$ per hour

[joispoi]

I see a lot of ads over here for guys who offer "mini excavator services". Their prices are typically low... 150 euros for the day for a 1.5 ton beater with the lever puller included. I could get away with that too, if I were willing to pull the trailer to the jobsite with my wife's volvo, skip the insurance payments, steal fuel instead of paying for it, talk all my customers into paying cash and take deposits on jobs that I know I'll never show up to do in order to subsidize the jobs that I'm actually working on. Going on unemployment to cover overhead would help, too.

 

[strott]

I see a lot of ads over here for guys who offer "mini excavator services". Their prices are typically low... 150 euros for the day for a 1.5 ton beater with the lever puller included. I could get away with that too, if I were willing to pull the trailer to the jobsite with my wife's volvo, skip the insurance payments, steal fuel instead of paying for it, talk all my customers into paying cash and take deposits on jobs that I know I'll never show up to do in order to subsidize the jobs that I'm actually working on. Going on unemployment to cover overhead would help, too.

Not just me that wondered how they did it and made a living without working 7 days a week (not that i reckon there is the work out there at the mo to support that!!)

 

[volvobl]

sounds like an ideal setup, nice one. I have to rent an old barn from a farmer to store my stuff - problem is no water or electricity and another cost

If your machines are never home then are the ones that your not driving out on self drive hire then?

No i dont do self drive at all people abuse machines itl break my heart machines coming back to the yard scratched to hell not only that machines damaged and id suffer even worse

ive got my machines on the jobs the job im on recently the volvo bl71 +Ec35 are with me and the Ec55b is in another valley wich will probably stay up there till late spring even summer what i do is do a week or 2 in one place go on the other machine then say maybe 4 days vice versa and sum 1 desperate cos i dont turn work away il hook the Ec35 behind the truck and away i go.

Its handy at the moment cos ive been having a driver help me out on the same job so hes on the ec35 and me on the bl71 then i can keep an eye on him at the same time. Hes not brilliant but if he gets the bulk done then il do the tidying up after him then when i dont want him he drives trucks for someone else so it works out at the moment but i wouldnt keep him full time

I did have a driver full time when i came off the utillities i kept 1 lad with me thats when i bought the 3rd machine cos save moving a machine for me all the time while he was on the other machine but he left last september so i didnt replace him and i kept the extra machine .

 

[strott]

I know what you mean about the self drive hire.

I had the following machine on long term hire to a contractor for the electricity board for approx 18 months. It went out as a brand new machine and it came back like this!!!!

But hey it earned me some extra money which has been helpful in getting through this recession so what can you do:beatsme

 

[volvobl]

that is a bit different if some one came to me and said look i need a self drive machine long term then id buy a machine for them for instance they need a volvo bl71 long term id give them this one d buy a new one for myself or buy like 55 or 06 plate and keep my 07 one for me. I wouldnt give any of my babies out for a day or 2 with someone else on them if you no what i mean but if someone came and said longterm then no matter what size i would and go out and do checks and services for them. I no when your little kubuta came back you said what the "£"$£$^% i no that feeling when i left school and 18 at the time i went on hire to the council and some one had my jcb while i was of and just mess on it when it came back was enough to make me anoyd with them.

Funny enough i was on the electric on utillities to in mid wales i did try to supply the other teams with my diggers to but they wouldnt have that they tend to stick to people like gap but didnt bother me cos like i was busy enough then 2 grab lorrys 1 grab lookng after their own teams and i was looking after my own digging gang so i could keep an eye on them too and them when grab no2 wasnt wanted i was on private jobs then it was a good setup.

haws the work with you down swindon way i think morrison utillities were down there somwhere i was working for them as a sub contractor getting paid weekly brilliant firm and setup you cant ask for better getting paid weekly

 

[strott]

Yeah as you say 'my' machines are driven by me only so the other ones are purely for hire so you put your personal feelings aside!!

Work is quiet down here - calls for quotes have dropped approx 75% compared to 2007-2008!!

Sounds like you have been self employed/in business for a long time, all credit to you for making it work.

 

[volvobl]

Thaks for that im like evryone else just taking things as they come i live here day by day
i no im busy i try not to worry about anything we ve had a bit of snow up here so thatl just make me think of the summer that it was here sooner cos i do a bit of agri work nothing dramatic with these big tractors. I have 2 beetween 80 -100 hp and they just do the job for me.

When i started i used to do a bit of driving for sumone else to it was good at the time it helped. I thought with the credit crunch i thought id be driving a truck long distance or something but still digging.

 

[strott]

Yeah snow has stopped play over here aswell!!

Ice on the inside of the cab!!

 

[moparguy55]

Newbie here looking at starting up with a mini ex. This really helped me out a lot in determining what I would charge. I looked at the local rental shop and their minimum is 4 engine hours for $140 or $35/hr plus you have to insure it. Not sure if they deliver it for that price ? Anyways I think an operator should be worth $25 an hour ? I'd be looking at $60 hour to start out. I was thinking of a 4000lbs mini. I assume I could do a fair bit of different types of digging with a 2 ton mini.

What would a 4000-6000 lbs mini burn for fuel in an hour gallon wise ? My dodge 4x4 with the 5.9 cummins burns about 3 gallons per hour, so mini i'm thinking 1-2 G per hr ?

I always wondered why guys locally say free estimate price per job and nobody posted their hourly rate, now i know ;-)

 

[volvobl]

Newbie here looking at starting up with a mini ex. This really helped me out a lot in determining what I would charge. I looked at the local rental shop and their minimum is 4 engine hours for $140 or $35/hr plus you have to insure it. Not sure if they deliver it for that price ? Anyways I think an operator should be worth $25 an hour ? I'd be looking at $60 hour to start out. I was thinking of a 4000lbs mini. I assume I could do a fair bit of different types of digging with a 2 ton mini.

What would a 4000-6000 lbs mini burn for fuel in an hour gallon wise ? My dodge 4x4 with the 5.9 cummins burns about 3 gallons per hour, so mini i'm thinking 1-2 G per hr ?

I always wondered why guys locally say free estimate price per job and nobody posted their hourly rate, now i know ;-)

Good luck in starting out like here in uk youve probably got a lot of competition around. Depends on haw you use a machine on haw much fuel youd use for that size youd might use about 4-5 gallon a day 25 liters somthing like that its a tricky game make sure youve got loads of work before hiring a digger me personally i hate hiring i do try to avoid if poss. And if you havnt driven much machines id be very carefull in even going out on hire (not saying you havnt) gain some expierience first.

but if you can then dig away

 

[volvobl]

Yeah snow has stopped play over here aswell!!

Ice on the inside of the cab!!

the snow really has spoilt my week really i was going out this week do some local jobs befor the bl71 goes back an 1hour drive from home the snow has spoilt it weve had about 30inches+ up here all the by roads are heavily drifted cos the wind to so i phoned the council offering to clear some roads
im on standby with em. So ive had a week on the yard not doing alot :Banghead:Banghead Theres more snow to come il be begging them come monday if its worse to give me work il go to their yard speak to someone and give em a :drinkup if they give me work

 

[DGODGR]

I have a PC35 that I bought just for my own use on my property. I have become pretty good on it, though I have nobody to compare myself with I have a couple thousand hours on compact excavators over the last few years. I am self employed in another field, and have never though of actually putting my equipment to work, but it would be a nice change of pace to work with my machine a few days a month. In addition to the PC35, I have a rubber tracked off road dumper, and am soon to have a little D21 Dozer or CTL.

My question is...... since I have no clue.... so please don't flame me for souding stupid, I don't want to break any laws or go out and undercut you people who do this for a living........ Do you need a contractors license to work a machine on a residential job such as pulling stumps or grading someoe's private roads? can you work FOR a contractor without any license? I am in California.

Lance

Anything over $400 requires a contractors license in CA. Biggest part of the license exam is the legal portion. Trade portion is about 1/8 of the questions of the legal (at least it was back in '95) when I got mine. It would be easier for a lawyer to get a license than a construction worker.

 

[joispoi]

Newbie here looking at starting up with a mini ex. This really helped me out a lot in determining what I would charge. I looked at the local rental shop and their minimum is 4 engine hours for $140 or $35/hr plus you have to insure it. Not sure if they deliver it for that price ? Anyways I think an operator should be worth $25 an hour ? I'd be looking at $60 hour to start out. I was thinking of a 4000lbs mini. I assume I could do a fair bit of different types of digging with a 2 ton mini.

What would a 4000-6000 lbs mini burn for fuel in an hour gallon wise ? My dodge 4x4 with the 5.9 cummins burns about 3 gallons per hour, so mini i'm thinking 1-2 G per hr ?

I always wondered why guys locally say free estimate price per job and nobody posted their hourly rate, now i know ;-)

Very tough market to break into. Line up your jobs then rent until you know what your needs are.

 

[moparguy55]

Good luck in starting out like here in uk youve probably got a lot of competition around. Depends on haw you use a machine on haw much fuel youd use for that size youd might use about 4-5 gallon a day 25 liters somthing like that its a tricky game make sure youve got loads of work before hiring a digger me personally i hate hiring i do try to avoid if poss. And if you havnt driven much machines id be very carefull in even going out on hire (not saying you havnt) gain some expierience first.

but if you can then dig away

I worked on a farm threw college for 4 back when i was in college, so i used a front end loader on a big case tractor. Not really the same beast. I know a guy with a kubota mini X that could probably give me a crash course. I found another place that offers a 90 hour course on a mini.

I'd only be looking to do maybe 10 hours of work a week. It would be on the side as i have a full time job already. Mostly french in the area i'm in, but i work for an english compay that has ~500 employees. Kind of thinking just there might be a small niche and a way to get my name out. I know a few builders too. If things were to go well I could then maybe go full time on my own. (which i'd prefer)

Just have to find out all the stuff i need to make it legal

 

[strott]

the snow really has spoilt my week really i was going out this week do some local jobs befor the bl71 goes back an 1hour drive from home the snow has spoilt it weve had about 30inches+ up here all the by roads are heavily drifted cos the wind to so i phoned the council offering to clear some roads
im on standby with em. So ive had a week on the yard not doing alot :Banghead:Banghead Theres more snow to come il be begging them come monday if its worse to give me work il go to their yard speak to someone and give em a :drinkup if they give me work

Yeah very frustrating this snow - looks like there won't be any chance of doing any work for a the next 7 days as a minimum.

even if the snow went the daytime temps are too low for laying concrete/tarmac so I won't be able to do any drop kerb excavations or backfilling around footings if the builders haven't built them!!.

And even better the padlock to my barn was frozen a week ago so I couldn't get to my other kit by now it must be frozen solid :Banghead and the roads to it are country roads which are not gritted so very much doubt that I could get to the machines let alone get into the barn to get them out!!

 

[volvobl]

Yeah very frustrating this snow - looks like there won't be any chance of doing any work for a the next 7 days as a minimum.

even if the snow went the daytime temps are too low for laying concrete/tarmac so I won't be able to do any drop kerb excavations or backfilling around footings if the builders haven't built them!!.

And even better the padlock to my barn was frozen a week ago so I couldn't get to my other kit by now it must be frozen solid :Banghead and the roads to it are country roads which are not gritted so very much doubt that I could get to the machines let alone get into the barn to get them out!!

And i thought i had problems for going out to work ive got a stone track to do aswell and its just to dangerous to carry stone out of the quarry where i am is just too hilly and snow all over. Well i got a job tomorrow ive got to go and bury a goat :crying:angel

 

[thebig450es]

we've been getting anywhere between an inch to 3 inches a day here, its about 3 oF right now lol

 

[strott]

We have only had about 5 inches of snow last tuesday/wednesday and since then it has just stayed below freezing!!

It has began thawing today (yay!!) but we are due another download of snow tonight so I will have to see what happens......

Now if my customers from last year would pay up - that would be helpfull!!!!

 

[volvobl]

We have only had about 5 inches of snow last tuesday/wednesday and since then it has just stayed below freezing!!

It has began thawing today (yay!!) but we are due another download of snow tonight so I will have to see what happens......

Now if my customers from last year would pay up - that would be helpfull!!!!

for sure same here really then i wouldnt worry in having a couple of weeks off
due to this weather.

 

[strott]

Couple of weeks off .... again!! although I don't know of many groundwork companies that are working at the mo!!