What to charge for post hole drilling?

[FullMetalBucket]

Looking at a post hole auger for the skidsteer. It only has a 9" bit but is nearly new and priced at $2000 for everything. I've had a couple of people mentioning fence work lately and wondered what the rule is for pricing this kind of work? Wondering if it would be worth having even if we sit on it for awhile in between jobs.....
Thanks!

[FullMetalBucket]

No one digs post holes??? One thing for me and earthmover is that there is alot of agriculture both where I am and where he is located so I'm thinking that next spring we can get in good with some farmers and get jobs for a few hundred holes..... I've heard of people charging $5.00-10.00 per hole for larger jobs, but what if we sub to a busy fence contractor or something for smaller jobs?? Flat rate???

[fireman050]

a flat rate would be your best bet

[alco]

I don't know what is fair in your neck of the woods. But up here, they charge absolutely ridiculous amounts per hole...or anything else for that matter. A friend of mine just got a quote for 20 holes at $80 per hole since they were in the neighborhood. If they had to come back or make a special trip, it was going to be $180 per hole.

Brian

[CM1995]

I don't know what is fair in your neck of the woods. But up here, they charge absolutely ridiculous amounts per hole...or anything else for that matter. A friend of mine just got a quote for 20 holes at $80 per hole since they were in the neighborhood. If they had to come back or make a special trip, it was going to be $180 per hole.

Brian

Whoa!:eek: $80 bucks a hole! Man that's highway robbery. So the guys are going to drill 20 holes and make $1600 bucks, and if they came back it would be $3600 - holy crap!:eek: :eek: Ok - the question is: what is the ground - total rock? If it was "normal" soil, I could drill those holes with the bobcat in a couple hours - and have them cleaned out by hand.

20 posts at 10Ft centers = 200LF of fence. In my neck of the woods 6' dog eared pine, with PT 4x4 posts and PT 2x4 rails cost around $15 per FT. The whole kit and kaboodle would be $3000.

I guess the real question is - why does it cost so much up there?

[alco]

Ok - the question is: what is the ground - total rock? If it was "normal" soil, I could drill those holes with the bobcat in a couple hours - and have them cleaned out by hand.

I guess the real question is - why does it cost so much up there?

The ground is mostly clay, nothing bad to dig in.

The reason it costs so much up here is that people have to have the work done and the contractors figure they can charge whatever they want. The people who work on the oilsands sites make very good money. Unfortunately, that's not the case for people in the service industry. I honestly don't know how they make a go of it. You can buy a 6 year old trailer for $420,000 now....and it's going up.

They charge astronomical amounts for everything, it doesn't matter what it is.

Brian

[Dodge07around]

alright, here we go. I'm a fence/exc. contractor here in the west, we have way hard dirt in areas. Thats way high price. $20 a hole for small jobs and $10 a hole for bigger ones. its a hole! you got the right equipment its piece o cake. $80 a hole i'm in the wrong place. If the fence is being installed by you then you go even cheaper cause you can win the bid and make it up on the parts obviosuly.

[Homerun]

If it is for a ploe barn and for some one out in the country I charge about $350 for a barn sized 20x30 or so if it is a big job I charge about $25 a hole.

[Bumpsteer]

I've always went flatrate when doing holes. Before I had my own auger the only way I would do it was to have the customer rent the auger. If you think I didn't want the job, your correct. Just a pita to have to go out of my way to get and return the attachment. Ended up only doing one job that way, I drilled enough holes to fence in 5 acres of horse pasture and post holes for a run-in shed...what a boring day.

Ed

[ddigger]

I bought my auger (bobcat) attachment with 2 penco auger bits 6 and a 12in and an extention to dig up to 8ft off of Craigs list for 800 dollers. I use it on my L39 kabota backhoe which is equiped with a bobcat style quick attach on the loader. I also made it so I can run it off the backhoe stick. I only use it around my own place, but around here the rate is 10 to 20 bucks a hole depending on soil and site conditions. A real handy tool to add to your fleet. I di think if you shop around you can find a better deal.

[Hendrik]

I work on flat rate, which I think is fair, if the drilling is easy the customer pays less and if there are problems then the customer has to cough up more.
If you charge per hole you would want to know exactly what you are drilling into, a couple of rocks, roots or utility lines can slow you down real quick.