contracting

[clueless]

very interesting comments guys thanks. still looking for a silver lining!

[mdt]

was wondering myself what would be a good rate to charge. have been asked to process a pile of wood sometime. for a unimog and a palax ks36 thought £25-30 an hour with a minimum of say 3 or 4 hours. what do you lads think??

[Joe]

was wondering myself what would be a good rate to charge. have been asked to process a pile of wood sometime. for a unimog and a palax ks36 thought £25-30 an hour with a minimum of say 3 or 4 hours. what do you lads think??

 

i reckon a lot more than that mate, and dont forget to add a cost for travelling to the site aswell

[clueless]

surely someone must have some experience of producing firewood on contract?

[Chris Sheppard]

Best I could ever get round us was £20 an hour inc travelling time for me and the processor - was a tow behind HP Hawk so wasn't right fast compared to a bigger machine but didn't have all the transport cost associated with getting na tractor and big processor on to site. That was 2-3 years ago now so I'm sure with the firewood job the way it is you could get more.

 

Did a couple of days splitting - County (with roof mount), splitter, me and a labourer - best I could get was £275 for the day - travelling was fairly minimal as it was for one of the farm,ers on the Estate but still not huge money and we were absolutely buggered by the end of each day (and totalled a chain on a lump of metal inside one of the bits

 

I'd say not to charge by volume as the volume you'll get through depends on the wood - also, the customer will expect you to go like hell and you'll more than likely end up flogging the machine harder than you would for yourself.

 

Also, don't be surprised if the customer offers to act as loader - making sure they keep you busy sawing/splitting - therefore getting their money's worth in their view.

 

Also, it's worth putting your terms (make sure you include something about down time for maintenance/sharpening/breakdowns) in writing and getting the customer to sign it before you start.