $3-4 per hour.

I dare any one who thinks some one charges to much for a service to start their own business. Its not as easy as you think. We will be glad to meet you on the playing field. :tiphat:

Bingo. :nod: