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TODAYS-SEAT TIME
I get the same thing all the time, there's always someone asking for 'help' with their landscaping work.
My answer is always the same; "Advise is free, if you want men or equipment I'll get you a quote."
I'd be very surprised if anyone was willing to pay enough to justify even leaving your property with the equipment let alone making a buck.
As Frank mentioned, a set of tiller knives alone will likely be more than the money charged, never mind the wear & tear on the equipment, insurance and fuel.
Best of luck.
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Joel, if you have a place that rents similar equipment get their rate and realize you will be suppling operator and fuel. No disagreement with any caution given and especially with the quality of those giving them. Many people make money doing custon tractor work in my world. The more rural the area would think it harder to do so. Then what do I know, I hire custom equipment work every time a combine runs on my place. Keep a business head about it or realize it is a favor. kt
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Kenneth brought up a good point, probably without even knowing it.
We do a reasonable amount of 'volunteer' work for charitable organizations in our area, churches, service clubs, you name it.
In doing this 'volunteer' work we probably make as much money as any other job we do, but there's a trick to it.
We get a tax receipt for the "market value" of the work being done, then the 'pay' comes in the form of a tax break at the end of the year.
People are a bunch more willing to write a receipt for a charitable donation than they are willing to write a cheque.
Best of luck.
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Mowed with
BX23
BX1500
Cub Cadet GT2554
Saw my first Snake of the season.
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Speaking of tilling by a road...on the way to the dealer to pick up my then new TC33D on the way into town I noticed a small front yard with a shallow ditch that both had been set afire, but oddly the ditch and part of the yard had been recently tilled.
Hmmmmf?
I mentioned it to the Parts guy and he laughed. Apparently, the homeowner decided he wanted to "loosen up" the front yard and ditch area, move the dirt to higher ground to make the yard higher and the ditch deeper. He was only going down about 4-6 inches.
He hit a gas line with the tiller--a walkbehind tiller no less--and you, well, get the picture.
I'd rather go without food or water than let my liablility insurance lapse 'cause just when you think you don't need it---you NEED it.
And sometimes it's the stupidest thing that costs the most.
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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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Joel; Back in my heyday when I thought I was a bigtimer we farmed/custom farmed/ran a fulltime furniture plant/and did landscaping work with two Deere compacts and the equipment to compliment them. I did all this with the help and encouragement of the Mrs., one son who worked for us fulltime and some part time workers. Today here I sit with a worn out body, still somewhat sane eating pain killers like they are candy, and enjoying our retirement more than I ever though I could. I still am building some furniture, working around the farm with the "Baby Deere" on my terms not trying to meet someone elses terms, and for the first time in my life I don't owe a banker a D*** dime. While we were in the "Fire Ball Days" so to speak I never gave a thought to insurance, then I had the same awakeining as EW, being informed that I had to have every kind of high dollar insurance known to man to still be in business in our lawsuit happy world. Anyhow the reason for all this gut spilling blabbering is to kind of soften my prior statement of "AINT FOR HIRE" You do as you have planned and enjoy it. As a friend of mine who has now passed on used to say,"You want to work real hard, save every dime you can so your widdow's secon husband can really live it up". Oh, by the way, you think Cando is small, my home trown is 1/4 that size. Frank.
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