How to charge for a big, big job?

[Powerlineman]

My day job is working on powerlines and trimming around them. I love cutting wood and am contemplating slowly buying equipment to strart a tree co. at some point. I want to start with a wood chipper. The township I live in is clearing the ROW and they are currently renting a chipper at $160 a day.

There are 46 miles in my township and a ton of trees to clear. I know that they are looking to hire a couple chipping crews to help with the brush so I figure why not start here.

Now to my question. How the heck do I charge for something like this. By the day, by the hour, or by the complete project. Since I know what they are paying a day for the Rental Chipper that gives me a little idea, but where to begin?

Ok fire away and tell me I am crazy! Thanks

 

[Koa Man]

I never did any massive chipping jobs, but my rate for chipping was $150 an hour with no hauling of debris with my 200hp Woodsman 18X. I did not feed the chipper either. I only stood by the chipper and controlled the feed. I would tell those that hired me how to stack the brush and if they had everything staged right, one hour of chipping with that machine would be a huge amount of brush. Longest I had to chip for one person was 7 hours over 2 days and we just shot the chips on the ground. They paid me for 16 hours as I had to wait while more stuff got cut.

 

[greenguy08]

I'd steer away from bidding something this size as a complete project. Too much potential to get the short end of the stick until you get really sharp at bidding. Charge by the hour or the day. Are you renting a chipper or do you own one? How many guys will you be running? Figure out your overhead and add what you need to make-be sure to make it worthwhile but also stay competitive.

 

[MillerTreeMN]

are you ONLY doing brush chipping ???? do you have insurance to do this? any state / city / county will require insurance, and maybe a city license.


definitely try to chip "on site" so you dont have time and cost of hauling away the chips. chip them onto the ground and let them rot.


i cringe when i think of "Rental chippers" the knives are dull, and they are too small of a machine.

heres my thoughts.... with no haul away, 1-2 grunts, 150 bucks an hour for an extended job- for a few weeks... you cant go wrong there right ?? if you bid it by the job and not by the hour- you WILL have set backs, time delays, problems, extra work piled on... long story short something always comes up.

you may even be able to go lower. if you pay 2 grunts $14/ per hour ( call a staffing agency and ask for their guys who like labor and dont smoke crack )

ok, so you know its $28 an hour plus fuel out of your pocket so far. at 150 an hour, now you are down to.... say 100 bucks an hour = 800 bucks a day. minus 160 a day for the icky rental chipper... 640 bucks a day in your pocket. so, you may be able to go just under 150 an hour, if its a month long project and still be worth your time.

long contract, bid it by the hour. i sometimes prefer not to get the job at all than to do it for no money.

i only rented a wood chipper ONCE. like, 8 years ago. never again.

 

[treesquirrel]

Ok fire away and tell me I am crazy! Thanks

BANG!

You are crazy!

I'd bet the township will require fixed rates or total fixed price. You may also have to get bonded, have workmans comp, and a general liability policy to work for a township.

Good luck.

 

[ND_ash]

Most jobs that I have seen bid are bond on the outside of a sealed envelope with license and insurance proof inside, along with a list of equipment and price. Time line of work completion and backup resources on some projects. Our county and city have been burned many times so they are getting really hard to work for. Keeps the rift raft from bidding though. The electric company's are just as bad Wright is the only people I see working for them.

 

[Powerlineman]

I went to the township board meeting before I got all of these replies, and this is what I did.

$65 an hour flat across the board, for cutting small trees, and brush, with chipping. Larger trees are going to be bid on a case by case basis. I am a 1 man crew and want to keep it that way for now, and that is how I bid it. 1 man crew $65 and hour. I am going to purchase my own chipper, a chuck n duck for now. I want to keep the overhead low. I work full time so I want to add equipment as I go and upgrade as I go. I will not take out a huge loan for a bunch of equipment. Having a good full time job and doing this part time I can get my name out there and grow over time.

I will have my own liability insurance, be bonded etc. I bid this job a little on the low end for the reason of the amount of work that is availible and a way to advertise my name. I am walking into this at the right time b/c the owner of the tree company that was doing the work for the township passed away, and his business disolved, so the timming is right.

Thanks for the replies, As I get this thing going I will be charging a higher per hour rate for new jobs.

 

[Rftreeman]

do you have any time limits to get said work done, it can be very hard to get any production solo..

 

[Powerlineman]

do you have any time limits to get said work done, it can be very hard to get any production solo..

There is no time line the township doesnt even have a work plan set up. They are flying by the seat of their pants. I will be solo as long as I can I will hire some part time help once things start to pick up.