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Flate rate mowing

3

37 chief

Well-known Member

A friend of mine had his tractor stolen. He is out of the mowing business. I have his fields now. I know what he charged on each field. He had a smaller mower, and took him much longer. So should I charge the same price as he did even though I can do it faster? I'm thinking keeping his same price. Almost like a mechanic, give a price and if you do it quicker you make out better. Any thoughts? Stan
 
I'd leave it the same, they are used to paying that amount and that will give you some cushion for breakdowns, etc.
 
That sales pitch wouldn't work with me. I don't care if it takes you 3 hours or 6 hours. People with bigger equipment for mowing have it for quantity. The faster you mow the more you can mow in a day so you can under cut the guy with small equipment. You make it up in quantity.
 
Yep, sounds like the car dealer that advertised.
We sell our cars at a little loss, but we make it up on quantity. LOL
 
(quoted from post at 17:34:11 06/28/21)
A friend of mine had his tractor stolen. He is out of the mowing business. I have his fields now. I know what he charged on each field. He had a smaller mower, and took him much longer. So should I charge the same price as he did even though I can do it faster? I'm thinking keeping his same price. Almost like a mechanic, give a price and if you do it quicker you make out better. Any thoughts? Stan
Click to expand...



You don't owe the guy anything and from some of you past posts it seems to me you want to wind down a bit.

Quote a number of DOUBLE the last guy, be prepared to negotiate down a bit, or let them find another "lowest cost service provider". NOT you problem, IMHO.
 
Who would you be trying to make happy?

You won't be happy because you'll know you're leaving money on the table.
The customers won't be happy because they'll think they were overcharged by your friend.
And your buddy won't be happy because you'll make him look bad.

Charge the same as your friend did before.
 
If your happy with the number charge the same. If you want to make sure they get value for their money throw in a little extra trimming, limb moving, etc.
 
Probably right to a certain extent,It costs me very little more to brush hog with my 100 HP tractor hooked to my 10ft hog,than it does to cut with my 50 HP tractor hooked to a 6ft brush hog.I can cover close to twice as many acres with my larger rig in the same time as with my smaller set up.Someone with an 8N and a 5ft brush hog couldn't compete with my price with the 100 HP tractor on a per acre basis.
 
I think you have a quanumdrum. Charge the same and you'll feel great because you come out like a bandit. Price it like you normally would and you'll be moping cause you could have made more.

Now to add insult to injury if you charge the same thing pretty soon you will feel like you are being cheated by your own customers because they are getting a much better deal. After all you are making much more for the same amount of work at the new jobs.

Now you have a new problem. Do you raise the price for your old customers so you make the same amount for your work and time or do you put them on the back burner and focus first on the new customers that pay more? One or the other will happen so it's still a quanumdrum! Lol
 
I would charge the same or more, I'm guessing the last guy in the mowing business was undercutting someone and skipping on things like properly insuring his business or else he wouldn't be out of the mowing business from an incident like that
 
(quoted from post at 20:52:12 06/28/21) Same price. You are using larger more expensive equipment.
Click to expand...

Ditto. Larger equipment may use more fuel even though it gets done quicker. When something breaks it is going to cost more. I assume you are charging on a per acre basis and not per hour.

On the other hand think about how long it would take to mow with a little push mower or lawn tractor and how much time you are saving the landowner if he mowed it himself.

Or lets say you were using a big 4 wheel drive dual wheel tractor with a 15' or bigger mower. Get it done really fast but I don't think you would want to charge less for the big machine and probably would need to charge more.
 
You guys could turn changing a light bulb into an existential crisis.

Chief, you've been at this long enough that you have a good feel for your market. If you want to charge the same as the last guy, charge the same. If you want to charge your normal rate, charge your normal rate. Heck if you want to do it for free in the nude, do it for free in the nude!
 
Nude???? I would be afraid of getting a
mosquitooooo bite in places I couldn't scratch in
public. Not to mention a sunburn. That would
give a new meaning to a hot dog.

Stan, If I were you I wouldn't follow Barnyard's
suggestion, Keep your clothes on.
 

Stan, I have thought for a long time that you have not been charging enough. Right now everyone is expecting to pay substantially more for everything so this your opportunity to get pricing up to where it should have been for years. I raised my hay price $.50/bale this year, where my increases were always just $.25/bale.
 
(quoted from post at 06:13:42 06/29/21)
Stan, I have thought for a long time that you have not been charging enough. Right now everyone is expecting to pay substantially more for everything so this your opportunity to get pricing up to where it should have been for years. I raised my hay price $.50/bale this year, where my increases were always just $.25/bale.
Click to expand...

You fiend! You thief! How dare you charge a rate that derives a profit!
 
When you are low on work you can always lower your rates then, test your market every once in a while to see what happens. I would keep the previous rates or raise them a little because you will have a learning curve on the new jobs.
 
Speed makes no difference,if I use a 60 inch deck and the last guy used a 48 inch deck so what. The grass is cut and the customer is happy
 
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