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First big-to-me bid. Mowing with skid steer.

SOFieldMowing

Active Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2020
Messages
35
Location
Oregon
Occupation
Field Mower
I am writing up a bid for a developer. They would like what is currently a tree research facility to have all the fields and rows between mowed down for fire safety and for the sale of the property.

A little background.. Oregon, property is insanely hot, everyone is working and prices seem to have gone up fairly drastically for things like forestry clearing and such (as well as everything else). It is hard to get a contractor right now and there are plenty around with work. I would be using a T300 with an 8.5' mowing deck to mow a little less than 175 total acres, mostly rows of trees, but about 40 would be open pasture areas. I got the machine late summer last year and up to now my biggest single mow with it has been 23 acres. To my knowledge, I have the largest skid steer deck in the area and a tractor larger than 40 or 50 horse would have trouble fitting under the trees with regularity.

So, I have never taken a job this big, but I am ready and feel good about my machine. This would be my third tree facility under my belt if I get this contract. Up to this point, my biggest single jobs have been $9,000 which was a BLM tree site and another for about the same for a local helicopter builder.

I have this priced at $135 per acre and would like 15% up front for my costs. The total would come out to $22,700.

Does this seem reasonable? I feel pretty good about it, but worry it may be a little high. I don't know, to me this is a lot of money and I have respect for other's money just the same as mine. I am coming from more of a tractor background and still trying to figure out what the market says this machine is worth.



What are your thoughts?
 

mowingman

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2010
Messages
1,228
Location
SE Ohio
Occupation
Retired
I don't know what prices are out on the coast, but I know they are higher out there, than they are in Texas. What do you charge/hr for your skid steer? How many hours will it take to do the job? Around here, that would probably be about a $50.00/acre job. However, there is a lot of competition here for brush hog mowing. I think your price is pretty high, but I am far from being an expert on the subject.
Jeff
 

mowingman

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2010
Messages
1,228
Location
SE Ohio
Occupation
Retired
Yes, the main thing is to be happy with your quote. If you bid it too low, and get it, then you will not be happy in the end. Go with your gut feel.
Jeff
 

CM1995

Administrator
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
13,246
Location
Alabama
Occupation
Running what I brung and taking what I win
One thing to keep in mind is a mower on a skid/CTL is going to burn 30%+ more fuel than running a bucket.

What is your production rate? An acre an hour?
 

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
Sound to me like you are on the ground floor of a growth industry. The likelihood of fires in the future has put the maintenance of fuel load on the radar. It sounds like you have the right sized machine to fulfill a necessary task. I would see your competition to be only two sources. Someone with the wrong tools and the possibility of your customers purchasing their own machine to accomplish the task. You know your start up and continual costs and I would assume you have projected them out by years to a pay off. That would tell you how much it would cost for your customer to buy their own tools. You might also contact a rental outfit and ask the cost per hour to rent a setup similar if not exactly the same as yours. At this moment in time in Washington State, I can't imagine any skid steer being rented for less that $100 an hour without an operator. I'm pretty sure it would be the same in most parts of Oregon as well.
 

treemuncher

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2006
Messages
733
Location
West TN
Occupation
eatin' trees, poopin' chips
Size, species, density, terrain & finish quality : 5 main factors for pricing any clearing work with mulching/cutting equipment. I'm not familiar with the machine you are using so I don't have any production rate ideas. Based on your per acre fee, if you are not averaging at least 1.25 acres per hour then it seems like you are less than where you should be. Main thing is what are YOU comfortable with?

Some wise advise that I read in a contracting magazine many, many years ago. "The most successful contractors don't win every bid but every bid that they do win is a money maker." In other words, being the cheapest does not make you the most successful but it will force you out of business quicker. You know your costs and what you want as a profit margin. AND, always be ready for catastrophic repairs with mulching equipment - be ready to drop $50k any day of the week if the worst happens....and it could be more. Surviving those rough days allow you to continue on, if you can stomach it. I've watched a lot of people jump in and burn out of this business quickly over the years.
 

CM1995

Administrator
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
13,246
Location
Alabama
Occupation
Running what I brung and taking what I win
Some wise advise that I read in a contracting magazine many, many years ago. "The most successful contractors don't win every bid but every bid that they do win is a money maker."

Yep - I've never lost money on a job I didn't get.;)
 

SOFieldMowing

Active Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2020
Messages
35
Location
Oregon
Occupation
Field Mower
Hey, so sorry I didn't get back to this. I have been incredibly busy and I don't frequent the computer unless I'm on it for a while. better things to be doing with my time.

I was awarded the work and have been working on it between my normal jobs and return clients. I did just have an auxiliary hydraulic issue come up that I need to figure out tomorrow sometime. I actually got on here to post about that... so I am going to jump over to the proper spot now, but tossing it out here real quick just because.

I noticed the active warnings have been intermittently changing in a completely random way between Plugged Auxiliary Filter, No Filter Detected and No Active Codes. So I decided to take it home, give it a hydraulic fluid drain and fill with new filters. Turned it on, it made a strange noise for a few seconds and then the noise went away and it ran like normal; no code (no Aux Hydro was connected at this time and I don't know if this factors in at all). I took it back to the job, ran it just a short time. The same intermittent codes showed up so I figured it was a bad sensor of some kind. When I shut it down I realized that the mowing deck had been engaged even though I had disengaged the high flow function. Turn the machine back on and the HF is automatically engaged and I cannot turn it off. The machine has incredibly weak foot controls, but I was able to lift the deck over the wheel wells on the trailer and get it home. It seems to move fine, but the rest is struggling.

I spoke to a buddy with a cat (245 I think) who said he thought it sounded like it could be a bad solenoid and to check the plunger, but that he really wasn't sure because he isn't the best with hydraulics and like me, has been learning via real world experience. I'm just looking to get some direction for this repair. I am on the fence about just having an Mobile Equipment Mechanic work his magic just so that I can get it back in the game a little sooner rather than take the time to learn it. Busy time of year...

As for this job, I will give all the details when I finish. I am tracking times for it so it should be interesting to see how things come out.

And yeah, I know about the fuel usage. I did factor that in, and it is incredible how much fuel she can drink!
 
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