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TODAYS-SEAT TIME
I'm a couple of days late posting this, but I just wanted to let everyone know what I've been up to lately.
Last Fall I plowed up a couple of acres of grass in front of my house. This piece of land was previously unused, and was growing weeds and grass. A neighbor of mine was haying it for me, just to keep the place looking presentable.
I purchased a plow to break up the sod, then spent many weeks picking out the rocks. I couldn't figure out where all the rocks came from. I must have hauled 20 bucket-loads of rocks out of there, and there's a lot more remaining. I later found out that the previous owner of this place had allowed a local potato company to dump their dirt and rocks on that piece of ground, as fill. Lucky me......I get to be the one to go through it and pull out all the rocks. On the bright side, the soil is very rich and fertile. It will make a great garden site.
Being that this piece of land is located right along the highway, many people have driven by and taken notice of my work. Needless to say, I've received many phone calls from people who wondered who I hired to do the work. After telling them that I did it myself, they asked if I'd be willing to rent out my services. Of course, I would!
Last Saturday I did my first out-of-town custom job. I loaded the Kubota onto my flatbed trailer and hauled it ten miles east of town to till up two garden spots for the local insurance salesman. And since his piece of land is also located right along the same highway, even more people will now be asking who did his work.
I can't say enough good things about my King Kutter gear driven tiller. It works like a champ, and it leaves a very professional appearance. I've got a lot more work scheduled already, as one farmer would like me to plant a one-acre food plot in his CRP land. (Federal Law permits one acre of land to be used as a food plot for wildlife on CRP land) The Farmer would like to make his land a bit more desirable for the paying hunters who come from out-of-State to hunt deer and turkey.
As business picks up this growing season, I'll let everyone know what's going on.
Joel
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TODAYS-SEAT TIME
KThompson,
Thank you for the suggestion. I'm relatively new at this line of work, so I appreciate all the suggestions I can get.
The first thing I'm going to do with any new customer, is to ask for cash on the spot. I know many people who mean well, but also have very short memories.
I ran an ad in the local paper today, taking me through the end of May. In this part of the country, we can't plant our gardens until Memorial Day, due to the high probability of a killing frost up until then. Most gardens are in by June 1st.
Thanks again.
Joel
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TODAYS-SEAT TIME
Dear Friends,
I want to personally thank each of you for offering up the advice and the suggestions. It is much appreciated.
Cando, North Dakota is a very small town. The people here are very polite, friendly, and easy to get to know. I've tilled a few garden plots in town, ALWAYS after first getting the underground utilities marked. It's a service that is provided free of charge by the local utility companies, so failing to do so would be a very STUPID thing to do. I always ask the homeowner to have this done before I come in to do any yard work. Everyone, to this point, has complied.
As for breaking up a piece of new ground, I use my cultivator with chisel points to break up the sod, prior to tilling it. This allows me to search for rocks, barbed wire, buried steel, etc...before putting the tiller to it. This practice has already saved me a whole lot of time and trouble. I once hit a coil of wire with the cultivator, which appears to have come from a previously burned steel belted radial tire. It took me a few minutes to untangle it from the cultivator, but it would have taken me hours......or days....to get it out of my tiller.
At any rate, I'm not going to turn this into a business. Cando has a population of about 1000 people. The amount of work I'll have isn't really worth the time or effort that would go into making a business of it. For the most part, I'm simply offering my services to anyone who might need it....and at a modest fee.
I'm currently charging 40 dollars to till up a residential garden plot, provided it's been used as a garden in the past. To break up a new garden, I charge 100 dollars. If I have to travel out of town, I charge 30 dollars to load my tractor on the trailer, and 1 dollar per mile for travel. If a customer provides a referral for me, I give them a 10 dollar break on the total price of the job.
Most everyone seems happy with the fee, and I'm very happy to have them as customers......and hopefully for a very long time. There just aren't enough people here to allow for the loss of even one customer.
My Insurance salesman is a very friendly, local woman. My tractor is insured through her. I have full coverage insurance in the event that something should happen to it while towing it from one job to the next. My truck is also insured. I don't expect to make more than a few hundred dollars with my tractor during the entire year, which allows me to keep my tractor insured as a private owner, rather than as a business. If business picks up, I may wish to insure my tractor under a commercial policy, as doing so will also provide me with a substantial amount of property damage liability coverage.
Again, I wish to thank everyone for the thoughtful replies.
Joel
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